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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1078 ***
+
+THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY
+
+by Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE LONE CANOE
+
+
+A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly
+up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and
+deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it
+lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and
+without noise.
+
+The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over
+the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun,
+which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft,
+piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank,
+fell directly upon the figure in the boat, as a hidden light illuminates
+a great picture, while the rest is left in shadow. It was no common
+forest runner who sat in the middle of the red beam. Yet a boy, in
+nothing but years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that
+the strongest man in the West might have envied. His rifle, with the
+stock carved beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of the
+border, lay by his side. He could bring the paddle into the boat,
+grasp the rifle, and carry it to his shoulder with a single, continuous
+movement.
+
+His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even would have
+noticed, was an extraordinary vitality. He created in the minds of those
+who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely every moment of his life.
+Born and-bred in the forest, he was essentially its child, a perfect
+physical being, trained by the utmost hardship and danger, and with
+every faculty, mental and physical, in complete coordination. It is only
+by a singular combination of time and place, and only once in millions
+of chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+
+The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light, and its
+occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle, held it steady in
+the current, while he listened. Every feature stood out in the glow, the
+firm chin, the straight strong nose, the blue eyes, and the thick yellow
+hair. The red blue, and yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned
+deerskin flashed in the brilliant rays. He was the great picture of
+fact, not of fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+
+He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into the
+shadow. His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern shore, where
+bushes and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. It would have taken
+a keen eye now to have seen either the canoe or its occupant, and
+Henry Ware paddled slowly and without noise in the darkest heart of the
+shadow.
+
+The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the stream. Then
+the red changed to pink. The pink, in its turn, faded, and the whole
+surface of the river was somber gray, flowing between two lines of black
+forest.
+
+The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy. He swung a little
+farther out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging boughs would
+not get in his way, and continued his course with some increase of
+speed.
+
+The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length of
+stroke was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster, and the
+muscles on his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were the play of
+a child. Henry was in waters unknown to him. He had nothing more than
+hearsay upon which to rely, and he used all the wilderness caution that
+he had acquired through nature and training. He called into use every
+faculty of his perfect physical being. His trained eyes continually
+pierced the darkness. At times, he stopped and listened with ears that
+could hear the footfall of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought
+report of anything unusual. The river flowed with a soft, sighing sound.
+Now and then a wild creature stirred in the forest, and once a deer
+came down to the margin to drink, but this was the ordinary life of the
+woods, and he passed it by.
+
+He went on, hour after hour. The river narrowed. The banks grew higher
+and rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the moon, flowed in
+a somewhat swifter current. Henry gave a little stronger sweep to the
+paddle, and the speed of the canoe was maintained. He still kept within
+the shadow of the northern bank.
+
+He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before the moon.
+The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind came out of the
+southwest. The touch of the air on, his face was damp. It was the token
+of rain, and he felt that it would not be delayed long.
+
+It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the Monongahela.
+Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might sink his frail canoe,
+and he looked for a refuge. The river was widening again, and the banks
+sank down until they were but little above the water. Presently he saw
+a place that he knew would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and
+weeds growing into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred
+yards or more along the shore.
+
+He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it in
+shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could scarcely see
+the main stream of the river. The water where he came to rest was not
+more than a foot deep, but he remained in the canoe, half reclining and
+wrapping closely around himself and his rifle a beautiful blanket woven
+of the tightest fiber.
+
+His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and his
+shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to him, and he
+awaited calmly whatever might come. Here and there were little spaces
+among the leaves overhead, and through them he saw a moon, now almost
+hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a sky that had grown dark and
+somber. The last timid star had ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind
+was wet and cold. He was glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner
+that he was, he never traveled without it. Henry remained perfectly
+still. The light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction
+of an inch. His upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed
+through the leaves grow darker and darker. The bushes about him were
+now bending before the wind, which blew steadily from the south, and
+presently drops of rain began to fall lightly on the water.
+
+The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness, surrounded by
+danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black midnight sky above him,
+felt neither fear nor awe. Being what nature and circumstance had made
+him, he was conscious, instead, of a deep sense of peace and comfort.
+He was at ease, in a nest for the night, and there was only the remotest
+possibility that the prying eye of an enemy would see him. The leaves
+directly over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as
+he heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof, that
+soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+
+Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled along the
+southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a rain, not hard, but
+cold and persistent, began to fall, coming straight down. Henry saw that
+it might last all night, but he merely eased himself a little in the
+canoe, drew the edges of the blanket around his chin, and let his
+eyelids droop.
+
+The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but he did
+not care. It could not penetrate the close fiber of the blanket, and the
+fur cap drawn far down on his head met the blanket. Only his face was
+uncovered, and when a cold drop fell upon it, it was to him, hardened by
+forest life, cool and pleasant to the touch.
+
+Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the tendency to
+sleep. It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with the body completely
+relaxed, but with the senses alert. The wind ceased to blow, and the
+rain came down straight with an even beat that was not unmusical. No
+other sound was heard in the forest, as the ripple of the river at the
+edges was merged into it. Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by
+and by, and, laying the paddle across the boat in such a way that it
+sheltered his face, he closed his eyes. In five minutes he would have
+been sleeping as soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with
+a quick motion he suddenly put the paddle aside and raised himself a
+little in the canoe, while one hand slipped down under the folds of the
+blanket to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the river. He
+heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a soft sound, long and
+sighing, but regular. He listened, and then he knew it. It was made by
+oars, many of them swung in unison, keeping admirable time.
+
+Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full of
+Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would be abroad
+upon these waters at such a time. He made no attempt to move. Where he
+lay it was black as the darkest cave, and his cool judgment told him
+that there was no need of flight.
+
+The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently as he
+looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a great war
+canoe came into view. It contained at least twenty warriors, of what
+tribe he could not tell, but they were wet, and they looked cold and
+miserable. Soon they were opposite him, and he saw the outline of every
+figure. Scalp locks drooped in the rain, and he knew that the warriors,
+hardy as they might be, were suffering.
+
+Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned toward
+a shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they beached it there.
+Then all sprang out, drew it up on the land, and, after turning it over,
+propped it up at an angle. When this was done they sat under it in a
+close group, sheltered from the rain. They were using their great canoe
+as a roof, after the habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+
+The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little openings
+in the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as they were all
+night, but presently he saw a movement among them, and a little flash
+of light. He understood it. They were trying to kindle a fire-with flint
+and steel, under the shelter of the boat. He continued to watch them
+'lazily and without alarm.
+
+Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light upon him
+in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against the flame, and
+he could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to tell to what tribe
+they belonged.
+
+He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered in
+a close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind, strove with
+flint and steel. Sparks sprang up and went out, but Henry at last saw a
+little blaze rise and cling to life. Then, fed with tinder and bark, it
+grew under the roof made by the boat until it was ruddy and strong. The
+boat was tilted farther back, and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled
+cheerfully, while the flames leaped higher.
+
+By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the thick
+blackness felt the influence of the fire, also. Its warmth was upon his
+face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow light victorious
+against the sodden background of the rain and dripping forest. The
+figures of the warriors passed and repassed before the fire, and the boy
+in the boat moved suddenly. His body was not shifted more than an inch,
+but his surprise was great.
+
+A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly against
+the red light. It was a splendid figure, young, much beyond the average
+height, the erect and noble head crowned with the defiant scalplock, the
+strong, slightly curved nose and the massive chin cut as clearly as if
+they had been carved in copper. The man who had laid aside a wet blanket
+was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play
+on chest and shoulders as he moved.
+
+The boy knew him. It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all the Western
+chiefs. Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight of his old foe and
+almost friend. As always, he felt admiration at the sight of the
+young chief. It was not likely that he would ever behold such another
+magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+
+The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of significance.
+The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry and his comrades in
+the van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. Thence the arms, ammunition,
+and other supplies were started on the overland journey for the American
+army, but the five lingered before beginning the return to Kentucky.
+A rumor came that the Indian alliance was spreading along the entire
+frontier, both west and north. It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to
+fiery energy by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the
+Iroquois, the famous Six Nations. These warlike tribes were friendly
+with the Wyandots, and the league would be a formidable danger to the
+Colonies, the full strength of which was absorbed already in the great
+war.
+
+But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol, and the
+others. The return to Kentucky was postponed. They could be of greater
+service here, and they plunged into the great woods to the north and,
+east to see what might be stirring among the warriors.
+
+Now Henry, as he looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had told
+the truth. The great chief would not be on the fringe of the Iroquois
+country, if he did not have such a plan, and he had the energy and
+ability to carry it through. Henry shuddered at the thought of the
+tomahawk flashing along every mile of a frontier so vast, and defended
+so thinly. He was glad in every fiber that he and his comrades had
+remained to hang upon the Indian hordes, and be heralds of their
+marches. In the forest a warning usually meant the saving of life.
+
+The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the trees
+everywhere. But the big fire made an area of dry earth about it, and the
+warriors replaced the long boat in the water. Then all but four or five
+of them lay beside the coals and went to sleep. Timmendiquas was one of
+those who remained awake, and Henry saw that he was in deep thought. He
+walked back and forth much like a white man, and now and then he folded
+his hands behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it.
+Henry could guess what was in his mind. He would draw forth the full
+power of the Six Nations, league them with the Indians of the great
+valley, and hurl them all in one mass upon the frontier. He was planning
+now the means to the end.
+
+The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the edge of
+the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable that he
+would conclude to search among them, but some accident, a chance, might
+happen, and Henry began to feel a little alarm. Certainly, the coming
+of the day would make his refuge insecure, and he resolved to slip away
+while it was yet light.
+
+The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost caution,
+because the slightest sound out of the common might arouse Timmendiquas
+to the knowledge of a hostile presence. The canoe must make no plash in
+the water. Gradually he unwrapped the blanket and tied it in a folded
+square at his back. Then he took thought a few moments. The forest was
+so silent now that he did not believe he could push the canoe through
+the bushes without being heard. He would leave it there for use another
+day and go on foot through the woods to his comrades.
+
+Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the bottom, and
+then he remained still. The chief had paused in his restless walk back
+and forth. Could it be possible that he had heard so slight a sound as
+that of a human foot sinking softly into the water? Henry waited with
+his rifle ready. If necessary he would fire, and then dart away among
+the bushes.
+
+Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his restless
+pacing. If he had heard, he had passed it by as nothing, and Henry
+raised the other foot out of the canoe. He was as delicate in his
+movement as a surgeon mending the human eye, and he had full cause, as
+not eye alone, but life as well, depended upon his success. Both feet
+now rested upon the muddy bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+
+The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher, his
+features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk back and
+forth before the flames. Henry took a final look at the lofty features,
+contracted now into a frown, then began to wade among the bushes,
+pushing his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of
+all. The water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes
+to rustle as he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and
+his feet were about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged
+in the mud broke under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the
+silence of the night.
+
+Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
+glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
+which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
+his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the
+protecting darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing
+and defiant, a cry of a quality that could come only from a white
+throat. The warriors would know it, and he intended for them to know it.
+Then, holding his rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly
+away through the black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came
+to his, the Indian yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the
+night would not check pursuit.
+
+Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
+places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
+then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
+grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
+clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
+dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
+and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity
+of Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness,
+but the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.
+
+He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
+thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
+under his arm.
+
+His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed
+its regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He
+thought at first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second
+thought convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the
+thicket, he saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking
+searchingly about him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a
+different direction, approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were
+of the party of Timmendiquas. They had followed him in some manner,
+perhaps by chance, and it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+
+A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. Henry
+realized that it was much lighter. Keen eyes under such a starry sky
+could see much, and they might strike his trail. The fear quickly became
+fact. One of the warriors, uttering a short cry, raised his head and
+beckoned to the others. He had seen broken twigs or trampled grass, and
+Henry, knowing that it was no time to hesitate, sprang from his covert.
+Two of the warriors caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the
+bullets cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that
+he was lost to view in an instant.
+
+The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements of
+danger. He was about to have another example of the tenacity and
+resource of the great young chief of the Wyandots, and he felt a certain
+anger. He, did not wish to be disturbed in his plans, he wished to
+rejoin his comrades and move farther east toward the chosen lands of
+the Six Nations; instead, he must spend precious moments running for his
+life.
+
+Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends. He was too wise,
+too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he curved away in a
+course that would take him to the south of them. He glanced up and saw
+that the heavens were lightening yet more. A thin gray color like a mist
+was appearing in the east. It was the herald of day, and now the Indians
+would be able to find his trail. But Henry was not afraid. His anger
+over the loss of time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of
+his moccasins making scarcely any noise as he passed.
+
+It was no unusual incident. Thousands of such pursuits occurred in
+the border life of our country, and were lost to the chronicler. For
+generations they were almost a part of the daily life of the frontier,
+but the present, while not out of the common in itself, had, uncommon
+phases. It was the most splendid type of white life in all the
+wilderness that fled, and the finest type of red life that followed.
+
+It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward Timmendiquas.
+In his place he would have done what he was doing. It was hard to give
+up these great woods and beautiful lakes and rivers, and the wild life
+that wild men lived and loved. There was so much chivalry in the boy's
+nature that he could think of all these things while he fled to escape
+the tomahawk or the stake.
+
+Up came the sun. The gray light turned to silver, and then to red and
+blazing gold. A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry of the pursuing
+warriors, rose behind him. Henry turned his head for one look. He saw
+a group of them poised for a moment on the crest of a low hill and
+outlined against the broad flame in the east. He saw their scalp locks,
+the rifles in their hands, and their bare chests shining bronze in the
+glow. Once more he sent back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs,
+and then, calling upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with
+a speed that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+
+Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to evade
+the pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs, and wading in
+brooks. He did not see the warriors again, but instinct warned him that
+they were yet following. At long intervals he would rest for a quarter
+of an hour or so among the bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the
+venison that he always carried. Three hours later he came to the river
+again, and swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern
+side. When the twilight was falling once more he sat still in dense
+covert for a long time. He neither saw nor heard a sign of human
+presence, and he was sure now that the pursuit had failed. Without an
+effort he dismissed it from his mind, ate a little more of the venison,
+and made his bed for the night.
+
+The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the forest
+was dry once more. As far as Henry could see it circled away on every
+side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and beech, maple and elm
+making a soft, sighing sound as they waved gently in the wind. It told
+Henry of nothing but peace. He had eluded the pursuit, hence it was no
+more. This was a great, friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe
+him, and to receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+
+He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year lay
+deep upon the ground. He drew up enough of them for a soft bed, because
+now and for the moment he was a forest sybarite. He was wise enough to
+take his ease when he found it, knowing that it would pay his body to
+relax.
+
+He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and spread
+the blanket over himself and the weapon. The twilight was gone, and the
+night, dark and without stars, as he wished to see it, rolled up, fold
+after fold, covering and hiding everything. He looked a little while at
+a breadth of inky sky showing through the leaves, and then, free from
+trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+
+
+Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves, fell upon
+his face. Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once more upon his back,
+and looked about him. Nothing had come in the night to disturb him,
+no enemy was near, and the morning sun was bright and beautiful. The
+venison was exhausted, but he bathed his face in the brook and resumed
+his journey, traveling with a long, swift stride that carried him at
+great speed.
+
+The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well, although
+nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to him. The country
+here was rougher than it usually is in the great valley to the west, and
+as he advanced it became yet more broken, range after range of steep,
+stony hills, with fertile but narrow little valleys between. He went
+on without hesitation for at least two hours, and then stopping under a
+great oak he uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+
+It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating, carrying far
+through the forest. A sound like an echo came back, but Henry knew that
+instead of an echo it was a reply to his own signal. Then he advanced
+boldly and swiftly and came to the edge of a snug little valley set deep
+among rocks and trees like a bowl. He stopped behind the great trunk of
+a beech, and looked into the valley with a smile of approval.
+
+Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals that
+gave forth no smoke. They appeared to be absorbed in some very pleasant
+task, and a faint odor that came to Henry's nostrils filled him with
+agreeable anticipations. He stepped forward boldly and called:
+
+“Jim, save that piece for me!”
+
+Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that he had
+toasted on a stick. Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his feet, Silent Tom
+Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+
+“Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast.”
+
+Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded him
+keenly.
+
+“I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot race,” he
+drawled.
+
+“And why do you think that?” asked Henry.
+
+“I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. Reckon
+that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry.”
+
+“You're right,” said Henry. “Now, Jim, you've been holding that venison
+in the air long enough. Give it to me, and after I've eaten it I'll tell
+you all that I've been doing, and all that's been done to me.”
+
+Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in the
+circle before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a powerful
+human creature whose food had been more than scanty for at least two
+days.
+
+“Take another piece,” said Long Jim, observing him with approval. “Take
+two pieces, take three, take the whole deer. I always like to see a
+hungry man eat. It gives him sech satisfaction that I git a kind uv
+taste uv it myself.”
+
+Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
+Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
+
+“Boys, I've got a lot to tell.”
+
+Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+
+“I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins.”
+
+“It has,” continued Henry with emphasis, “and I want to say to you boys
+that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.”
+
+“Timmendiquas!” exclaimed the others together.
+
+“No less a man than he,” resumed Henry. “I've looked upon his very face,
+I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
+pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you
+see those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol.”
+
+“Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to
+continued war,” said Paul Cotter, “and he will succeed. He is a mighty
+chief, and his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet.
+I'm glad that we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees
+and the Miamis; I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some
+people out of the way before the blow falls.”
+
+“Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?”
+ asked Long Jim.
+
+“Their name is as big as it sounds,” replied Henry. “They are the
+Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
+used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south
+and fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the
+league, as a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard,
+formed the league a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the
+grand sachem or high priest of them all, but the head chief of the
+Mohawks is the leading war chief.”
+
+“I've heard,” said Paul, “that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all
+these tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
+friendliness to Timmendiquas.”
+
+“Seems to me,” said Tom Ross, “that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
+job ahead.”
+
+“Then,” said Henry, “we must make a most tremendous big effort.”
+
+“That's so,” agreed all.
+
+After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
+remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on
+the leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have
+something worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but
+they always came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of
+a famous Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to
+the Americans as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense
+animosity against the white people, who encroached, every year, more and
+more upon the Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of
+Timmendiquas, and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater
+endeavor for the undoing of the white man. What more likely than that
+they intended to meet?
+
+“All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?” said Henry.
+
+They nodded.
+
+“It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him. I remember
+hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred miles to the
+east of this point was a Long House or Council House of the Six Nations.
+Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we must go, too. We must find out
+where they intend to strike. What do you say?”
+
+“We go there!” exclaimed four voices together.
+
+Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+
+As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and the others rose with him.
+Saying no more, he led toward the east, and the others followed him,
+also saying no more. Separately every one of them was strong, brave, and
+resourceful, but when the five were together they felt that they had the
+skill and strength of twenty. The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored
+them after the dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New
+Orleans.
+
+They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and bullet, and
+they did not fear any task.
+
+Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy forest,
+but often without undergrowth. They avoided the open spaces, preferring
+to be seen of men, who were sure to be red men, as little as possible.
+Their caution was well taken. They saw Indian signs, once a feather that
+had fallen from a scalp lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a
+deer recently thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it. The
+country seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky. Small settlements, so
+they had heard, were scattered at great distances through the forest,
+but they saw none. There was no cabin smoke, no trail of the plow, just
+the woods and the hills and the clear streams. Buffalo had never reached
+this region, but deer were abundant, and they risked a shot to replenish
+their supplies.
+
+They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula at the
+confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. Henry judged
+that they were well within the western range of the Six Nations, and
+they cooked their deer meat over a smothered fire, nothing more than
+a few coals among the leaves. When supper was over they arranged soft
+places for themselves and their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose
+turn it was to scout among the woods for a possible foe.
+
+“Don't be gone long, Jim,” said Henry as he composed himself in a
+comfortable position. “A circle of a half mile about us will do.”
+
+“I'll not be gone more'n an hour,” said Long Jim, picking up his rifle
+confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+
+“Not likely he'll see anything,” said Shif'less Sol, “but I'd shorely
+like to know what White Lightning is about. He must be terrible stirred
+up by them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an' they say that Mohawk,
+Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. They'll shorely make a heap
+of trouble.”
+
+“But both of them are far from here just now,” said Henry, “and we won't
+bother about either.”
+
+He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm under
+his head and his blanket over his body. He had a remarkable capacity for
+dismissing trouble or apprehension, and just then he was enjoying great
+physical and mental peace. He looked through half closed eyes at his
+comrades, who also were enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce
+Long Jim in the forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and
+finding no menace.
+
+“Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?” said the shiftless one. “I like a
+clean, bold country like this. No more plowin' around in swamps for me.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry sleepily, “it's a good country.”
+
+The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+
+“Time for Long Jim to be back.”
+
+“Jim don't do things by halves,” said the shiftless one. “Guess he's
+beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes. He'll be here soon.”
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half hour,
+and no sign of him. Henry cast off the blanket and stood up. The night
+was not very dark and he could see some distance, but he did not see
+their comrade.
+
+“I wonder why he's so slow,” he said with a faint trace of anxiety.
+
+“He'll be 'long directly,” said Tom Ross with confidence.
+
+Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim. Henry sent forth the low
+penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a signal.
+
+“He cannot fail to hear that,” he said, “and he'll answer.”
+
+No answer came. The four looked at one another in alarm. Long Jim had
+been gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue. His failure to
+reply to the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened
+or that--he had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
+
+The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while
+in silence.
+
+“What do you think it means?” asked Paul.
+
+“It must be all right,” said Shif'less Sol. “Mebbe Jim has lost the
+camp.”
+
+Henry shook his head.
+
+“It isn't that,” he said. “Jim is too good a woodsman for such a
+mistake. I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think
+something has happened to Jim.”
+
+“Suppose you an' me go an' look for him,” said Shif'less Sol, “while
+Paul and Tom stay here an' keep house.”
+
+“We'd better do it,” said Henry. “Come, Sol.”
+
+The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the
+darkness, while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of the
+trees and waited.
+
+Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about the
+camp in a great circle and then in another yet greater. They did not
+find Jim, and the dusk was so great that they saw no evidences of his
+trail. Long Jim had disappeared as completely as if he had left the
+earth for another planet. When they felt that they must abandon the
+search for the time, Henry and Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a
+dismay that the dusk could not hide.
+
+“Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it,” said the
+shiftless one hopefully. “If anything looked mysterious an' troublesome,
+Jim would want to hunt it down.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry, “but we've got to go back to the camp now and
+report failure. Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I don't like it,
+Sol, I don't like it!”
+
+“No more do I,” said Shif'less Sol. “'Tain't like Jim not to come back,
+ef he could. Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow.”
+
+They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out of the
+darkness.
+
+“You ain't seen him?” said Tom, noting that but two figures had
+returned.
+
+“Not a trace,” replied Henry. “It's a singular thing.”
+
+The four talked together a little while, and they were far from
+cheerful. Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch, sitting
+with his back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. All the peace
+and content that he had felt earlier in the evening were gone. He was
+oppressed by a sense of danger, mysterious and powerful. It did not seem
+possible that Long Jim could have gone away in such a noiseless manner,
+leaving no trace behind. But it was true.
+
+He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an enemy.
+He was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin figure coming
+among the bushes, and then hear the old pleasant drawl. But he did not
+see the figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+
+Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches. Paul, Sol, and
+Tom were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his life. He tried
+to put away the feeling of mystery and danger. He assured himself that
+Long Jim would soon come, delayed by some trail that he had sought to
+solve. Nothing could have happened to a man so brave and skillful. His
+nerves must be growing weak when he allowed himself to be troubled so
+much by a delayed return.
+
+But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none of them.
+The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but the light that it
+threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. Henry's feeling of mystery
+and danger deepened. Once he thought he heard a rustling in the thicket
+and, finger on the trigger of his rifle, he stole among the bushes to
+discover what caused it. He found nothing and, returning to his lonely
+watch, saw that Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly. But
+Henry was annoyed greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to
+trace its origin. After an hour's watching he looked a second time. The
+result was once more in vain, and he resumed his seat upon the leaves,
+with his back reclining against an oak. Here, despite the fact that the
+night was growing darker, nothing within range of a rifle shot could
+escape his eyes.
+
+Nothing stirred. The noise did not come a second time from the thicket.
+The very silence was oppressive. There was no wind, not even a stray
+puff, and the bushes never rustled. Henry longed for a noise of some
+kind to break that terrible, oppressive silence. What he really wished
+to hear was the soft crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and
+leaves.
+
+The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. Long
+Jim was still missing and their alarm was justified. Whatever trail lie
+might have struck, he would have returned in the night unless something
+had happened to him. Henry had vague theories, but nothing definite, and
+he kept them to himself. Yet they must make a change in their plans. To
+go on and leave Long Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable.
+No task could interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+
+“We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian countries,” said
+Henry. “We are on the fringe of the region over which the Six Nations
+roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a band of the Wyandots are here
+also. Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees have come, too.”
+
+“We've got to find Long Jim,” said Silent Tom briefly.
+
+They went about their task in five minutes. Breakfast consisted of cold
+venison and a drink from a brook. Then they began to search the forest.
+They felt sure that such woodsmen as they, with the daylight to help
+them, would find some trace of Long Jim, but they saw none at all,
+although they constantly widened their circle, and again tried all their
+signals. Half the forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held
+a council.
+
+“I think we'd better scatter,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' meet here again
+when the sun marks noon.”
+
+It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little hill
+crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy to remember.
+Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was so dense that in two
+minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. He went several miles,
+and his search was most rigid. He was amazed to find that the sense of
+mystery and danger that he attributed to the darkness of the night did
+not disappear wholly in the bright daylight. His spirit, usually so
+optimistic, was oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would
+find Long Jim.
+
+At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the black
+oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw Shif'less Sol coming
+from another. The shiftless one walked despondently. His gait was loose
+and shambling-a rare thing with him, and Henry knew that he, too,
+had failed. He realized now that he had not expected anything else.
+Shif'less Sol shook his head, sat down on a root and said nothing. Henry
+sat down, also, and the two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+
+“The others will be here directly,” said Henry, “and perhaps Long Jim
+will be with one of them.”
+
+But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the shiftless one
+knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+
+“If not,” said Henry, resolved to see the better side, “we'll stay
+anyhow until we find him. We can't spare good old Long Jim.”
+
+Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie saw
+the bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+
+“There comes Tom,” he said, after a single comprehensive glance, “and
+he's alone.”
+
+Tom Ross was also a dejected figure. He looked at the two on the hill,
+and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was not with them,
+became more dejected than before.
+
+“Paul's our last chance,” he said, as he joined them. “He's gen'rally a
+lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry fervently. “He ought to be along in a few
+minutes.”
+
+They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that Paul
+would bring in the missing man, but Paul was late. The noon hour was
+well past. Henry took a glance at the sun. Noon was gone at least a half
+hour, and he stirred uneasily.
+
+“Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight,” he said.
+
+“No,” said Shif'less Sol, “he couldn't get lost!”
+
+Henry noticed his emphasis on the word “lost,” and a sudden fear sprang
+up in his heart. Some power had taken away Long Jim; could the same
+power have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and he paled under his
+brown, turning away lest the others see his face. All three now examined
+the whole circle of the horizon for a sight of moving bushes that would
+tell of the boy's coming.
+
+The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over everything, and
+Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an hour past due, and the
+three, oppressed already by Long jim's disappearance, were convinced
+that he would not return. But they gave him a half hour longer. Then
+Henry said:
+
+“We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever happens we
+three must stay together.”
+
+“I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself,” said the
+shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw trace of
+footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly,
+lost on hard ground, and after that there was nothing. They stopped
+shortly before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
+
+“What do you think of it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I don't know what to think,” replied the youth, “but it seems to me
+that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also.”
+
+“Looks like it,” said Sol, “an' I guess it follers that we're in the
+same kind o' danger.”
+
+“We three of us could put up a good fight,” said Henry, “and I propose
+that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here.”
+
+“Yes, an' watch good,” said Tom Ross.
+
+Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the
+low boughs of a tree. Their supper was a little venison, and then they
+watched the coming of the darkness. It was a heavy hour for the three.
+Long Jim was gone, and then Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the
+pet of the little band.
+
+“Ef we could only know how it happened,” whispered Shif'less Sol, “then
+we might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim back. But you
+can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. In all them fights o'
+ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed what wuz ag'inst us, but
+here we don't know nothin'.”
+
+“It is true, Sol,” sighed Henry. “We were making such big plans, too,
+and before we can even start our force is cut nearly in half. To-morrow
+we'll begin the hunt again. We'll never desert Paul and Jim, so long as
+we don't know they're dead.”
+
+“It's my watch,” said Tom. “You two sleep. We've got to keep our
+strength.”
+
+Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest spots
+under the tree sat down. Tom Ross took his place about ten feet in front
+of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands clasped around his knees,
+and his rifle resting on his arm. Henry watched him idly for a little
+while, thinking all the time of his lost comrades. The night promised to
+be dark, a good thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+
+Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away, knew by
+his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was still wide-eyed.
+
+The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping slowly,
+and the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small circle. Within this
+area the distinctive object was the figure of Tom Ross, sitting with
+his rifle across his knees. Tom had an infinite capacity for immobility.
+Henry had never seen another man, not even an Indian, who could remain
+so long in one position contented and happy. He believed that the silent
+one could sit as he was all night.
+
+His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for him. Would
+he remain absolutely still? He would certainly shift an arm or a leg.
+Henry's interest in the question kept him awake. He turned silently
+on the other side, but, no matter how intently he studied the sitting
+figure of his comrade, he could not see it stir. He did not know how
+long he had been awake, trying thus to decide a question that should be
+of no importance at such a time. Although unable to sleep, he fell into
+a dreamy condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent
+sentinel.
+
+He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. The
+exciting question was solved at last. The man would not sit all night
+absolutely immovable. There could be no doubt of the fact that he had
+raised an arm, and that his figure had straightened. Then he stood
+up, full height, remained motionless for perhaps ten seconds, and then
+suddenly glided away among the bushes.
+
+Henry knew what this meant. Tom had heard something moving in the
+thickets, and, like a good sentinel, he had gone to investigate. A
+rabbit, doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. Henry rose to a
+sitting position, and drew his own rifle across his knees. He would
+watch while Tom was gone, and then lie would sink quietly back, not
+letting his comrade know that lie had taken his place.
+
+The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets. Light clouds
+drifted before the moon. Henry, sitting with his rifle across his knees,
+and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were invisible, but Henry saw
+beyond the circle of darkness that enveloped them into the grayish light
+that fell over the bushes. He marked the particular point at which he
+expected Tom Ross to appear, a slight opening that held out invitation
+for the passage of a man.
+
+He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the
+sentinel did not return. Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy state.
+He felt with all the terrible thrill of certainty that what happened to
+Long Jim and Paul had happened also to Silent Tom Ross. He stood erect,
+a tense, tall figure, alarmed, but not afraid. His eyes searched the
+thickets, but saw nothing. The slight movement of the bushes was made by
+the wind, and no other sound reached his ears.
+
+But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions
+were sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank
+down in a crouching position, where he would offer the least target for
+the eye.
+
+The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
+of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
+that he had seen.
+
+“Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him,” whispered the shiftless one
+at once.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+“An' we're bound to look for him right now,” continued Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
+Sol, we must follow 'em together.”
+
+“It would be safer,” said Sol. “I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an'
+I want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves.”
+
+It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
+the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
+same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
+But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too,
+had vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
+strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
+to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
+stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost
+like walls.
+
+“It will be daylight soon,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' I think we'd better
+lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything,
+so we'd better wait an' see what will find us.”
+
+“It looks like the best plan to me,” said Henry, “but I think we might
+first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
+over there.”
+
+“That's so,” replied Shif'less Sol, “but the water is at least seven
+feet deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose
+you go up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin
+give a signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four
+hundred yards.”
+
+Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
+stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
+soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred
+yards lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he
+uttered the low cry that was their signal, and went back to meet
+Shif'less Sol. He reached the exact point at which they had parted, and
+waited. The shiftless one did not come. The last of his comrades was
+gone, and he was alone in the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+
+
+Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the
+exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had
+parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming.
+The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had
+taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and
+with all the five senses developed to the highest pitch. Yet his powers
+had availed him nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running
+down his spine.
+
+Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his
+instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the
+forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly
+hidden that no one could see him ten feet away. There he lay down
+and rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four
+disappearances. They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his
+duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the
+greater. Such a thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own
+life never entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would
+penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+
+It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and method. To
+approach an arduous task right one must possess freshness and vigor, and
+one could have neither without sleep. His present place of hiding seemed
+to be as secure as any that could be found. So composing himself he took
+all chances and sought slumber. Yet it needed a great effort of the will
+to calm his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any
+of the soothing effect that precedes sleep. But fall asleep he did at
+last, and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the morning.
+
+Henry did not awake to a bright day. The sun had risen, but it was
+obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. A cold wind
+began to blow, and with it came drops of rain. He shivered despite the
+enfolding blanket. The coming of the morning had invariably brought
+cheerfulness and increase of spirits, but now he felt depression. He
+foresaw heavy rain again, and it would destroy any but the deepest
+trail. Moreover, his supplies of food were exhausted and he must
+replenish them in some manner before proceeding further.
+
+A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have despaired.
+He had found his comrades, only to lose them again, and the danger that
+had threatened them, and the elements as well, now threatened him, too.
+An acute judge of sky and air, he knew that the rain, cold, insistent,
+penetrating, would fall all day, and that he must seek shelter if he
+would keep his strength. The Indians themselves always took to cover at
+such times.
+
+He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well from neck
+to ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but with his hand
+upon it, ready for instant use if it should be needed. Then he started,
+walking straight ahead until he came to the crown of a little hill.
+The clouds meanwhile thickened, and the rain, of the kind that he had
+foreseen and as cold as ice, was blown against him. The grass and bushes
+were reeking, and his moccasins became sodden. Despite the vigorous
+walking, lie felt the wet cold entering his system. There come times
+when the hardiest must yield, and he saw the increasing need of refuge.
+
+He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill. All around was a
+dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped everywhere. There was
+no open country. All was forest, and the heavy rolling masses of foliage
+dripped with icy water, too.
+
+Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised that in
+a valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that he craved. He
+needed it badly. As he stood there he shivered again and again from
+head to foot, despite the folds of the blanket. So he started at once,
+walking fast, and feeling little fear of a foe. It was not likely that
+any would be seeking him at such a time. The rain struck him squarely
+in the face now. Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was
+pressed against the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds
+of the blanket, little streams of it, like ice to the touch, flowed down
+his neck and made their way under his clothing. He could not remember a
+time when he had felt more miserable.
+
+He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised, was the
+edge of a considerable valley. He ran down the slope, and looked all
+about for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak in the lee of a hill,
+or an outcropping of stone, but he saw neither, and, as he continued
+the search, he came to marshy ground. He saw ahead among the weeds and
+bushes the gleam of standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when
+he noticed three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one
+another, projecting slightly above the black muck. It struck him that
+the stones would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity
+aroused, he stepped lightly from one stone to another. When he came to
+the last stone that he had seen from the hard ground he beheld several
+more that had been hidden from him by the bushes. Sure now that he had
+happened upon something not created by nature alone, he followed these
+stones, leading like steps into the very depths of the swamp, which was
+now deep and dark with ooze all about him. He no longer doubted that the
+stones, the artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest
+eye and most logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he was
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and the
+last thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. Then he came
+to a bit of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire, upon which he could
+stand without sinking at all. He looked back from there, and he could
+not see his point of departure. Bushes, weeds, and saplings grew out of
+the swamp to a height of a dozen or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed
+completely. All the vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place
+was one of the most dismal that he had ever seen. But he had no thought
+of turning back.
+
+Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he inferred
+from the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from the fact that
+an odd one here and there had sunk completely out of sight-that they had
+not been used in a long time, perhaps for years. He found on the other
+side of the islet a second line of stones, and they led across a marsh,
+that was almost like a black liquid, to another and larger island.
+
+Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of large
+trees. It seemed to Henry that this island might be seventy or eighty
+yards across, and he began at once to explore it. In the center,
+surrounded so closely by swamp oaks that they almost formed a living
+wall, he found what he had hoped to find, and his relief was so great
+that, despite his natural and trained stoicism, he gave a little cry of
+pleasure when he saw it.
+
+A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois
+fashion, stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost the
+whole of the space. It was apparently abandoned long ago, and time
+and weather had done it much damage. But the bark walls, although they
+leaned in places at dangerous angles, still stood. The bark roof was
+pierced by holes on one side, but on the other it was still solid, and
+shed all the rain from its slope.
+
+The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark cunningly
+joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw that he could
+make use of it. He stepped inside. The hut had a bark floor which was
+dry on one side, where the roof was solid, but dripping on the other.
+Several old articles of Indian use lay about. In one corner was a basket
+woven of split willow and still fit for service. There were pieces of
+thread made of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm. There were
+also a piece of pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon
+such as every Iroquois carried. In the corner farthest from the door
+was a rude fireplace made of large flat stones, although there was no
+opening for the smoke.
+
+Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion that
+it was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an inquiring mind who
+had found this secret place, and who had recognized its possibilities.
+Here after an expedition for game he could lie hidden from enemies and
+take his comfort without fear. Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy
+days like the present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm
+of which the Indian is capable.
+
+Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and carved
+beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf. Henry picked it tip and
+examined the bowl. It was as dry as a bone, and not a particle of
+tobacco was left there. He believed that it had not been used for at
+least a year. Doubtless the Indian who had built this hunting lodge had
+fallen in some foray, and the secret of it had been lost until Henry
+Ware, seeking through the cold and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+
+It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark, all
+a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry was strong
+and skillful. He covered the holes in the roof with fallen pieces of
+bark, laying heavy pieces of wood across them to hold them in place.
+Then he lifted the bark shutter into position and closed the door. Some
+drops of rain still came in through the roof, but they were not many,
+and he would not mind them for the present. Then he opened the door and
+began his hardest task.
+
+He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing fallen
+wood, he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the inside. It was
+slow work and he was very cold, his wet feet sending chills through
+him, but he persevered, and the little heap of dry splinters grew to
+a respectable size. Then he cut larger pieces, laying them on one side
+while he worked with his flint and steel on the splinters.
+
+Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful, and
+Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it finally
+took hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. He watched it
+as it ran along the little piece of wood and ignited another and then
+another, the beautiful little red and yellow flames leaping up half a
+foot in height. Already he felt the grateful warmth and glow, but he
+would not let himself indulge in premature joy. He fed it with larger
+and larger pieces until the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and
+yellow, rose at least two feet, and big coals began to form. He left
+the door open a while in order that the smoke might go out, but when the
+fire had become mostly coals he closed it again, all except a crack of
+about six inches, which would serve at once to let any stray smoke out,
+and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+
+Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected, proceeded to
+luxuriate. He spread the soaked blanket out on the bark floor, took off
+the sodden moccasins and placed them at one angle of the fire, while
+he sat with his bare feet in front. What a glorious warmth it was! It
+seemed to enter at his toes and proceed upward through his body, seeking
+out every little nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full
+of new glow and life.
+
+He sat there a long time, his being radiating with physical comfort. The
+moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the other. Finally they dried
+all over and all through, and he put them on again. Then he hung the
+blanket on the bark wall near the fire, and it, too, would be dry in
+another hour or so. He foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and
+sleep. Now if one only had food! But he must do without that for the
+present.
+
+He rose and tested all his bones and muscles. No stiffness or soreness
+had come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. He was fit for
+any physical emergency. He looked out through the crevice. Night was
+coming, and on the little island in the swamp it looked inexpressibly
+black and gloomy. His stomach complained, but he shrugged his shoulders,
+acknowledging primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire.
+There he sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+
+In the last hour or two Henry did not move. He remained before the fire,
+crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed the flame of life
+in him. A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice at the door, fell on the
+earth outside, but it did not pass beyond the close group of circling
+trees. The rain still fell with uncommon steadiness and persistence,
+but at times hail was mingled with it. Henry could not remember in his
+experience a more desolate night. It seemed that the whole world dwelt
+in perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it.
+Yet within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm
+and bright, and he was not unhappy.
+
+He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the dry
+blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first raked ashes
+over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of his life. All
+night long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it, at intervals, came
+gusts of hail that rattled like bird shot on the bark walls of the hut.
+Some of the white pellets blew in at the door, and lay for a moment or
+two on the floor, then melted in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+
+But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry. He was as safe, for the
+time, in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at Pittsburgh
+or behind the palisades at Wareville. Dawn came, the sky still heavy and
+dark with clouds, and the rain still falling.
+
+Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became
+conscious of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now keep
+quiet. His was a powerful system, needing much nourishment, and he must
+eat. That hunger became so great that it was acute physical pain. He
+was assailed by it at all points, and it could be repelled by only one
+thing, food. He must go forth, taking all risks, and seek it.
+
+He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it might not
+blaze too high, and left the islet. The stepping stones were slippery
+with water, and his moccasins soon became soaked again, but he forgot
+the cold and wet in that ferocious hunger, the attacks of which became
+more violent every minute. He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or
+even a squirrel, but the animals themselves were likely to keep under
+cover in such a rain. He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended
+also by much danger--these woods must be full of Indians--but he thought
+little of the risk. His hunger was taking complete possession of his
+mind. He was realizing now that one might want a thing so much that it
+would drive away all other thoughts.
+
+Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
+through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce
+as a famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to
+anything. The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his
+hollow tree, and the deer did not leave his covert.
+
+Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so
+fearfully long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that
+it must be about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished
+panther to which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the
+circle of the dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and
+he knew that he could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he
+had no idea of returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else
+could resist was pushing him on his search.
+
+Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a
+thin and darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with
+certainty, that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation,
+turned his course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and
+containing the deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived
+beside himself in this wilderness.
+
+He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
+Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
+warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
+bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
+roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
+bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils.
+But it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible
+pang of hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+
+The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels,
+and they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they
+wanted. Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them
+as they ate strip after strip of the delicate, tender meat with the
+wonderful appetite that the Indian has after long fasting. A fierce,
+unreasoning anger and jealousy laid hold of him. He was starving, and
+they rejoiced in plenty only fifty yards away. He began to form plans
+for a piratical incursion upon them. Half the body of a deer lay near
+the edge of the opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away.
+It might be possible to escape with such spoil.
+
+Then he recalled his prudence. Such a thing was impossible. The whole
+band of warriors would be upon him in an instant. The best thing that he
+could do was to shut out the sight of so much luxury in which he could
+not share, and he crept away among the bushes wondering what he could
+do to drive away those terrible pains. His vigorous system was crying
+louder than ever for the food that would sustain it. His eyes were
+burning a little too brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+
+Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the feasting
+Indians under the bark shelters. He saw a warrior raise a bone, grasping
+it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender flesh that clothed it.
+The sight inflamed him into an anger almost uncontrollable. He clenched
+his fist and shook it at the warrior, who little suspected the proximity
+of a hatred so intense. Then he bent his head down and rushed away among
+the wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him across
+the face.
+
+Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. The aspect
+of air and sky had not changed. The heavens still dripped icy water,
+and there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. The game remained well
+hidden.
+
+It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing weak he
+made no haste. He came to dense clumps of bushes, and plowing his way
+through them, he saw a dark opening under some trees thrown down by an
+old hurricane. Having some vague idea that it might be the lair of a
+wild animal, he thrust the muzzle of his rifle into the darkness. It
+touched a soft substance. There was a growl, and a black form shot out
+almost into his face. Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his
+powers and faculties returned. He had stirred up a black bear, and
+before the animal, frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far
+the boy, careless how many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle and
+fired.
+
+His aim was good. The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was dead.
+Henry, transformed, ran up to him. Bear life had been given up to
+sustain man's. Here was food for many days, and he rejoiced with a great
+joy. He did not now envy those warriors back there.
+
+The bear, although small, was very fat. Evidently he had fed well on
+acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks which, to one with
+Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare. He calculated that it was
+more than a mile to the swamp, and, after a few preliminaries, he flung
+the body of the bear over his shoulder. Through some power of the mind
+over the body his full strength had returned to him miraculously, and
+when he reached the stepping stones he crossed from one to another
+lightly and firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+
+He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. The
+night had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the ashes, and
+there was plenty of dry wood. He did everything decently and in order.
+He took the pelt from the bear, carved the body properly, and then, just
+as the Indians had done, he broiled strips over the coals. He ate them
+one after another, slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as
+was the mere physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness.
+Not only was the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain the
+strength to seek his comrades.
+
+When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in
+several portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which evidently
+had been placed there by the former owner of the hut for this very
+purpose. Then, sure that the savor of the food would draw other wild
+animals, he brought one of the stepping stones and placed it on the
+inside of the door. The door could not be pushed aside without arousing
+him, and, secure in the knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE RED CHIEFS
+
+
+Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between midnight and
+morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even in sleep, warned
+him that something was at the door. He rose cautiously upon his arm, saw
+a dark muzzle at the crevice, and behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming
+eyes. He knew at once that it was a panther, probably living in the
+swamp and drawn by the food. It must be very hungry to dare thus the
+smell of man. Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the
+other end of which was a glowing coal. Then he seized it and hurled it
+directly at the inquisitive head.
+
+The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. There
+was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the big cat's
+feet as it fled into the swamp. Then he turned over on his side, and
+laughed in genuine pleasure at what was to him a true forest joke. He
+knew the panther would not come, at least not while he was in the hut,
+and he calmly closed his eyes once more. The old Henry was himself
+again.
+
+He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still falling. It
+seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever, but he was resolved,
+nevertheless, now that he had food and the strength that food brings, to
+begin the search for his comrades. The islet in the swamp would serve as
+his base-nothing could be better-and he would never cease until he found
+them or discovered what had become of them.
+
+A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet to lose
+itself quickly in the swamp. Henry drank there after his breakfast, and
+then felt as strong and active as ever. As he knew, the mind may triumph
+over the body, but the mind cannot save the body without food. Then
+he made his precious bear meat secure against the prowling panther or
+others of his kind, tying it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and
+too slender to support the weight of a large animal. This task finished
+quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie had
+seen the Mohawks.
+
+The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as the
+whole forest was enveloped in a sort of gloom, and he was less likely to
+be seen. But when he had gone about half the distance he heard Indians
+signaling to one another, and, burying himself as usual in the wet
+bushes, he saw two small groups of warriors meet and talk. Presently
+they separated, one party going toward the east and the other toward the
+west. Henry thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took
+little care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no
+matter how great the supply might be.
+
+When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these were
+traveling directly south. He was quite sure now that his theory was
+correct. They were sending out hunters in every direction, in order that
+they might beat up the woods thoroughly for game, and his own position
+anywhere except on the islet was becoming exceedingly precarious.
+Nevertheless, using all his wonderful skill, he continued the hunt. He
+had an abiding faith that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant
+to prove it.
+
+In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain decreased,
+though it did not cease. The Indian signs multiplied, and Henry felt
+sure that the forest within a radius of twenty miles of his islet
+contained more than one camp. Some great gathering must be in progress
+and the hunters were out to supply it with food. Four times he heard
+the sound of shots, and thrice more he saw warriors passing through
+the forest. Once a wounded deer darted past him, and, lying down in the
+bushes, he saw the Indians following the fleeing animal. As the day grew
+older the trails multiplied. Certainly a formidable gathering of bands
+was in progress, and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in a
+net, he returned to the islet, which had now become a veritable fort for
+him.
+
+It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had been
+except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which he
+had fastened the big pieces of bear meat. Henry felt a malicious
+satisfaction at the disappointment of the panthers.
+
+“Come again, and have the same bad luck,” he murmured.
+
+At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey in the
+night. He examined his powder carefully to see that no particle of it
+was wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and then examined the skies.
+There was a little moon, not too much, enough to show him the way, but
+not enough to disclose him to an enemy unless very near. Then he left
+the islet and went swiftly through the forest, laying his course a third
+time toward the Indian camp. He was sure now that all the hunters had
+returned, and he did not expect the necessity of making any stops for
+the purpose of hiding. His hopes were justified, and as he drew near the
+camp he became aware that its population had increased greatly. It was
+proved by many signs. New trails converged upon it, and some of them
+were very broad, indicating that many warriors had passed. They
+had passed, too, in perfect confidence, as there was no effort at
+concealment, and Henry surmised that no white force of any size could
+be within many days' march of this place. But the very security of the
+Indians helped his own design. They would not dream that any one of the
+hated race was daring to come almost within the light of their fires.
+
+Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs. If the Indians had
+any of their mongrel curs with them, they would quickly scent him
+out and give the alarm with their barking. But he believed that the
+probabilities were against it. This, so he thought then, was a war or
+hunting camp, and it was likely that the Indians would leave the dogs
+at their permanent villages. At any rate he would take the risk, and
+he drew slowly toward the oak opening, where some Indians stood about.
+Beyond them, in another dip of the valley, was a wider opening which
+he had not seen on his first trip, and this contained not only bark
+shelters, but buildings that indicated a permanent village. The second
+and larger opening was filled with a great concourse of warriors.
+
+Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many trees
+and thickets everywhere. Henry crept to the very rim, where, lying in
+the blackest of the shadows, and well hidden himself, he could yet see
+nearly everything in the camp. The men were not eating now, although it
+was obvious that the hunters had done well. The dressed bodies of deer
+and bear hung in the bark shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the
+fires, and it seemed to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At
+least two hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint,
+although there were several styles of paint. There was a difference
+in appearance, too, in the warriors, and Henry surmised that
+representatives of all the tribes of the Iroquois were there, coming to
+the extreme western boundary or fringe of their country.
+
+While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing and
+manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him and talked
+together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward the forest, and
+he was quite sure that they were expecting somebody, a person of
+importance. He became deeply interested. He was lying in a dense clump
+of hazel bushes, flat upon his stomach, his face raised but little above
+the ground. He would have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet
+away, but the faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight
+were so clearly visible to him that he could see every change of
+expression. They were fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall, lean,
+their noses hooked, features cut clean and strong, and their heads
+shaved, all except the defiant scalp lock, into which the feather of
+an eagle was twisted. Their bodies were draped in fine red or blue
+blankets, and they wore leggins and moccasins of beautifully tanned
+deerskin.
+
+They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing note
+from the west. Some one in the camp replied with a cry in kind, and then
+a silence fell upon them all. The chiefs stood erect, looking toward the
+west. Henry knew that he whom they expected was at hand.
+
+The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into the
+opening, in the full blaze of the firelight. He was entirely naked save
+for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild and savage figure.
+He stood for a moment or two, then faced the chiefs, and, bowing before
+them, spoke a few words in the Wyandot tongue-Henry knew already by his
+paint that he was a Wyandot.
+
+The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning, leaped
+back into the forest. In two or three minutes six men, including the
+herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a little when he saw the
+first of the six, all of whom were Wyandots. It was Timmendiquas, head
+chief of the Wyandots, and Henry had never seen him more splendid in
+manner and bearing than he was as he thus met the representatives of the
+famous Six Nations. Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was
+its valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only as
+an equal, in his heart a superior.
+
+It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment, burrowing
+in the earth that he might not lose his life at the hands of either, was
+an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas. It was the young Wyandot chief
+whom he wished to be first, to make the greatest impression, and he was
+pleased when he heard the low hum of admiration go round the circle of
+two hundred savage warriors. It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that
+the Iroquois had looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+
+Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the chiefs, and
+the Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois. Henry could tell by the manner
+of the chiefs that the reputation of the famous White Lightning had
+preceded him, and that they had already found fact equal to report.
+
+The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the fire,
+and all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance, where they stood
+and watched in silence. The oldest chief took his long pipe, beautifully
+carved and shaped like a trumpet, and filled it with tobacco which he
+lighted with a coal from the fire. Then he took two or three whiffs and
+passed the pipe to Timmendiquas, who did the same. Every chief smoked
+the pipe, and then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+
+Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a spectacle
+and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and that he was an
+enemy. He wondered now at their silence. If this was a council surely
+they would discuss whatever question had brought them there! But he was
+soon enlightened. That low far cry came again, but from the east. It
+was answered, as before, from the camp, and in three or four minutes a
+warrior sprang from the forest into the opening. Like the first, he was
+naked except for the breech cloth and moccasins. The chiefs rose at his
+coming, received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. Then
+he returned to the forest, and all waited in the splendid calm of the
+Indian.
+
+Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle. Who was coming now? It must be
+some man of great importance, or they would not wait so silently.
+There was the same air of expectancy that had preceded the arrival of
+Timmendiquas. All the warriors looked toward the eastern wall of the
+forest, and Henry looked the same way. Presently the black foliage
+parted, and a man stepped forth, followed at a little distance by seven
+or eight others. The stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to
+Timmendiquas, but he, too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it
+was evident to anyone versed at all in forest lore that here was a great
+chief. He was lean but sinewy, and he moved with great ease and grace.
+He reminded Henry of a powerful panther. He was dressed, after the
+manner of famous chiefs, with the utmost care. His short military coat
+of fine blue cloth bore a silver epaulet on either shoulder. His
+head was not bare, disclosing the scalp lock, like those of the other
+Indians; it was covered instead with a small hat of felt, round and
+laced. Hanging carelessly over one shoulder was a blanket of blue cloth
+with a red border. At his side, from a belt of blue leather swung a
+silver-mounted small sword. His leggins were of superfine blue cloth and
+his moccasins of deerskin. Both were trimmed with small beads of many
+colors.
+
+The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence that still
+held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet him. These two held
+the gaze of everyone, and what they and they alone did had become of
+surpassing interest. Each was haughty, fully aware of his own dignity
+and importance, but they met half way, looked intently for a moment or
+two into the eyes of each other, and then saluted gravely.
+
+All at once Henry knew the stranger. He had never seen him before, but
+his impressive reception, and the mixture of military and savage attire
+revealed him. This could be none other than the great Mohawk war chief,
+Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white men, terrible name on the border.
+Henry gazed at him eagerly from his covert, etching his features forever
+on his memory. His face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of
+Timmendiquas, and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the fire,
+and once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. The two young
+chiefs received the seats of favor, and others sat about them. But they
+were not the only great chiefs present, though all yielded first place
+to them because of their character and exploits.
+
+Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important council,
+although its extent exceeded even his surmise. Delegates and head chiefs
+of all the Six Nations were present to confer with the warlike Wyandots
+of the west who had come so far east to meet them. Thayendanegea was the
+great war chief of the Mohawks, but not their titular chief. The latter
+was an older man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.
+The other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled); the
+Oneida, O-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver); the Cayuga, Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He
+Who Looks Both Ways); the Seneca, Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake); and
+the Tuscarora, Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a
+Tree). The names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had
+formed the great confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council,
+and were also the high priests and titular head of the Six Nations. But
+the Mohawks were first on-the war path.
+
+All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan, camping in
+its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+
+Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their wonderful
+league, and their wonderful history. He knew that according to the
+legend the league had been formed by Hiawatha, an Onondaga. He was
+opposed in this plan by Tododaho, then head chief of the Onondagas,
+but he went to the Mohawks and gained the support of their great
+chief, Dekanawidah. With his aid the league was formed, and the solemn
+agreement, never broken, was made at the Onondaga Lake. Now they were a
+perfect little state, with fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs,
+fifty-six.
+
+Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn
+many of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he
+little dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the
+meeting of the fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike
+power of the Six Nations.
+
+Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
+listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the
+trope, allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the
+unseen deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic
+dreams. He spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which
+to the Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit,
+which was Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in
+the Iroquois belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was
+so mighty that he did not need body.
+
+“This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
+brave Wyandots,” he said to Timmendiquas. “Once there was no land, only
+the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam.
+Then he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls
+grew the Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined
+us and other tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave
+Wyandots.”
+
+Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker
+at this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other
+tribes. A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished
+to unite the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio
+valley. The coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense
+heat. Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back,
+revealing a bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of
+the Mohawks, a flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and
+Seneca head chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest
+of the Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great
+pipe, and the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.
+
+“We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,”
+ said Thayendanegea, “and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
+Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
+Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
+all our brethren of the Six Nations. All the land from the salt water to
+the setting sun was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not
+defend it we cannot keep it.”
+
+“It is so,” said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time. “We have
+fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come with their
+rifles and axes. The whole might of the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the
+Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the Ottawas has gone forth
+against them. We have slain many of them, but we have failed to drive
+them back. Now we have come to ask the Six Nations to press down upon
+them in the east with all your power, while we do the same in the west.
+Surely then your Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not
+refuse us success.”
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+
+“You speak well, Timmendiquas,” he said. “All the red men must unite to
+fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised above the sea, and
+we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to lead them to battle.”
+
+“It is so,” said Timmendiquas gravely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+
+
+Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes. He had forgotten about the dogs
+that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his surmise that the
+camp contained none. Nothing disturbed him while he stared at what was
+passing by the firelight. There could be no doubt that the meeting of
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not
+be stirred from his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their
+fate.
+
+They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse. Others-older men,
+chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them. But these two, proud,
+dominating, both singularly handsome men of the Indian type, were always
+there. Henry was almost ready to steal away when he saw a new figure
+approaching the two chiefs. The walk and bearing of the stranger were
+familiar, and HENRY knew him even before his face was lighted tip by
+the fire. It was Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great
+battles on both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. Henry
+felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could inspire in
+him. They fought for their own land and their own people, but Braxton
+Wyatt had violated everything that an honest man should hold sacred.
+
+Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him. Such a chance was
+sure to draw Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, the war, so far as it pertained to
+the border, seemed to be sweeping toward the northeast, and it bore many
+stormy petrels upon its crest.
+
+He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires. There the
+renegade sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the best
+of terms. He was presently joined by two more renegades, whom Henry
+recognized as Blackstaffe and Quarles. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+rose after a while, and walked toward the center of the camp, where
+several of the bark shelters had been enclosed entirely. Henry judged
+that one had been set apart for each, but they were lost from his view
+when they passed within the circling ring of warriors.
+
+Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a fortified
+camp here, a place from which they would make sudden and terrible forays
+upon the settlements. He based his opinion upon the good location and
+the great number of saplings that had been cut down already. They would
+build strong lodges and then a palisade around them with the saplings.
+He was speedily confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to
+the forest with hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings. He knew
+then that it was time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him at
+any time.
+
+He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. His limbs
+were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position, but that soon
+wore away, and he was comparatively fresh when he came once more to the
+islet in the swamp. A good moon was now shining, tipping the forest with
+a fine silvery gray, and Henry purveyed with the greatest satisfaction
+the simple little shelter that he had found so opportunely. It was a
+good house, too, good to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry.
+It was made of nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all
+that long, penetrating rain of the last three or four days, and when he
+lifted the big stone aside and opened the door it seemed as snug a place
+as he could have wished.
+
+He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat stones,
+having no fear that it would be seen through the dense curtain that shut
+him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the coals. When he had eaten
+and the fire had died he went out and sat beside the hut. He was well
+satisfied with the day's work, and he wished now to think with all
+the concentration that one must put upon a great task if he expects to
+achieve it. He intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well
+that it was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted.
+Yet scouts and hunters had done such things and had escaped with their
+lives. He must not shrink from the path that others had trodden.
+
+He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of
+operations. Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament that he
+began to regard the deed itself as almost achieved. Decision is always
+soothing after doubt, and he fell into a pleasant dreamy state. A gentle
+wind was blowing, the forest was dry and the leaves rustled with the low
+note that is like the softest chord of a violin. It became penetrating,
+thrillingly sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew.
+It was the same voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling
+him to be of heart and courage. He would triumph over hardships and
+dangers, and he would see his friends again.
+
+Henry started up from his vision. The song was gone, and he heard only
+the wind softly moving the leaves. It had been vague and shadowy as
+gossamer, light as the substance of a dream, but it was real to him,
+nevertheless, and the deep glow of certain triumph permeated his being,
+body and mind. It was not strange that he had in his nature something
+of the Indian mysticism that personified the winds and the trees
+and everything about him. The Manitou of the red man and the ancient
+Aieroski of the Iroquois were the same as his own God. He could not
+doubt that he had a message. Down on the Ohio he had had the same
+message more than once, and it had always come true.
+
+He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting perfectly
+still, he saw a black bear emerge into the open. It had gained the islet
+in some manner, probably floundering through the black mire, and the
+thought occurred to him that it was the mate of the one he had slain,
+drawn perhaps by instinct on the trail of a lost comrade. He could
+have shot the bear as he sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food
+soon-but he did not have the heart to do it.
+
+The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the human odor
+away from him, and sat back on his haunches. Henry did not believe that
+the animal had seen him or was yet aware of his presence, although he
+might suspect. There was something humorous and also pathetic in the
+visitor, who cocked his head on one side and looked about him. He made
+a distinct appeal to Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that
+the little bear could not be sure at first that he was a human being.
+A minute passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy. Henry
+felt pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain friendly
+relations only by remaining quiet.
+
+“If I have eaten your comrade, my friend,” he said to himself, “it is
+only because of hard necessity.” The bear, little, comic, and yet with
+that touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little further over on
+one side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell upon him Henry could
+see one red eye gleaming. It was a singular fact, but the boy, alone
+in the wilderness, and the loser of his comrades, felt for the moment a
+sense of comradeship with the bear, which was also alone, and doubtless
+the loser of a comrade, also. He uttered a soft growling sound like the
+satisfied purr of a bear eating its food.
+
+The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and looked in
+astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered sounds so familiar.
+Yet the figure was not familiar. He had never seen a human being before,
+and the shape and outline were very strange to him. It might be some new
+kind of animal, and he was disposed to be inquiring, because there was
+nothing in these forests which the black bear was afraid of until man
+came.
+
+He advanced a step or two and growled gently. Then he reared up again
+on his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his amusing manner.
+Henry, still motionless, smiled at him. Here, for an instant at least,
+was a cheery visitor and companionship. He at least would not break the
+spell.
+
+“You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow,” he said to himself,
+“and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of questions.”
+
+The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. It
+certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or twenty yards
+before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to solve the mystery
+of this creature. But caution held him back.
+
+There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze. It shifted about and
+brought the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest black bear.
+It was something entirely new to him, but it contained the quality of
+fear. That still strange figure was his deadliest foe. Dropping down
+upon his four paws, he fled among the trees, and then scrambled somehow
+through the swamp to the mainland.
+
+Henry sighed. Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned by
+instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
+himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into
+the hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left
+the islet once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he
+found it a most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting.
+As he had judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking
+in several directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the
+thickets, willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was
+advisable, moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was
+going to succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there
+through the forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed
+so numerous in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+
+He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
+distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
+cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
+would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected.
+He waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer.
+He knew that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first
+opinion.
+
+Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
+hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its
+discovery. Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness
+came, hiding his trail, to double back and regain the hut.
+
+He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
+It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as
+possible, annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along,
+stopping at intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had
+drawn near, but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the
+sky, willing that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+
+His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was
+setting. The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the
+east the forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and
+went back toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much
+closer to the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over
+the curve of the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs
+melted into a solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and
+with it its petty annoyances. He directed his course boldly now for the
+stepping stones, and traveled fast. Soon the first of them would be less
+than a hundred yards away.
+
+But the incident was not over. Wary and skillful though the young forest
+runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and it led to great
+consequences. As he skirted the edge of the swamp in the darkness, now
+fully come, a dusky figure suddenly appeared. It was a stray warrior
+from some small band, wandering about at will. The meeting was probably
+as little expected by him as it was by Henry, and they were so close
+together when they saw each other that neither had time to raise his
+rifle. The warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching
+out a knife, sprang at once upon his enemy.
+
+Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an immense
+effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of the Indian's
+knife hand, exerted all his great strength. The warrior wished to change
+the weapon from his right band, but he dared not let go with the other
+lest he be thrown down at once, and with great violence. His first
+rush having failed, he was now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not
+generally a wrestler. Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter
+and tighter around the red wrist. He wished to tear the knife from it,
+but he, too, was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two
+remained locked fast. Neither uttered a cry after the first contact, and
+the only sounds in the dark were their hard breathing, which turned to a
+gasp now and then, and the shuffle of their feet over the earth.
+
+Henry felt that it must end soon. One or the other must give way. Their
+sinews were already strained to the cracking point, and making a supreme
+effort he bore all his weight upon the warrior, who, unable to sustain
+himself, went down with the youth upon him. The Indian uttered a groan,
+and Henry, leaping instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen
+antagonist, who did not stir. He knew the cause. As they fell the point
+of the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's
+heart.
+
+Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the slain
+man in a sort of pity. He had not wished to take anyone's life, and, in
+reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. But it was a stern time
+and the feeling soon passed. The Wyandot, for such he was by his paint,
+would never have felt a particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+
+The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully at the
+still face. Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up in his brain,
+with such an impulse that it carried conviction. He would take this
+warrior's place and go to the Indian camp. So eager was he, and so
+full of his plan, that he did not feel any repulsion as he opened the
+warrior's deerskin shirt and took his totem from a place near his heart.
+It was a little deerskin bag containing a bunch of red feathers. This
+was his charm, his magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had
+failed him so woefully this time. Henry, not without a touch of the
+forest belief, put it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although
+he laughed at himself, that if the red man's medicine had any potency it
+should be on his own side.
+
+Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his war
+paint and the feather brush with which he put it on. The next hour
+witnessed a singular transformation. A white youth was turned into a red
+warrior. He cut his own hair closely, all except a tuft in the center,
+with his sharp hunting knife. The tuft and the close crop he stained
+black with the Indian's paint. It was a poor black, but he hoped that
+it would pass in the night. He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and
+intertwined it with a feather from the Indian's own tuft. Then he
+stained his face, neck, hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood
+forth a powerful young warrior of a western nation.
+
+He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the brush.
+Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge of the swamp and
+dropped it in. His object was not alone concealment, but burial as well.
+He still felt sorry for the unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him
+until he sank completely from sight in the mire. Then he turned away and
+traveled a straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+
+He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the bright
+moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection. By night, at least,
+it was certainly that of an Indian, and, summoning all his confidence,
+he continued upon his chosen and desperate task.
+
+Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his disguise,
+but he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was prepared to incur
+all risks and to endure all penalties. He even felt a certain lightness
+of heart as he hurried on his way, and at length saw through the forest
+the flare of light from the Indian camp.
+
+He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a good
+look into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In a single
+day the village had been enlarged much more. It seemed to him that it
+contained at least twice as many warriors. Women and children, too, had
+come, and he heard a stray dog barking here and there. Many more fires
+than usual were burning, and there was a great murmur of voices.
+
+Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about to
+plunge into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a time,
+too, when something of extreme importance was going on, but a little
+reflection showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many people, and so
+much ferment it was not at all likely that he would be noticed closely.
+It was his intention, if the necessity came, to pass himself off as a
+warrior of the Shawnee tribe who had wandered far eastward, but he meant
+to avoid sedulously the eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size
+and stature, divine his identity.
+
+As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether to wait
+a little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he became aware
+that all sounds in the village-for such it was instead of a camp-had
+ceased suddenly, except the light tread of feet and the sound of many
+people talking low. He saw through the bushes that all the Iroquois, and
+with them the detachment of Wyandots under White Lightning, were going
+toward a large structure in the center, which he surmised to be the
+Council House. He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west
+that the Iroquois built such structures.
+
+He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest importance
+was about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he left the bushes
+and entered the village, going with the crowd toward the great pole
+building, which was, indeed, the Council House.
+
+But little attention was paid to Henry. He would have drawn none at all,
+had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two glanced at him
+he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he had wandered far,
+and was glad to come to the hospitable Iroquois. One who could speak
+a little Shawnee bade him welcome, and they went on, satisfied, their
+minds more intent upon the ceremony than upon a visitor.
+
+The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles and
+thatch, was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet wide, with a
+large door on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other
+sides. As Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois
+were entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and
+women, and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and,
+knowing the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the
+ceremony, whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He
+himself drew to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow,
+but he was using to its utmost power every faculty of observation that
+Nature had given him.
+
+Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with
+great brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and
+investing with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive
+this ceremony, held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the
+primeval forest. Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which
+was at once a mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east
+with his own people and the election and welcome of their successors.
+
+The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was
+more generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
+Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient
+and undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of
+the Six Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were:
+Atotarho (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons
+(Looking Both Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The
+Scattered). They were men of stature and fine countenance, proud of
+the titular primacy that belonged to them because it was the Onondaga,
+Hiawatha, who had formed the great confederacy more than four hundred
+years before our day, or just about the time Columbus was landing on the
+shores of the New World.
+
+Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
+nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
+were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
+should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
+was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
+(Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+
+Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih
+(The Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+
+These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed the
+three senior nations. After them, in order of precedence, came
+the chiefs of the three junior nations, the Oneidas, Cayugas, and
+Tuscaroras. All of the great chiefs had assistant chiefs, usually
+relatives, who, in case of death, often succeeded to their places. But
+these assistants now remained in the crowd with other minor chiefs and
+the mass of the warriors. A little apart stood Timmendiquas and his
+Wyandots. He, too, was absorbed in the ceremony so sacred to him, an
+Indian, and he did not notice the tall figure of the strange Shawnee
+lingering in the deepest of the shadows.
+
+The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched across the
+clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where two young warriors
+had kindled a little fire of sticks as a signal of welcome. The chiefs
+gathered around the fire and spoke together in low tones. This was
+Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means “The Reception at the Edge of the Wood.”
+
+Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see, and his
+interest increased. He shared the spiritual feeling which was impressed
+upon the red faces about him. The bright moonlight, too, added to the
+effect, giving it the tinge of an old Druidical ceremony.
+
+The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. Then
+rose the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a procession of
+young and inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas, appeared, slowly approaching
+the fire. Behind them were warriors, and behind the warriors were many
+women and children. All the women were in their brightest attire, gay
+with feather headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the
+British posts.
+
+The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from the
+chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon, formed the men
+in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women and children grouped
+in an irregular mass behind them. The singing meanwhile had stopped. The
+two groups stood facing each other, attentive and listening.
+
+Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth in the
+space between the two groups, chanting a welcome. Like all Indian songs
+it was monotonous. Every line he uttered with emphasis and a rising
+inflection, the phrase “Haih-haih” which may be translated “Hail to
+thee!” or better, “All hail!” Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the
+wilderness and with rapt faces about him, it was deeply impressive.
+Henry found it so.
+
+Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the fire.
+Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his hands beautifully
+beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward and made a speech of
+condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. Then the head chiefs and
+the minor chiefs smoked pipes together, after which the head chiefs,
+followed by the minor chiefs, and these in turn by the crowd, led the
+way back to the village.
+
+Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still very
+grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by the sacred nature of
+this ancient rite. The chief entered the great door of the Long House,
+and all who could find places not reserved followed. Henry went in with
+the others, and sat in a corner, making himself as small as possible.
+Many women, the place of whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in
+the Long House.
+
+The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great room.
+In front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of the three
+older nations on the left, and of the three younger nations on the
+right. In front of these, but sitting on the bark floor, was a group of
+warriors. At the east end, on both high and low seats, were warriors,
+and facing them on the western side were women, also on both high
+and low seats. The southern side facing the chiefs was divided into
+sections, each with high and low seats. The one on the left was occupied
+by men, and the one on the right by women. Two small fires burned in the
+center of the Long House about fifteen feet apart.
+
+It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes that
+Henry had ever beheld. When all had found their seats there was a deep
+silence. Henry could hear the slight crackling made by the two fires as
+they burned, and the light fell faintly across the multitude of dark,
+eager faces. Not less than five hundred people were in the Long House,
+and here was the red man at his best, the first of the wild, not the
+second or third of the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins
+brings to the white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it
+does when that blood belongs to some other races.
+
+The effect upon Henry was singular. He almost forgot that he was a foe
+among them on a mission. For the moment he shared in their feelings, and
+he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+
+Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great chiefs.
+The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho, the Onondaga,
+but the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion to Thayendanegea, and
+there was no objection. Thayendanegea was an educated man, he had been
+in England, he was a member of a Christian church, and he had translated
+a part of the Bible from English into his own tongue, but now he was all
+a Mohawk, a son of the forest.
+
+He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six Nations, how
+Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired Hiawatha to form the
+Great Confederacy of the Five Nations, afterwards the Six; how they had
+held their hunting grounds for nearly two centuries against both English
+and French; and how they would hold them against the Americans. He
+stopped at moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long
+House. The eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator spoke of
+their glory and greatness. Timmendiquas, in a place of honor, nodded
+approval. If he could he would form such another league in the west.
+
+The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. It seemed
+to have in it a touch of fire. The orator's words burned. Swift and deep
+impressions were left upon the excited brain. The tall figure of the
+Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the half light, and the spell that he threw
+over all was complete.
+
+He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit down.
+Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long House that
+something more was coming from Thayendanegea. Suddenly the red chief
+began to sing in a deep, vibrant voice, and this was the song that he
+sung:
+
+
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+There was the same incessant repetition of “Haih haih!” that Henry had
+noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it seemed to give a
+cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and at every slight pause
+that deep breath of approval ran through the crowd in the Long House.
+The effect of the song was indescribable. Fire ran in the veins of all,
+men, women, and children. The great pulses in their throats leaped up.
+They were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the English
+since first a white man was seen in the land, and that would keep back
+the Americans now.
+
+Henry glanced at Timmendiquas. The nostrils of the great White Lightning
+were twitching. The song reached to the very roots of his being, and
+aroused all his powers. Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he
+saw that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than
+English or French had ever been. The Americans were upon the ground, and
+incessantly pressed upon the red man, eye to eye. Only powerful leagues
+like those of the Iroquois could withstand them.
+
+Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period
+lasting about two minutes. These silences seemed to be a necessary part
+of all Iroquois rites. When it closed two young warriors stretched an
+elm bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling,
+but between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs. Then they hung dressed
+skins all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the
+view of each other. This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a
+silence. The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little
+was to be seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. Then a
+slender man of middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation,
+arose and sang:
+
+
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song
+was sad. At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd
+in the Long House. Grief for the dead held them all. When he finished,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum,
+uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to
+which they listened patiently. The chant over, he handed the belts to
+an attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few
+moments and looked at them gravely.
+
+One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was
+purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace.
+They were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+
+When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a
+lake supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man
+tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the
+shore he found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred
+to him to use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He
+strung them on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league
+was formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For
+four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.
+
+Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
+returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once
+more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now
+he did not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and
+the time became faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow
+to exultation and menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and
+victory. The song sung as it was now became a genuine battle song,
+rousing and thrilling. The Long House trembled with the mighty chorus,
+and its volume poured forth into the encircling dark woods.
+
+All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
+holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
+attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now
+went to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires,
+asked who were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.
+
+The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among
+their own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and
+Henry was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of
+the brave Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as
+a great sign of friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the
+Mohawks, Keepers of the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the
+Iroquois tribes.
+
+As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
+than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long
+House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons
+of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among
+the Iroquois.
+
+The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened
+in grave silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was
+concluded. Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside--although
+that was much--and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the
+Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest
+two red chiefs on all the American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+
+
+Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping
+somewhat and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. But there
+was little danger now that any one would notice him, as long as he
+behaved with prudence, because all grief and solemnity were thrown
+aside, and a thousand red souls intended to rejoice. A vast banquet was
+arranged. Great fires leaped up all through the village. At every fire
+the Indian women, both young and old, were already far forward with the
+cooking. Deer, bear, squirrel, rabbit, fish, and every other variety
+of game with which the woods and rivers of western New York and
+Pennsylvania swarmed were frying or roasting over the coals, and the air
+was permeated with savory odors. There was a great hum of voices and
+an incessant chattering. Here in the forest, among themselves, and in
+complete security, the Indian stoicism was relaxed. According to their
+customs everybody fell to eating at a prodigious rate, as if they had
+not tasted anything for a month, and as if they intended to eat enough
+now to last another month.
+
+It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a long
+time, but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting crowd, and the
+flames of the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped and danced. This was
+an oasis of light and life. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together
+before the largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the
+others. Even at the banquet they would not relax their dignity as
+great chiefs. Old Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs
+though they were of the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as
+the rich Romans of the Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all
+kinds of meat, and drinking a sort of cider that the women made. Several
+warriors ate and drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires.
+The same warriors on the hunt or the war path would go for days without
+food, enduring every manner of hardship. Now and then a warrior would
+leap up and begin a chant telling of some glorious deed of his. Those at
+his own fire would listen, but elsewhere they took no notice.
+
+In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face
+suddenly uttered a sharp cry: “Hehmio!” which he rapidly repeated twice.
+Two score voices instantly replied, “Heh!” and a rush was made for him.
+At least a hundred gathered around him, but they stood in a respectful
+circle, no one nearer than ten feet. He waved his hand, and all sat down
+on the ground. Then, he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and
+with expectancy.
+
+He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and honored
+among the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than Hiawatha. He
+began at once the story of the warrior who learned to talk with the
+deer and the bear, carrying it on through many chapters. Now and then a
+delighted listener would cry “Hah!” but if anyone became bored and fell
+asleep it was considered an omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he
+was chased ignominiously to his tepee. The Iroquois romancer was better
+protected than the white one is. He could finish some of his stories in
+one evening, but others were serials. When he arrived at the end of the
+night's installment he would cry, “Si-ga!” which was equivalent to our
+“To be continued in our next.” Then all would rise, and if tired would
+seek sleep, but if not they would catch the closing part of some other
+story-teller's romance.
+
+At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden flute of
+their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not without a certain
+sweetness. In a corner a half dozen warriors hurt in battle were bathing
+their wounds with a soothing lotion made from the sap of the bass wood.
+
+Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the feasting,
+hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a space to the
+story-tellers and the enthusiastic “Hahs!” They were so full of feasting
+and merrymaking now that one could almost do as he pleased, and he stole
+toward the southern end of the village, where he had noticed several
+huts, much more strongly built than the others. Despite all his natural
+skill and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the first.
+He was about to achieve the great exploration upon which he had ventured
+so much. Whether he would find anything at the end of the risk he ran,
+he was soon to see.
+
+The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was built
+strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a clapboard door
+fastened stoutly on the outside with withes. The hut was well in the
+shadow of tepees, and all were still at the feasting and merrymaking.
+He cut the withes with two sweeps of his sharp hunting knife, opened the
+door, bent his head, stepped in and then closed the door behind him, in
+order that no Iroquois might see what had happened.
+
+It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between the
+poles, and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of bark. They
+revealed also a figure lying full length on one side of the hut. A great
+pulse of joy leaped up in Henry's throat, and with it was a deep pity,
+also. The figure was that of Shif'less Sol, but he was pale and thin,
+and his arms and legs were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+
+Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he did not
+stir. Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually so sensitive to
+the lightest movement, he perceived nothing now, and, had he not found
+him bound, Henry would have been afraid that he was looking upon his
+dead comrade. The hands of the shiftless one, when the hands were cut,
+had fallen limply by his side, and his face looked all the more pallid
+by contrast with the yellow hair which fell in length about it. But it
+was his old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the
+five to vanish so mysteriously.
+
+Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder. The captive yawned,
+stretched himself a little, and lay still again with closed eyes.
+Henry shook him a second time and more violently. Shif'less Sol sat up
+quickly, and Henry knew that indignation prompted the movement. Sol held
+his arms and legs stiffly and seemed to be totally unconscious that they
+were unbound. He cast one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the
+tall warrior bending over him.
+
+“I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever name you
+like better!” he exclaimed. “I won't show you how to surprise the white
+settlements. You can burn me at the stake or tear me in pieces first.
+Now go away and let me sleep.”
+
+He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. It was
+then that he noticed for the first time that his hands were unbound.
+He held them up before his face, as if they were strange objects wholly
+unattached to himself, and gazed at them in amazement. He moved his legs
+and saw that they, too, were unbound. Then he turned his startled gaze
+upward at the face of the tall warrior who was looking down at him.
+Shif'less Sol was wholly awake now. Every faculty in him was alive, and
+he pierced through the Shawnee disguise. He knew who it was. He knew
+who had come to save him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the one
+word:
+
+“Henry!”
+
+The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which only many
+dangers endured together can give.
+
+“How did you get here?” asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+
+“I met an Indian in the forest,” replied Henry, “and well I am now he.”
+
+Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+
+“I see,” said he, “but how did you get through the camp? It's a big
+one, and the Iroquois are watchful. Timmendiquas is here, too, with his
+Wyandots.”
+
+“They are having a great feast,” replied Henry, “and I could go about
+almost unnoticed. Where are the others, Sol?”
+
+“In the cabins close by.”
+
+“Then we'll get out of this place. Quick! Tie up your hair! In the
+darkness you can easily pass for an Indian.”
+
+The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two slipped
+from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly retying the
+thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape might occur as late
+as possible. Then they stood a few moments in the shadow of the hut and
+listened to the sounds of revelry, the monotone of the story-tellers,
+and the chant of the singers.
+
+“You don't know which huts they are in, do you?” asked Henry, anxiously.
+
+“No, I don't,” replied the shiftless one.
+
+“Get back!” exclaimed Henry softly. “Don't you see who's passing out
+there?”
+
+“Braxton Wyatt,” said Sol. “I'd like to get my hands on that scoundrel.
+I've had to stand a lot from him.”
+
+“The score must wait. But first we'll provide you with weapons. See,
+the Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while they're at the
+feast.”
+
+A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by, and
+Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best, with its
+ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his semi-civilized attire,
+still remained in the shadow of the other hut.
+
+“Why not take four?” whispered the shiftless one. “We'll need them for
+the other boys.”
+
+Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily
+slipped back to the other side of the hut. A Wyandot and a Mohawk were
+passing, and they had eyes of hawks. Henry and Sol waited until the
+formidable pair were gone, and then began to examine the huts, trying to
+surmise in which their comrades lay.
+
+“I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall,” said Sol, “but I reckon from the
+talk that they are here. I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. A half
+dozen reds jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to draw a weepin.
+Timmendiquas was at the head uv 'em an' he just grinned. Well, he is a
+great chief, if he did truss me up like a fowl. I reckon the same thing
+happened to the others.”
+
+“Come closer, Sol! Come closer!” whispered Henry. “More warriors are
+walking this way. The feast is breaking up, and they'll spread all
+through the camp.”
+
+A terrible problem was presented to the two. They could no longer search
+among the strong huts, for their comrades. The opportunity to save had
+lasted long enough for one only. But border training is stern, and these
+two had uncommon courage and decision.
+
+“We must go now, Sol,” said Henry, “but we'll come back.”
+
+“Yes,” said the shiftless one, “we'll come back.”
+
+Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the forest
+before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence of an enemy.
+Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not pause. Henry led the
+way, and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair degree of speed.
+
+“You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry,” said
+Sol in a tone of humility. “When I wuz layin' thar in the lodge with my
+hands an' feet tied I wuz about eighty years old, jest ez stiff ez could
+be from the long tyin'. When I reached the edge o' the woods the blood
+wuz flowin' lively enough to make me 'bout sixty. Now I reckon I'm
+fifty, an' ef things go well I'll be back to my own nateral age in two
+or three hours.”
+
+“You shall have rest before morning,” said Henry, “and it will be in a
+good place, too. I can promise that.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say anything.
+Like the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most implicit confidence
+in their bold young leader. He had every reason to feel good. That
+painful soreness was disappearing from his ankles. As they advanced
+through the woods, weeks dropped from him one by one. Then the months
+began to roll away, and at last time fell year by year. As they
+approached the deeps of the forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde,
+the so called shiftless one, and wholly undeserving of the name, was
+young again.
+
+“I've got a fine little home for us, Sol,” said Henry. “Best we've had
+since that time we spent a winter on the island in the lake. This is
+littler, but it's harder to find. It'll be a fine thing to know you're
+sleeping safe and sound with five hundred Iroquois warriors only a few
+miles away.”
+
+“Then it'll suit me mighty well,” said Shif'less Sol, grinning broadly.
+“That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble servant, which is
+me.”
+
+They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+
+“Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?” he asked.
+
+“I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to,” he replied. “Jest you
+jump on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me only one jump
+behind you!”
+
+Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and behind
+him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one. It was now past midnight,
+and the moon was obscured. The keenest eyes twenty yards away could
+not have seen the two dusky figures as they went by leaps into the very
+heart of the great, black swamp. They reached the solid ground, and then
+the hut.
+
+“Here, Sol,” said Henry, “is my house, and yours, also, and soon, I
+hope, to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too.”
+
+“Henry,” said Shif'less Sol, “I'm shorely glad to come.”
+
+They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall, and
+soon were sound asleep.
+
+Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. They had
+eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily. Many times had they told the
+glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League, and many times had they
+gladly acknowledged the valor and worth of Timmendiquas and the brave
+little Wyandot nation. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side
+by side throughout the feast, but often other great chiefs were with
+them-Skanawati, Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the
+Mohawk; Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+
+Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges, and soon
+the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on the ground, wrapped
+in their blankets. The fires were allowed to sink low, and at last the
+older chiefs withdrew, leaving only Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+
+“You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois,” said
+Thayendanegea. “We can bring many more warriors than are here into the
+field, and we will strike the white settlements with you.”
+
+“The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great League,” said
+Timmendiquas proudly, “but no one has ever been before them in battle.”
+
+“You speak truth, as I have often heard it,” said Thayendanegea
+thoughtfully. Then he showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor, the
+finest in the village, and retired to his own.
+
+The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous
+decision. Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they would make
+a new and formidable attack upon the white settlements, and Timmendiquas
+and his fierce Wyandots would help them. All of them, from the oldest
+to the youngest, rejoiced in the decision, and, not least, the famous
+Thayendanegea. He hated the Americans most because they were upon
+the soil, and were always pressing forward against the Indian. The
+Englishmen were far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the
+march of the American would be less rapid. He would strike once more
+with the Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on the
+American rearguard. He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the Western
+Gate, would lead in the onset. Thayendanegea considered it a good
+night's work, and he slept peacefully.
+
+The great camp relapsed into silence. The warriors on the ground
+breathed perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the fires
+were permitted to smolder down to coals. Wolves and panthers drawn by
+the scent of food crept through the thickets toward the faint firelight,
+but they were afraid to draw near. Morning came, and food and drink
+were taken to the lodges in which four prisoners were held, prisoners
+of great value, taken by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his
+urgent insistence as hostages.
+
+Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were
+loosened they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty. The one who
+spoke in a slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to be the most
+dangerous of them all, was gone. Henry and Sol had taken the severed
+thongs with them, and there was nothing to show how the prisoner had
+disappeared, except that the withes fastening the door had been cut.
+
+The news spread through the village, and there was much excitement.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at the empty hut.
+Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol had gone, but he said
+nothing. Others believed that it was the work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The
+Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh (The Spirit of the Winds) had taken
+him away.
+
+“It is well to keep a good watch on the others,” said Timmendiquas, and
+Thayendanegea nodded.
+
+That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a great war
+council. A string of white wampum about a foot in length was passed
+to every chief, who held it a moment or two before handing it to his
+neighbors. It was then laid on a table in the center of the room, the
+ends touching. This signified harmony among the Six Nations. All the
+chiefs had been summoned to this place by belts of wampum sent to the
+different tribes by runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this
+honor belonged. All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of
+belts, and now this was done by the assembled chiefs.
+
+Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the real head
+of a brave and allied nation, was present throughout the council. His
+advice was asked often, and when he gave it the others listened with
+gravity and deference. The next day the village played a great game of
+lacrosse, which was invented by the Indians, and which had been played
+by them for centuries before the arrival of the white man. In this case
+the match was on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas
+and Senecas.
+
+The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great natural
+meadow surrounded by forest. The rival sides assembled opposite each
+other and bet heavily. All the stakes, under the law of the game, were
+laid upon the ground in heaps here, and they consisted of the articles
+most precious to the Iroquois. In these heaps were rifles, tomahawks,
+scalping knives, wampum, strips of colored beads, blankets, swords,
+belts, moccasins, leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in
+forays on the white settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of
+various kinds, boots, shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast
+assortment.
+
+These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older
+chiefs sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
+
+The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five hundred
+on each side, and already they began to show an excitement approaching
+that which animated them when they would go into battle. Their eyes
+glowed, and the muscles on their naked backs and chests were tense for
+the spring. In order to leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they
+wore no clothing at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist
+to the knee.
+
+The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of “byes” like
+those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart. But the goals of
+each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+
+At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants arranged
+themselves in two parallel lines facing each other, inside the area and
+about ten rods apart. Every man was armed with a strong stick three and
+a half to four feet in length, and curving toward the end. Upon
+this curved end was tightly fastened a network of thongs of untanned
+deerskin, drawn until they were rigid and taut. The ball with which they
+were to play was made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about
+the size of an ordinary apple.
+
+At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the chiefs,
+who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also score keepers.
+They kept tally of the game by cutting notches upon sticks. Every time
+one side put the ball through the other's goal it counted one, but there
+was an unusual power exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to
+the games of white men. If one side got too far ahead, its score was
+cut down at the discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more
+even, and also to protract it sometimes over three or four days. The
+warriors of the leading side might grumble among one another at the
+amount of cutting the chiefs did, but they would not dare to make any
+protest. However, the chiefs would never cut the leading side down to an
+absolute parity with the other. It was always allowed to retain a margin
+of the superiority it had won.
+
+The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became intense. Even
+the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness, while the brown bodies
+of the warriors shone in the sun, and the taut muscles leaped up under
+the skin. Fifty players on each side, sticks in hand, advanced to the
+center of the ground, and arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion
+of football players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their
+goals. Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+
+There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+beautiful of these appeared. She was not more than sixteen or seventeen
+years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer, and she was
+dressed in the finest and most richly embroidered deerskin. Her head was
+crowned with a red coronet, crested with plumes, made of the feathers of
+the eagle and heron. She wore silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+
+The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very center of
+the arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors, she placed it upon
+the ground. Then she sprang back and joined the throng of spectators.
+Two of the players, one from each side, chosen for strength and
+dexterity, advanced. They hooked the ball together in their united bats
+and thus raised it aloft, until the bats were absolutely perpendicular.
+Then with a quick, jerking motion they shot it upward. Much might
+be gained by this first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two
+players were equal, and it shot almost absolutely straight into the air.
+The nearest groups made a rush for it, and the fray began.
+
+Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually twenty or
+thirty on each side struck for the ball, and when they became exhausted
+or disabled were relieved by similar groups. All eventually came into
+action.
+
+The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity, assuming
+sometimes the aspect of a battle. Blows with the formidable sticks were
+given and received. Brown skins were streaked with blood, heads were
+cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. Such killings were not unusual in
+these games, and it was always considered the fault of the man who fell,
+due to his own awkwardness or unwariness. The body of the dead Cayuga
+was taken away in disgrace.
+
+All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and zeal,
+party relieving party. The meadow and the surrounding forest resounded
+with the shouts and yells of combatants and spectators. The old squaws
+were in a perfect frenzy of excitement, and their shrill screams of
+applause or condemnation rose above every other sound.
+
+On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one day, the
+chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. The game closed
+at sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas triumphant, and richer by far
+than they were in the morning. The Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped
+of their goods and crestfallen.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the game
+closely to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe. They and Quarles had wandered eastward with some Delawares,
+and had afterward joined the band of Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave
+them no very warm welcome. Quarles had left on some errand a few days
+before. They had rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by
+one, in the deep bush. But they had felt anger and disappointment when
+the fifth was not taken, also. Now both were concerned and alarmed over
+the escape of Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew apart from the
+Indians to discuss it.
+
+“I think,” said Wyatt, “that Hyde did not manage it himself, all alone.
+How could he? He was bound both hand and foot; and I've learned, too,
+Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles have been taken. That
+means one apiece for Hyde and the three prisoners that are left.”
+
+The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+
+“It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away,” said
+Blackstaffe, “and their taking of the rifles means that he and Hyde
+expect to rescue the other three in the same way. You think so, too?”
+
+“Of course,” replied Wyatt. “What makes the Indians, who are so
+wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so careless when
+they have a great feast?”
+
+Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“It is their way,” he replied. “You cannot change it. Ware must have
+noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of it. But I don't
+think any of the others will go that way.”
+
+“The boy Cotter is in here,” said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the side of a
+small hut. “Let's go in and see him.”
+
+
+“Good enough,” said Blackstaffe. “But we mustn't let him know that Hyde
+has escaped.”
+
+Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. He, too,
+was pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon him heavily-but
+Paul's spirit could never be daunted. He looked at the two renegades
+with hatred and contempt.
+
+“Well, you're in a fine fix,” said Wyatt sneeringly. “We just came in to
+tell you that we took Henry Ware last night.”
+
+Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that the
+renegade was lying.
+
+“I know better,” he said.
+
+“Then we will get him,” said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, “and all of you
+will die at the stake.”
+
+“You, will not get him,” said Paul defiantly, “and as for the rest of
+us dying at the stake, that's to be seen. I know this: Timmendiquas
+considers us of value, to be traded or exchanged, and he's too smart
+a man to destroy what he regards as his own property. Besides, we may
+escape. I don't want to boast, Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're
+hard to hold.”
+
+Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if he were
+through with them. They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said sulkily:
+
+“Nothing to be got out of him.”
+
+“No,” said Blackstaffe, “but we must urge that the strictest kind of
+guard be kept over the others.”
+
+The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all their
+forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had in mind. The
+Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum belts of purple shells,
+sign of war, to distant villages of the tribes, and parties of warriors
+were still coming in. A band of Cayugas arrived that night, and with
+them they brought a half starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had
+picked up near the camp. The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might
+have been when in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had
+reached him through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the
+Iroquois on the white settlements, and the spirits would not let him
+rest unless he bore his part in it. He prayed therefore to be accepted
+among them.
+
+Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to a
+lodge to rest. To-morrow he would be well, and he would be welcomed to
+the ranks of the Cayugas, a Younger nation. But when the morning came,
+the lodge was empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was gone, and with him the
+boy, Paul, the youngest of the prisoners. Guards bad been posted all
+around the camp, but evidently the two had slipped between. Brave
+and advanced as were the Iroquois, superstition seized upon them.
+Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work among them, coming in the form of the
+famished Lenni-Lenape. He had steeped them in a deep sleep, and then
+he had vanished with the prisoner in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had
+taken away the boy, who was one of a hated race, for some sacrifice or
+mystery of his own. The fears of the Iroquois rose. If the Spirit of
+Evil was among them, greater harm could be expected.
+
+But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did not
+believe in the interference of either good spirits or bad spirits, and
+just now their special hatred was a famished Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+
+“Why on earth didn't I think of it?” exclaimed Wyatt. “I'm sure now by
+his size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he slipped to the lodge,
+let Cotter out, and they dodged about in the darkness until they escaped
+in the forest. I'll complain to Timmendiquas.”
+
+He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both Iroquois and
+Wyandots. The great White Lightning regarded him with an icy stare.
+
+“You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?” he asked.
+
+“I do,” exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+“Then why did you not prevent it?”
+
+Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+
+“Since when,” continued Timmendiquas, “have you, a deserter front your
+own people, had the right to hold to account the head chief of the
+Wyandots?” Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly was, trembled yet
+more. He knew that Timmendiquas did not like him, and that the Wyandot
+chieftain could make his position among the Indians precarious.
+
+“I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in particular,”
+ he exclaimed hastily, “but I've been hearing so much talk about the
+Spirit of Evil having a hand in this that I couldn't keep front saying
+something. Of course, it was Henry Ware and Hyde who did it!”
+
+“It may be,” said Timmendiquas icily, “but neither the Manitou of the
+Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me the eyes to
+see everything that happens in the dark.”
+
+Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more. He and
+Blackstaffe held many conferences through the day, and they longed for
+the presence of Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+
+That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest villages
+of the Mohawks, far east toward Albany. He had been sent from a farther
+village, and was not known personally to the warriors in the great camp,
+but he bore a wampum belt of purple shells, the sign of war, and he
+reported directly to Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and
+satisfactory words. After ample feasting, as became one who had come
+so far, he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought
+sleep.
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep. His evil spirit warned
+him to rise and go to the huts, where the two remaining prisoners were
+kept. It was then about one o'clock in the morning, and as he passed he
+saw the Onondaga runner at the door of one of the prison lodges. He was
+about to cry out, but the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent
+blow with the butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic,
+that he fell senseless. When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him
+an hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the
+prisoners, the one called Ross, was gone.
+
+Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil was
+among them. When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+were deceived, how could a common warrior hope to escape its wicked
+influence!
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a bed of
+skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him no comfort.
+
+The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, wind and rain. Many of the lodges were thrown
+down, and when the storm finally whirled itself away, it was found that
+the last of the prisoners, he of the long arms and long legs, had gone
+on the edge of the blast.
+
+Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. CATHARINE MONTOUR
+
+
+The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of content.
+The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his comrades, had
+disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward. The lightning was flaring
+its last on the distant horizon, but the rain still pattered in the
+great woods.
+
+It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it. They were
+dry, warm, and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and the
+wilderness. The four after their imprisonment and privations were
+recovering their weight and color. Paul, who had suffered the most,
+had, on the other hand, made the quickest recovery, and their present
+situation, so fortunate in contrast with their threatened fate a few
+days before, made a great appeal to his imagination. The door was
+allowed to stand open six inches, and through the crevice he watched the
+rain pattering on the dark earth. He felt an immense sense of security
+and comfort. Paul was hopeful by nature and full of courage, but when he
+lay bound and alone in a hut in the Iroquois camp it seemed to him that
+no chance was left. The comrades had been kept separate, and he had
+supposed the others to be dead. But here he was snatched from the very
+pit of death, and all the others had been saved from a like fate.
+
+“If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry,” he said, “I'd
+never have given up hope. It was a wonderful thing you did to start the
+chain that drew us all away.”
+
+“It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done,” said
+Henry.
+
+“We might have tried it,” said Long Jim Hart, “but I ain't sure that
+we'd have done it. Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me my scalp
+would be dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a Mohawk village. Say,
+Sol, how wuz it that you talked Onondaga when you played the part uv
+that Onondaga runner. Didn't know you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo.”
+
+Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a thoughtful hand
+once or twice across his forehead.
+
+“Jim,” he said, “I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the instincts
+uv the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty strong hold on me.
+Ef I'd had the chance, I might be a purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin'
+poetry. I ain't told you about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I
+moved with the settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk
+Iroquois a heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been
+now. Ain't it funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an' it gits
+all covered with rust and mold, the time comes when that same forgot
+little thing is the most vallyble article in the world to you.”
+
+“Weren't you scared, Sol,” persisted Paul, “to face a man like Brant,
+an' pass yourself off as an Onondaga?”
+
+“No, I wuzn't,” replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, “I've been wuss
+scared over little things. I guess that when your life depends on jest
+a motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word, Natur' somehow comes to
+your help an' holds you up. I didn't get good an' skeered till it wuz
+all over, an' then I had one fit right after another.”
+
+“I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin',” said Tom Ross; “jest
+beginnin' to git over it. I tell you, Henry, it wuz pow'ful lucky fur
+us you found them steppin' stones, an' this solid little place in the
+middle uv all that black mud.”
+
+“Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island in
+the lake,” said Long Jim. “That waz shorely a nice place an' pow'ful
+comf'table we wuz thar. But we're a long way from it now. That island uv
+ours must be seven or eight hundred miles from here, an' I reckon it's
+nigh to fifteen hundred to New Orleans, whar we wuz once.”
+
+“Shet up,” said Tom Ross suddenly. “Time fur all uv you to go to sleep,
+an' I'm goin' to watch.”
+
+“I'll watch,” said Henry.
+
+“I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time,” said Tom.
+
+“Needn't quarrel with me about it,” said Shif'less Sol. “A lazy man like
+me is always willin' to go to sleep. You kin hev my watch, Tom, every
+night fur the next five years.”
+
+He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was sound
+asleep. Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they, too, soon
+slept. Tom sat at the door, one of the captured rifles across his knees,
+and watched the forest and the swamp. He saw the last flare of the
+distant lightning, and he listened to the falling of the rain drops
+until they vanished with the vanishing wind, leaving the forest still
+and without noise.
+
+Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although
+powerful in action, he was singularly chary of speech. Henry was the
+leader, but somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other
+four, a sort of elder brother. As the moon came out a little in the wake
+of the retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
+
+“One, two, three, four, five,” he murmured to himself. “We're all here,
+an' Henry come fur us. That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez
+ever seed. Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal that Paul talks about
+couldn't hev been knee high to Henry. Besides, ef them old Greeks an'
+Romans hed hed to fight Wyandots an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've
+done, whar'd they hev been?”
+
+Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of that
+sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. Then he went
+outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for the tenth time what
+a wonderful little refuge it was. He was about to return to the hut when
+he saw a dozen dark blots along the high bough of a tree. He knew them.
+They were welcome blots. They were wild turkeys that had found what had
+seemed to be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+
+Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted, and here
+was more food come to their hand. “We're five pow'ful feeders, an' we'll
+need you,” he murmured, looking up at the turkeys, “but you kin rest
+thar till nearly mornin'.”
+
+He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the hut to
+resume his watch. Just before the first dawn he awoke Henry.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest on the
+limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv ourn. 'Pears
+to me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers like us to eat. Kin
+we risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too dangerous?”
+
+“I think we can risk the shots,” said Henry, rising and taking his
+rifle. “We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely that Indians
+are anywhere near.”
+
+They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound asleep,
+and stepped noiselessly among the trees. The first pale gray bar that
+heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+
+“Thar they are,” said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots on the
+high bough.
+
+“We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull trigger,”
+ said Henry.
+
+He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but he noticed when
+he drew the bead that a second turkey just behind the first was directly
+in his line of fire. The fact aroused his ambition to kill both with
+one bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display
+marksmanship, but they needed the extra turkey for food.
+
+“Are you ready, Tom?” he asked. “Then fire.”
+
+They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
+under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
+turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
+and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+
+Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+
+“Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!” he cried in tense
+tones.
+
+“Why, what's the matter?” asked the boy in surprise.
+
+“Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot?
+An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv
+them turkeys at the same time we did.”
+
+Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+
+“There's no Indian about,” he said. “I killed two turkeys with one shot,
+and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the
+line of the bullet, and it went through both.”
+
+Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.
+
+“I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry,” he said. “Now when I saw
+that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe
+more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that
+we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind
+just natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I
+want to eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight,
+'though I 'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the
+woods?”
+
+They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found
+them large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to
+their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life
+of the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
+westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures,
+all three with leveled rifles.
+
+“All right, boys,” sang out Henry. “It's nobody but Tom and myself,
+bringing in our breakfast.”
+
+The three dropped their rifles.
+
+“That's good,” said Shif'less Sol. “When them shots roused us out o'
+our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot,
+artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned
+we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.
+
+“But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I
+reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down
+with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and
+Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.
+But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!”
+
+“You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde,” said Long Jim.
+“Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you
+back.”
+
+But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued
+on the turkeys.
+
+“I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin',” he said, “but I'm goin'
+to help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The
+quicker they are cooked the better it'll suit me.”
+
+While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the
+sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and
+scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence,
+and, relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.
+
+Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a contented
+five that worked on one of the turkeys--the other two being saved for
+further needs.
+
+“What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?”
+ asked Long Jim as they ate.
+
+“We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us,” replied the boy.
+“It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that
+they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has
+told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea,
+and from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a
+big army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named
+the Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river,
+and they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by
+British from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but
+shall we go and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?”
+
+“Of course,” said the four together.
+
+“Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference,” said
+Shif'less Sol. “We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we
+sent word back from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while
+here in the east on mighty important business.”
+
+“Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,”
+ said Henry. “That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans,
+Sol?”
+
+“They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to
+a place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv
+'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our
+Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our
+people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole
+ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John
+Butler is to command 'em.”
+
+Paul shuddered.
+
+“I've heard of him,” he said. “They called him 'Indian' Butler at
+Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the
+Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is
+as bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the
+Johnsons and Claus.”
+
+“'Pears ez ef we would be needed,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“I don't think we ought to hurry,” said Henry. “The more we know about
+the Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a
+safe and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the
+Indian movements.”
+
+“Suits me,” drawled Shif'less Sol. “My legs an' arms are still stiff
+from them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I
+guess I'll take a rest from travelin.”
+
+“You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself,” rejoined Long Jim; “an' I'm
+afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal
+better than you deserve.”
+
+They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch
+on the Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting
+parties, as the region was far from any settled portion of the country,
+and the Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence.
+But the hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy
+jerking meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great
+campaign, but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting
+was done by Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick
+brushwood and watched, by the light of the fires, what was passing in
+the Indian camp.
+
+On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and Shif'less Sol
+lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned
+in the Indian camp, warriors were polishing their weapons, and the women
+were cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard
+from a point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a
+kind of chant.
+
+“Another war party comin',” whispered Shif'less Sol, “an' singin' about
+the victories that they're goin' to win.”
+
+“But did you notice that voice?” Henry whispered back. “It's not a
+man's, it's a woman's.”
+
+“Now that you speak of it, you're right,” said Shif'less Sol. “It's
+funny to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into
+camp. That's the business o' warriors.”
+
+“Then this is no ordinary woman,” said Henry.
+
+“They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and
+we want to see her.”
+
+“So we do,” said Sol, “but I ain't breathin' while they pass.”
+
+They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could
+not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing
+louder, and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman.
+The trail was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The
+fierce Indian chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that
+either had ever seen came into view.
+
+The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most
+of her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a
+strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and
+moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European
+cloth with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright
+feathers, thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her
+back. She held in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung
+fiercely in time to her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression
+of one who had taken some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked
+neither to right nor to left as she strode on, chanting a song of blood,
+and swinging the keen blade.
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human
+figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength
+of a man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and
+awful in the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian
+chant. Brave as they were, Henry and the shiftless one felt fear, as
+perhaps they had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might!
+They were destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the
+most awful of which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery
+almost unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know
+it, but they were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French
+Governor General of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the
+Iroquois, and of a memory infamous forever on the border, where she was
+known as “Queen Esther.”
+
+Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+
+“I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians.”
+
+A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and
+their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every
+sense. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great
+Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois.
+In her youth she had been treated as a white woman, educated and dressed
+as a white woman, and she had played a part in colonial society at
+Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned
+toward the savage half of herself, had become wholly a savage, had
+married a savage chief, bad been the mother of savage children, and here
+she was, at midnight, striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness,
+her head aflame with visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+
+The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
+still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol
+was so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to
+see her entry.
+
+Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
+and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
+welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
+stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he
+received her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest,
+though an ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the
+Six Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame
+the Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+
+After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village
+died down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they
+had been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
+formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
+be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
+their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+shivered slightly.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
+comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
+afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think
+she is a witch?”
+
+“There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
+Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to happen is
+right.”
+
+It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the islet. Tom
+Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered peacefully on. They told Tom
+what they had seen, and he told them the identity of the terrible woman.
+
+“I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about her
+afore I went to Kentucky to live. She's got a tre-men-jeous power over
+the Iroquois. They think she ken throw spells, an' all that sort of
+thing-an' mebbe she kin.”
+
+Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets, and then
+they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. Now they were
+white men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir John Johnson's Royal
+Greens, as Henry afterward learned; and with them was the infamous John
+Butler, or “Indian” Butler, as he was generally known on the New York
+and Pennsylvania frontier, middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant
+of appearance, but energetic, savage and cruel in nature. He was a
+descendant of the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the
+terrible battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year
+before.
+
+Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council around
+one of the fires. In this group were Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea, Queen
+Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations, and the white men, John
+Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy, Braxton Wyatt. It seemed to
+Henry that Timmendiquas, King of the Wyandots, was superior to all the
+other chiefs present, even to Thayendanegea. His expression was nobler
+than that of the great Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+
+Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they felt sure
+the Iroquois were about to break up their village and march on the great
+campaign they had planned. The two and their comrades could render no
+greater service than to watch their march, and then warn those upon whom
+the blow was to fall.
+
+The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well
+equipped with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois dismantle
+their village, all except the Long House and two or three other of the
+more solid structures, and begin the march. Henry and his comrades went
+parallel with them, watching their movements as closely as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+
+
+The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to keep
+with the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to observe what
+was going on, and to divine what was intended from what they observed.
+Fortunately it, was early summer, and the weather being very beautiful
+they could sleep without shelter. Hence they found it convenient to
+sleep sometimes by daylight, posting a watch always, and to spy upon the
+Indian camp at night. They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian
+army, particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war
+chiefs of theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of Tories.
+
+Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga, preparatory
+to their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. About four hundred
+white men, English Canadians and Tories, were present, and eight hundred
+picked warriors of the Six Nations under Thayendanegea, besides the
+little band of Wyandots led by the resolute Timmendiquas. “Indian”
+ Butler was in general command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the
+high priestess of the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and
+chanting songs that made the warriors see red. Upon the rear of this
+extraordinary army hung a band of fierce old squaws, from whom every
+remnant of mercy and Gentleness had departed.
+
+From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw “Indian” Butler's
+force start for its final march upon Wyoming. It was composed of many
+diverse elements, and perhaps none more bloodthirsty ever trod the soil
+of America. In some preliminary skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been
+slain, and now her fury knew no limits. She took her place at the
+very head of the army, whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and
+neither “Indian” Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in
+anything great or small.
+
+Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened toward the
+valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into contact with the
+great war itself. They had looked upon a uniformed enemy for the first
+time, and they might soon see the colonial buff and blue of the eastern
+army. Their hearts thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+
+They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of the four
+in the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the Wyoming Valley
+and the direction in which it lay, and, taking one last look at the
+savage army, they sped toward it. The time was the close, of June, and
+the foliage was still dark green. It was a land of low mountain, hill,
+rich valley, and clear stream, and it was beautiful to every one of the
+five. Much of their course lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they
+saw signs of a more extended cultivation than any that was yet to be
+witnessed in Kentucky. From the brow of a little hill they beheld a
+field of green, and in another field a man plowing.
+
+“That's wheat,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“But we can't leave the man to plow,” said Henry, “or he'll never
+harvest that wheat. We'll warn him.”
+
+The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into his
+field. He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay across
+the plow handles. Neither Henry nor his companions realized that their
+forest garb and long life in the wilderness made them look more like
+Indians than white men. But Henry threw up a hand as a sign of peace.
+
+“We're white like yourselves,” he cried, “and we've come to warn you!
+The Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!”
+
+The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little wood,
+where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising. He could not doubt on a
+near view that these were white like himself, and the words rang true.
+
+“My house is strong,” he said, “and I can beat them off. Maybe you will
+help me.”
+
+“We'd help you willingly enough,” said Henry, “if this were any ordinary
+raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen Esther are coming at
+the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. How could we hold a house, no
+matter how thick its walls, against such an army as that? Don't hesitate
+a moment! Get up what you can and gallop.”
+
+The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his plow in
+the furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted his wife and
+children on other horses, and, taking only food and clothing, fled to
+Stroudsburg, where there was a strong fort. At a later day he gave Henry
+heartfelt thanks for his warning, as six hours afterward the vanguard
+of the horde burned his home and raged because its owner and his family
+were gone with their scalps on their own heads.
+
+The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the Lenni-Lenape,
+until they were pushed westward by other tribes, had had their village
+Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language Wyoming. It was a beautiful
+valley running twenty miles or more along the Susquehanna, and about
+three miles broad. On either side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in
+height, and further away were peaks with mists and vapors around their
+crests. The valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river
+sparkled, now in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and fell.
+
+More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs, appeared,
+and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery beacon. Simon Jennings
+was not the only man who lived to thank them for the warning. Others
+were incredulous, and soon paid the terrible price of unbelief.
+
+The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them with
+wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated fields, and
+so many signs of a numerous population. They had emerged almost for the
+first time from the wilderness, excepting their memorable visit to New
+Orleans, although this was a very different region. Long Jim spoke of
+it.
+
+“I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns,” he said. “We
+found some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the ground feels
+firmer under my feet here.”
+
+“The ground feels firmer,” said Paul, who had some of the prescience of
+the seer, “but the skies are no brighter. They look red to me sometimes,
+Jim.”
+
+Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously. A woodsman, he
+had his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon his mind. He began
+to fear a great disaster, and his experienced eye perceived at once the
+defenseless state of the valley. He remembered the council of the great
+Indian force in the deep woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther
+was again before him.
+
+“These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em,” he said.
+“It ain't no time to be plowin' land.”
+
+Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley. It was a fine river,
+beautiful with changing colors. The soil on either side was as deep and
+fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the mountains cut the sky
+sharp and clear. Hills and slopes were dark green with foliage.
+
+“It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and scouts
+came in, confirming it. Panic seized the settlers, and they began to
+crowd toward Forty Fort on the west side of the river. Henry and his
+comrades themselves arrived there toward the close of evening, just as
+the sun had set, blood red, behind the mountains. Some report of them
+had preceded their coming, and as soon as they had eaten they were
+summoned to the presence of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the
+military force in the valley. Singularly enough, he was a cousin of
+“Indian” Butler, who led the invading army.
+
+The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and moccasins,
+and everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife, entered a large low
+room, dimly lighted by some wicks burning in tallow. A man of middle
+years, with a keen New England face, sat at a little table, and several
+others of varying ages stood near.
+
+The five knew instinctively that the man at the table was Colonel
+Butler, and they bowed, but they did not show the faintest trace of
+subservience. They had caught suspicious glances from some of the
+officers who stood about the commander, and they stiffened at once.
+Colonel Butler looked involuntarily at Henry-everybody always took him,
+without the telling, for leader of the group.
+
+“We have had report of you,” he said in cool noncommittal tones, “and
+you have been telling of great Indian councils that you have seen in the
+woods. May I ask your name and where you belong?”
+
+“My name,” replied Henry with dignity, “is Henry Ware, and I come from
+Kentucky. My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde, Tom Ross, and
+Jim Hart. They, too, come from Kentucky.”
+
+Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances. Certainly they
+were wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. It would
+seem strange that new settlers in that far land should be here in
+Pennsylvania. Henry saw clearly that his story was doubted.
+
+“Kentucky, you tell me?” said Colonel Butler. “Do you mean to say
+you have come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an attack by
+Indians and Tories?”
+
+Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a little, but
+he saw that the commander was not unreasonable. It was a time when
+men might well question the words of strangers. Remembering this, he
+replied:
+
+“No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you. In fact, we
+came from a point much farther than that. We came from New Orleans to
+Pittsburgh with a fleet loaded with supplies for the Continental armies,
+and commanded by Adam Colfax of New Hampshire.”
+
+The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+
+“What!” he exclaimed, “you were on that expedition? It seems to me that
+I recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some independent
+scouts.”
+
+“When we reached Pittsburgh,” continued Henry, “it was our first
+intention to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war movement
+was in progress to the eastward, and we thought that we would see what
+was going on. Four of us have been captives among the Iroquois. We know
+much of their plans, and we know, too, that Timmendiquas, the great
+chief of the Wyandots, whom we fought along the Ohio, has joined them
+with a hand of his best warriors. We have also seen Thayendanegea, every
+one of us.”
+
+“You have seen Brant?” exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the great
+Mohawk by his white name.
+
+“Yes,” replied Henry. “We have seen him, and we have also seen the woman
+they call Queen Esther. She is continually urging the Indians on.”
+
+Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. He also
+introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John Durkee, Colonel
+Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garrett,
+Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+
+“Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw,” continued Colonel Butler
+courteously. “You will pardon so many questions, but we must be careful.
+You will see that yourselves. But I am a New England man myself, from
+Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. I recall now that we have heard
+of you, also, and we are grateful for your coming. Will you and your
+comrades tell us all that you have seen and heard?”
+
+The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere. They were no longer
+possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one point when it
+should be dreaded at another. The men drew closely around them, and
+listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the dim room. Henry spoke
+first, and the others in their turn. Every one of them spoke tersely but
+vividly in the language of the forest. They felt deeply what they had
+seen, and they drew the same picture for their listeners. Gradually the
+faces of the Wyoming men became shadowed. This was a formidable tale
+that they were hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+
+“It is worse than I thought it could be,” said Colonel Butler at last.
+“How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?”
+
+“Close to fifteen hundred.”
+
+“All trained warriors and soldiers. And at the best we cannot raise more
+than three hundreds including old men and boys, and our men, too, are
+farmers.”
+
+“But we can beat them. Only give us a chance, Colonel!” exclaimed
+Captain Ransom.
+
+“I'm afraid the chance will come too soon,” said Colonel Butler, and
+then turning to the five: “Help us all you can. We need scouts and
+riflemen. Come to the fort for any food and ammunition you may need.”
+
+The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay, and
+do all in their power. In fact, they had come for that very purpose.
+Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had implicit faith in
+them they went forth to find that, despite the night and the darkness,
+fugitives were already crossing the river to seek refuge in Forty Fort,
+bringing with them tales of death and devastation, some of which were
+exaggerated, but too many true in all their hideous details. Men had
+been shot and scalped in the fields, houses were burning, women and
+children were captives for a fate that no one could foretell. Red ruin
+was already stalking down the valley.
+
+The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and dugouts
+across the river. Here and there a torch light flickered on the surface
+of the stream, showing the pale faces of the women and children, too
+frightened to cry. They had fled in haste, bringing with them only the
+clothes they wore and maybe a blanket or two. The borderers knew too
+well what Indian war was, with all its accompaniments of fire and the
+stake.
+
+Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night. They secured a
+large boat and crossed the river again and again, guarding the fugitives
+with their rifles, and bringing comfort to many a timid heart. Indian
+bands had penetrated far into the Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure
+that none were yet in the neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+
+It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the fugitives
+who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors of the five, had
+they so chosen, were over for the time. But their nerves were tuned to
+so high a pitch, and they felt so powerfully the presence of danger,
+that they could not rest, nor did they have any desire for sleep.
+
+
+The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of oars. It
+had been detailed for their service, and they decided to pull up the
+river. They thought it possible that they might see the advance of the
+enemy and bring news worth the telling. Long Jim and Tom Ross took the
+oars, and their powerful arms sent the boat swiftly along in the shadow
+of the western bank. Henry and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at
+the fort and a few on either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall,
+and everything else were merged in obscurity.
+
+Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger, not for
+themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs, yet so new,
+few people lived beyond the palisades, but here were rich and scattered
+settlements; and men, even in the face of great peril, are always loth
+to abandon the homes that they have built with so much toil.
+
+Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long strokes
+that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and houses sank out
+of sight. Before them lay the somber surface of the rippling river, the
+shadowy hills, and silence. The world seemed given over to the night
+save for themselves, but they knew too well to trust to such apparent
+desertion. At such hours the Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt
+that they were already near, gathering news of their victims for the
+Indian and Tory horde. Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+
+They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks and
+bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross drawing their
+oars so carefully through the water that there was never a plash to
+tell of their passing. Henry was in the prow of the boat, bent forward
+a little, eyes searching the surface of the river, and ears intent upon
+any sound that might pass on the bank. Suddenly he gave a little signal
+to the rowers and they let their oars rest.
+
+“Bring the boat in closer to the bank,” he whispered. “Push it gently
+among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above.”
+
+Tom and Jim obeyed. The boat slid softly among tall bushes that shadowed
+the water, and was hidden completely. Then Henry stepped out, crept
+cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here very low, and lay pressed
+closely against the earth, but supported by the exposed root of a tree.
+He had heard voices, those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to
+see. Peering through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great oak.
+The face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his element, with a
+better prospect of success than any that he had ever known before. Henry
+shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life
+when he might have taken it.
+
+
+But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might be
+saying, not to slay. Two of the warriors, as he saw by their paint, were
+Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. Moreover, his slight
+knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and gradually he gathered the
+drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
+the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed
+that his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with
+his wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid
+the place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He
+slid back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+
+“Pull back down the river as gently as you can,” he whispered, “and then
+I'll tell you.”
+
+The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
+yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish
+plan that he had heard.
+
+“I know that man,” said Shif'less Sol. “His name is Standish. I was
+there nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his
+family an' run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't
+afraid, an' now he's got to pay the price.”
+
+“No, he mustn't do that,” said Henry. “It's too much to pay for just
+being foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet
+save that man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?”
+
+“Why, course,” said Long Jim. “Like ez not Standish will shoot at us
+when we knock on his door, but let's try it.”
+
+The others nodded assent.
+
+“How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?” asked Henry.
+
+“'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down.”
+
+“Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
+Jim give Sol and me the oars now.”
+
+Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
+down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
+ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house
+that they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come,
+but as they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The
+shiftless one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+
+“I hated to do it, but I had to,” he murmured. The next moment Henry was
+knocking at the door.
+
+“Up! Up!” he cried, “the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
+lives!”
+
+How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!
+
+The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
+then they heard him at the door.
+
+“Who are you?” he cried. “Why are you beating on my door at such a
+time?”
+
+“We are friends, Mr. Standish,” cried Henry, “and if you would save your
+wife and children you must go at once! Open the door! Open, I say!”
+
+The man inside was in a terrible quandary. It was thus that renegades
+or Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes bade a door to be
+opened, in order that they might find an easy path to slaughter. But the
+voice outside was powerfully insistent, it had the note of truth; his
+wife and children, roused, too, were crying out, in alarm. Henry knocked
+again on the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+earnestness, to open and flee. Standish could resist no longer. He took
+down the bar and flung open the door, springing back, startled at the
+five figures that stood before him. In the dusk he did not remember
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Mr. Standish,” Henry said, speaking rapidly, “we are, as you can see,
+white. You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades within half
+an hour. We know that, because we heard them talking from the bushes.
+We have a boat in the river; you can reach it in five minutes. Take your
+wife and children, and pull for Forty Fort.”
+
+Standish was bewildered.
+
+“How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?” he
+asked.
+
+“If we had been that you'd be a dead man already,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish recognized
+the fact. His wife had felt the truth in the tones of the strangers,
+and was begging him to go. Their children were crying at visions of the
+tomahawk and scalping knife now so near.
+
+“We'll go,” said Standish. “At any rate, it can't do any harm. We'll get
+a few things together.”
+
+“Do not wait for anything!” exclaimed Henry. “You haven't a minute to
+spare! Here are more blankets! Take them and run for the boat! Sol and
+Jim, see them on board, and then come back!”
+
+Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his family ran
+for the boat. Jim and the shiftless one almost threw them on board,
+thrust a pair of oars into the bands of Standish, another into the hands
+of his wife, and then told them to pull with all their might for the
+fort.
+
+“And you,” cried Standish, “what becomes of you?”
+
+Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed Henry's
+plan.
+
+“Don't you trouble about us,” said the shiftless one. “We will come
+later. Now pull! pull!”
+
+Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the boat and
+its occupants were lost in the darkness. Tom Ross and Sol did not pause
+to watch them, but ran swiftly back to the house. Henry was at the door.
+
+“Come in,” he said briefly, and they entered. Then he closed the door
+and dropped the bar into place. Shif'less Sol and Paul were already
+inside, one sitting on the chair and the other on the edge of the bed.
+Some coals, almost hidden under ashes, smoldered and cast a faint light
+in the room, the only one that the house had, although it was divided
+into two parts by a rough homespun curtain. Henry opened one of the
+window shutters a little and looked out. The dawn had not yet come, but
+it was not a dark night, and he looked over across the little clearing
+to the trees beyond. On that side was a tiny garden, and near the wall
+of the house some roses were blooming. He could see the glow of pink and
+red. But no enemy bad yet approached. Searching the clearing carefully
+with those eyes of his, almost preternaturally keen, he was confident
+that the Indians were still in the woods. He felt an intense thrill of
+satisfaction at the success of his plan so far.
+
+He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the borderer alone
+knew what the border suffered, and only those who never saw or felt the
+torture could turn the other cheek to be smitten. The Standish house had
+made a sudden and ominous change of tenants.
+
+“It will soon be day,” said Henry, “and farmers are early risers. Kindle
+up that fire a little, will you, Sol? I want some smoke to come out of
+the chimney.”
+
+The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three pieces
+of wood that lay on the hearth. Little flames and smoke arose. Henry
+looked curiously about the house. It was the usual cabin of the
+frontier, although somewhat larger. The bed on which Shif'less Sol sat
+was evidently that of the father and mother, while two large ones behind
+the curtain were used by the children. On the shelf stood a pail half
+full of drinking water, and by the side of it a tin cup. Dried herbs
+hung over the fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners.
+The clothing of the children was scattered about. Unprepared food for
+breakfast stood on a table. Everything told of a hasty flight and its
+terrible need. Henry was already resolved, but his heart hardened within
+him as he saw.
+
+He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for the
+door bar nearly in two. The others said not a word. They had no need
+to speak. They understood everything that he did. He opened the window
+again and looked out. Nothing yet appeared. “The dawn will come in three
+quarters of an hour,” he said, “and we shall not have to wait long for
+what we want to do.”
+
+He sat down facing the door. All the others were sitting, and they, too,
+faced the door. Everyone had his rifle across his knees, with one hand
+upon the hammer. The wood on the hearth sputtered as the fire spread,
+and the flames grew. Beyond a doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising
+from the chimney, and a watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful
+and unsuspecting mind.
+
+“I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door,” said
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I wouldn't be sorry,” said Henry.
+
+Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. He hoped
+the waiting would be very short. The light was sufficient for him to see
+the faces of his comrades, and he noticed that they were all very tense.
+This was no common watch that they kept. Shif'less Sol remained on the
+bed, Henry sat on another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the
+chests with his back to the wall. Long Jim was near the curtain. Close
+by Paul was a home-made cradle. He put down his hand and touched it. He
+was glad that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his heart
+anew for the task that lay before them.
+
+Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. He did
+not open it, but there was a crack through which he could see. The
+others said nothing, but watched his face. When he turned away they knew
+that the moment was at hand.
+
+“They've just come from the woods,” he said, “and in a minute they'll be
+at the door. Now, boys, take one last look at your rifles.”
+
+A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no answer
+came from within. The knock was repeated, sharper and louder, and Henry,
+altering his voice as much as possible, exclaimed like one suddenly
+awakened from sleep:
+
+“Who is it? What do you want?”
+
+Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+
+“We've come from farther up the valley. We're scouts, we've been up to
+the Indian country. We're half starved. Open and give us food!”
+
+“I don't believe you,” replied Henry. “Honest people don't come to my
+door at this time in the morning.”
+
+Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his vivid
+fancy, thought he heard whispering on the other side of the door.
+
+“Open!” cried Wyatt, “or we'll break your door down!” Henry said
+nothing, nor did any of the others. They did not stir. The fire crackled
+a little, but there was no other sound in the Standish house. Presently
+they heard a slight noise outside, that of light feet.
+
+“They are going for a log with which to break the door in,” whispered
+Henry. “They won't have to look far. The wood pile isn't fifty feet
+away.”
+
+“An' then,” said Shif'less Sol, “they won't have much left to do but to
+take the scalps of women an' little children.”
+
+Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless one's
+significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. Henry went
+to the door, put his ear to the line where it joined the wall, and
+listened.
+
+“They've got their log,” he said, “and in half a minute they'll rush it
+against the door.”
+
+He came back to his old position. Paul's heart began to thump, and his
+thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. Then they
+heard rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew open. A half dozen
+Iroquois and a log that they held between them were hurled into the
+middle of the room. The door had given away so easily and unexpectedly
+that the warriors could not check themselves, and two or three fell
+with the log. But they sprang like cats to their feet, and with their
+comrades uttered a cry that filled the whole cabin with its terrible
+sound and import.
+
+The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at once.
+The five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, all waiting
+silent and motionless were far different from what they expected. Here
+could be no scalps, with the long, silky hair of women and children.
+
+There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their foes.
+Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five muzzles, and in an
+instant the cabin was filled with smoke and war shouts, but the warriors
+never had a chance. They could only strike blindly with their tomahawks,
+and in a half minute three of them, two wounded, rushed through the door
+and fled to the woods. They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt,
+who had hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. WYOMING
+
+
+The five made no attempt to pursue. In fact, they did not leave the
+cabin, but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen, hideous with
+war paint, but now at the end of their last trail. Their tomahawks lay
+upon the floor, and glittered when the light from the fire fell upon
+them. Smoke, heavy with the odor of burned gunpowder, drifted about the
+room.
+
+Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of air
+poured into the room. Over the mountains in the east came the first
+shaft of day. The surface of the river was lightening.
+
+“What shall we do with them?” asked Paul, pointing to the silent forms
+on the floor.
+
+“Leave them,” said Henry. “Butler's army is burning everything before
+it, and this house and all in it is bound to go. You notice, however,
+that Braxton Wyatt is not here.”
+
+“Trust him to escape every time,” said Shif'less Sol. “Of course he
+stood back while the Indians rushed the house. But ez shore ez we live
+somebody will get him some day. People like that can't escape always.”
+
+They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and not long
+after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort again, where they
+found Standish and his family. Henry replied briefly to the man's
+questions, but two hours later a scout came in and reported the grim
+sight that he had seen in the Standish home. No one could ask for
+further proof of the fealty of the five, who sought a little sleep, but
+before noon were off again.
+
+They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go farther up
+the valley. But not willing to turn back, they ascended the mountains
+that hem it in, and from the loftiest point that they could find sought
+a sight of the enemy.
+
+It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer. The blue of the heavens
+showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and the hills and
+mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark green. The river, a
+beautiful river at any time, seemed from this height a great current of
+quicksilver. Henry pointed to a place far up the stream where black dots
+appeared on its surface. These dots were moving, and they came on in
+four lines.
+
+“Boys,” he said, “you know what those lines of black dots are?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Shif'less Sol, “it's Butler's army of Indians, Tories,
+Canadians, an' English. They've come from Tioga Point on the river, an'
+our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon.”
+
+The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the
+distance, with startling clearness. The five, watching from their peak,
+saw them turn in toward the land, where they poured forth a motley
+stream of red men and white, a stream that was quickly swallowed up in
+the forest.
+
+“They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom Ross.
+
+“And they're coming fast,” said Henry. “It's for us to carry the
+warning.”
+
+They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they passed,
+and once more they were in the council room with Colonel Zebulon Butler
+and his officers around him.
+
+“So they are at hand, and you have seen them?” said the colonel.
+
+“Yes,” replied Henry, the spokesman, “they came down from Tioga Point
+in boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through the woods. They
+will be here today.”
+
+There was a little silence in the room. The older men understood the
+danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for battle.
+
+“Why should we stay here and wait for them?” exclaimed one of the
+younger captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. “Why
+not go out, meet them, and beat them?”
+
+“They outnumber us about five to one,” said Henry. “Brant, if he is
+still with them, though he may have gone to some other place from Tioga
+Point, is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, and they say
+that the Tory leader is energetic and capable.”
+
+“It is all true!” exclaimed Colonel Butler. “We must stay in the fort!
+We must not go out to meet them! We are not strong enough!”
+
+A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger officers.
+
+“And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be scalped,
+while we stay behind log walls!” said one of them boldly.
+
+The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely militia,
+farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+
+Colonel Butler flushed.
+
+“We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge,” he said. “It hurts
+me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we sit quiet here.
+But I know that we have no chance against so large a force, and if we
+fall what is to become of the hundreds whom we now protect?”
+
+But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were indignant. They
+would not seek shelter for themselves while others were suffering. A
+young lieutenant saw from a window two fires spring up and burn like
+torch lights against the sky. They were houses blazing before the Indian
+brand.
+
+“Look at that!” he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, “and we are
+here, under cover, doing nothing!”
+
+A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler, although
+the flush remained on his face, still shook his head. He glanced at Tom
+Ross, the oldest of the five.
+
+“You know about the Indian force,” he exclaimed. “What should we do?”
+
+The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was his
+wont.
+
+“It's a hard thing to set here,” he exclaimed, “but it will be harder to
+go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four or five to one.”
+
+“We must not go out,” repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+
+The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+
+“A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family has
+been killed and scalped,” he said.
+
+A deep, angry cry went up. Colonel Butler and the few who stood with
+him were overborne. Such things as these could not be endured, and
+reluctantly the commander gave his consent. They would go out and
+fight. The fort and its enclosures were soon filled with the sounds of
+preparation, and the little army was formed rapidly.
+
+“We will fight by your side, of course,” said Henry, “but we wish to
+serve on the flank as an independent band. We can be of more service in
+that manner.”
+
+The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+
+“Act as you think best,” he said.
+
+The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force formed
+in ranks. Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon going into
+battle. They had seen the strength of that army of Indians, renegades,
+Tories, Canadians, and English advancing under the banner of England,
+and they knew the power and fanaticism of the Indian leaders. They
+believed that the terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had
+continually chanted to them her songs of blood as they came down the
+river. It was now the third of July, and valley and river were beautiful
+in the golden sunlight. The foliage showed vivid and deep green on
+either line of high hills. The summer sun had never shown more kindly
+over the lovely valley.
+
+The time was now three o'clock. The gates of the fort were thrown open,
+and the little army marched out, only three hundred, of whom seventy
+were old men, or boys so young that in our day they would be called
+children. Yet they marched bravely against the picked warriors of the
+Iroquois, trained from infancy to the forest and war, and a formidable
+body of white rovers who wished to destroy the little colony of
+“rebels,” as they called them.
+
+Small though it might be, it was a gallant army. Young and old held
+their heads high. A banner was flying, and a boy beat a steady insistent
+roll upon a drum. Henry and his comrades were on the left flank, the
+river was on the right. The great gates had closed behind them, shutting
+in the women and the children. The sun blazed down, throwing everything
+into relief with its intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces
+of the borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes. Colonel
+Butler and two or three of his officers were on horseback, leading the
+van. Now that the decision was to fight, the older officers, who had
+opposed it, were in the very front. Forward they went, and spread out
+a little, but with the right flank still resting on the river, and the
+left extended on the plain.
+
+The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from the
+others, searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was already so
+near. Their gloom did not decrease. Neither the rolling of the drum nor
+the flaunting of the banner had any effect. Brave though the men might
+be, this was not the way in which they should meet an Indian foe who
+outnumbered them four or five to one.
+
+“I don't like it,” muttered Tom Ross.
+
+“Nor do I,” said Henry, “but remember that whatever happens we all stand
+together.”
+
+“We remember!” said the others.
+
+On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the main
+force some hundred yards. They swung in a little toward the river. The
+banks here were highland off to the left was a large swamp. The five now
+checked speed and moved with great wariness. They saw nothing, and they
+heard nothing, either, until they went forty or fifty yards farther.
+Then a low droning sound came to their ears. It was the voice of one yet
+far away, but they knew it. It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther,
+in this moment the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+continuously for the combat.
+
+The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a little. The
+chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they saw the ominous
+figure approaching. She was much as she had been on that night when they
+first beheld her. She wore the same dress of barbaric colors, she swung
+the same great tomahawk about her head, and sang all the time of fire
+and blood and death.
+
+They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech cloth for
+battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war paint, and bright
+feathers gleaming in their hair. Henry recognized the tall form of
+Timmendiquas, notable by his height, and around him his little band of
+Wyandots, ready to prove themselves mighty warriors to their eastern
+friends the Iroquois. Back of these was a long line of Indians and their
+white allies, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers
+in the center, bearing the flag of England. The warriors, of whom the
+Senecas were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on their
+right flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. Sangerachte and
+Hiokatoo, who had taken two English prisoners at Braddock's defeat, and
+who had afterwards burned them both alive with his own hand, were the
+principal leaders of the Senecas. Henry caught a glimpse of “Indian”
+ Butler in the center, with a great blood-red handkerchief tied around
+his head, and, despite the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of
+the heart how far the hostile line extended. It could wrap itself like a
+python around the defense.
+
+“It's a tale that will soon be told,” said Paul.
+
+They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy was
+at band. Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing chant of Queen
+Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from a thousand throats,
+swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a wounded beast. The
+farmers, the boys, and the old men, most of whom had never been in
+battle, might well tremble at this ominous sound, so great in volume
+and extending so far into the forest. But they stood firm, drawing
+themselves into a somewhat more compact body, and still advancing with
+their banners flying, and the boy beating out that steady roll on the
+drum.
+
+The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed his
+force in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank of the river
+and his left against the swamp. Forward pressed the motley army of the
+other Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame, and the bulk of his
+force came into view, the sun shining down on the green uniforms of the
+English and the naked brown bodies of the Iroquois.
+
+The American commander gave the order to fire. Eager fingers were
+already on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the entire rank.
+The Royal Greens and Rangers, although replying with their own fire,
+gave back before the storm of bullets, and the Wyoming men, with a shout
+of triumph, sprang forward. It was always a characteristic of the border
+settler, despite many disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and
+cunning, to rush straight at his foe whenever he saw him. His, unless
+a trained forest warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this
+gallant little force asked for nothing but to come to close grips with
+the enemy.
+
+The men in the center with “Indian” Butler gave back still more. With
+cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing rapidly, and
+continuing to drive the mongrel white force. The rifles were cracking
+rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. The wind caught wisps of it
+and carried them off down the river.
+
+“It goes better than I thought,” said Paul as he reloaded his rifle.
+
+“Not yet,” said Henry, “we are fighting the white men only. Where are
+all the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than two to one?”
+
+“Here they come,” said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of the
+swamp, which was supposed to protect the left flank of the Wyoming
+force.
+
+The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of dark
+figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth, armed with
+rifle and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the unprotected side of their
+foe. The swamp had been but little obstacle to them.
+
+Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once. As many as possible were
+called off immediately from the main body, but they were not numerous
+enough to have any effect. The Indians came through the swamp in
+hundreds and hundreds, and, as they uttered their triumphant yell,
+poured a terrible fire into the Wyoming left flank. The defenders were
+forced to give ground, and the English and Tories came on again.
+
+The fire was now deadly and of great volume. The air was filled with
+the flashing of the rifles. The cloud of smoke grew heavier, and faces,
+either from heat or excitement, showed red through it. The air was
+filled with bullets, and the Wyoming force was being cut down fast, as
+the fire of more than a thousand rifles converged upon it.
+
+The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as they
+could at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping closer and
+closer, and that the hail of bullets it sent in was cutting away
+the whole left flank of the defenders. They saw the tall figure of
+Timmendiquas, a very god of war, leading on the Indians, with his
+fearless Wyandots in a close cluster around him. Colonel John Durkee,
+gathering up a force of fifty or sixty, charged straight at the
+warriors, but he was killed by a withering volley, which drove his men
+back.
+
+Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which often
+decide the fate of a battle. The company of Captain Whittlesey, on the
+extreme left, which was suffering most severely, was ordered to fall
+back. The entire little army, which was being pressed hard now, seeing
+the movement of Whittlesey, began to retreat. Even without the mistake
+it is likely they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+
+The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and renegades,
+uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward. Colonel Zebulon Butler,
+seeing the crisis, rode up and down in front of his men, shouting:
+“Don't leave me, my children! the victory is ours!” Bravely his officers
+strove to stop the retreat. Every captain who led a company into action
+was killed. Some of these captains were but boys. The men were falling
+by dozens.
+
+All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading force,
+were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their unloaded rifles,
+threw themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the defense. Not more than two
+hundred of the Wyoming men were left standing, and the impact of seven
+or eight hundred savage warriors was so great that they were hurled back
+in confusion. A wail of grief and terror came from the other side of
+the river, where a great body of women and children were watching the
+fighting.
+
+“The battle's lost,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Beyond hope of saving it,” said Henry, “but, boys, we five are alive
+yet, and we'll do our best to help the others protect the retreat.”
+
+They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such a
+terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more than one
+soldier ere the tomahawk fell. Shif'less Sol took a shot at “Indian”
+ Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet missed him.
+
+“I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,”
+ exclaimed the shiftless one.
+
+But the invading force came in between and he did not get another shot.
+There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the crashing fire
+of hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians, and the cries of the
+wounded. Over them all hovered smoke and dust, and the air was heavy,
+too, with the odor of burnt gunpowder. The division of old men and very
+young boys stood next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand,
+but in the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy
+of the best of soldiers. Three fourths of them died that day, before
+they were driven back on the fort.
+
+The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp, which had
+been some protection to the left, and they were now assailed from all
+sides except that of the river. “Indian” Butler raged at the head of his
+men, who had been driven back at first, and who had been saved by the
+Indians. Timmendiquas, in the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon
+this field, became by valor and power of intellect the leader of all the
+Indians for this moment. The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them, unconsciously
+obeyed him. Nor did the fierce woman, Queen Esther, shirk the battle.
+Waving her great tomahawk, she was continually among the warriors,
+singing her song of war and death.
+
+They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little band
+crumbled away beneath the deadly fire. Soon none would be left unless
+they ran for their lives. The five drew away toward the forest. They
+saw that the fort itself could not hold out against such a numerous and
+victorious foe, and they had no mind to be trapped. But their retreat
+was slow, and as they went they sent bullet after bullet into the Indian
+flank. Only a small percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now
+broke. Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached
+the fort. Some of the men jumped into the river, swam to the other shore
+and escaped. Some swam to a little island called Monocacy, and hid, but
+the Tories and Indians hunted them out and slew them. One Tory found his
+brother there, and killed him with his own hand, a deed of unspeakable
+horror that is yet mentioned by the people of that region. A few fled
+into the forest and entered the fort at night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE BLOODY ROCK
+
+
+Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the woods.
+They were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite the tan. They
+had never before looked upon so terrible a scene. The Indians, wild with
+the excitement of a great triumph and thirsting for blood, were running
+over the field scalping the dead, killing some of the wounded, and
+saving others for the worst of tortures. Nor were their white allies one
+whit behind them. They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+conquered. Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to show
+nobility. Several of the wounded he saved from immediate death, and he
+tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws who rushed forward
+and began to practice cruelties at which even the most veteran warrior
+might shudder. But Queen Esther urged them on, and “Indian” Butler
+himself and the chiefs were afraid of her.
+
+Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from
+the lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The
+sun was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the
+field as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors
+rushed about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous
+trophies about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping
+to the far bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the
+fugitives in their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+
+The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending
+in a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
+seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then
+a massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they
+had known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be
+full of the scalps of white men.
+
+All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
+impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
+but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
+good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he
+saw the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror
+of those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss
+from his mind as long as he lived.
+
+“Look!” he exclaimed, “look at that!”
+
+A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
+might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought
+in the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when
+everything else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the
+friendly shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of
+Iroquois, four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians
+were gaining fast.
+
+“I reckon we ought to save them,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“No doubt of it,” said Henry. “Paul, you and Sol move off to the right
+a little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
+four.”
+
+The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol
+having the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four
+Indians at closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and,
+turning at an angle, they ran forward to intercept the three Indians. It
+would have seemed to anyone who was not aware of the presence of friends
+in the forest that the old man and the boy would surely be overtaken and
+be tomahawked, but three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage. Two
+of the warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell
+of pain. Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group of
+three. One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but Paul only
+grazed his man. Nevertheless, the whole pursuit stopped, and the boy
+and the old man escaped to the forest, and subsequently to safety at the
+Moravian towns.
+
+Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say something
+to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon him, and he was
+thrown to the ground. His comrade was served in the same way, but the
+shiftless one was uncommonly strong and agile. He managed to writhe half
+way to his knees, and he shouted in a tremendous voice:
+
+“Run, Henry, run! You can't do anything for us now!”
+
+Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth. The blood came,
+but the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked curiously at the
+renegade.
+
+“I've often wondered about you, Braxton,” he said calmly. “I used to
+think that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in him, but I
+reckon you ain't got none.”
+
+Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the others.
+But Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished. A powerful party
+of warriors had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and Paul, while they were
+absorbed in the chase of the old man and the boy, and now they were
+prisoners, bound securely. Braxton Wyatt came back from the fruitless
+search for the three, but his face was full of savage joy as he looked
+down at the captured two.
+
+“We could have killed you just as easily,” he said, “but we didn't
+want to do that. Our friends here are going to have their fun with you
+first.”
+
+Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but
+Shif'less Sol faced them boldly. Several white men in uniform had come
+up, and among them was an elderly one, short and squat, and with a great
+flame colored handkerchief tied around his bead.
+
+“You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to us,
+all under the English flag,” said Shif'less Sol, “but I'm thinkin' that
+a lot o' people in England will be ashamed uv it when they hear the
+news.”
+
+“Indian” Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving
+Shif'less Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the Iroquois.
+The two prisoners were jerked to their feet and told to march.
+
+
+“Come on, Paul,” said Shif'less Sol. “'Tain't wuth while fur us to
+resist. But don't you quit hopin', Paul. We've escaped from many a tight
+corner, an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in.”
+
+“Shut up!” said Braxton Wyatt savagely. “If you say another word I'll
+gag you in a way that will make you squirm.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye. Solomon Hyde, who was not
+shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not afraid now in the
+face of death preceded by long torture.
+
+“I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt,” he said, “an' I reckon he wuz the
+meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived. He liked to live on dirt, the
+dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather steal his food
+than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he wuz afeard o' a
+rabbit, but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd nip you in the ankle.
+But bad ez that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a gentleman 'longside o' you.”
+
+Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it. He snatched
+a pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with the butt of it,
+but a tall figure suddenly appeared before him, and made a commanding
+gesture. The gesture said plainly: “Do not strike; put that pistol
+back!” Braxton Wyatt, whose soul was afraid within him, did not strike,
+and he put the pistol back.
+
+It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots, who
+with his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the Wyandot
+warriors were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks, the Keepers of
+the Western Gate. He was bare to the waist. One shoulder was streaked
+with blood from a slight wound, but his countenance was not on fire with
+passion for torture and slaughter like those of the others.
+
+“There is no need to strike prisoners,” he said in English. “Their fate
+will be decided later.”
+
+Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the great
+Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+
+“I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you didn't
+capture me yourself. I'm glad to say that you're a great warrior.”
+
+Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak out,
+although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and casual ally,
+and had little authority in that army. Yet he was overawed, and so were
+the Indians with him.
+
+“We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler,” he said. “That
+is all.”
+
+Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell. But he and the
+Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas looked after them
+until they were out of sight.
+
+“I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured,” whispered
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I think so, too,” Paul whispered back.
+
+They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven rapidly
+now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to the fort,
+and here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy company, fellow
+captives, all bound tightly, and many wounded. No help, no treatment of
+any kind was offered for hurts. The Indians and renegades stood about
+and yelled with delight when the agony of some man's wound wrung from
+him a groan. The scene was hideous in every respect. The setting sun
+shone blood red over forest, field, and river. Far off burning houses
+still smoked like torches. But the mountain wall in the east, was
+growing dusky with the coming twilight. From the island, where they were
+massacring the fugitives in their vain hiding places, came the sound
+of shots and cries, but elsewhere the firing had ceased. All who could
+escape had done so already, and of the others, those who were dead were
+fortunate.
+
+The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness swept
+down over the earth. Fires began to blaze up here and there, some for
+terrible purpose. The victorious Iroquois; stripped to the waist and
+painted in glaring colors, joined in a savage dance that would remain
+forever photographed on the eye of Paul Cotter. As they jumped to and
+fro, hundreds of them, waving aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both
+of which dripped red, they sang their wild chant of war and triumph.
+White men, too, as savage as they, joined them. Paul shuddered again
+and again from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of
+mankind escapes, even in dreams.
+
+The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder. It was like a carnival
+of demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch. A singular
+figure, one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the
+midst of the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose
+above all the others. The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some
+monstrous creature out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with
+blood, her eyes bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders. Paul would
+have covered his eyes had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his
+head away. He could not bear to see more. But the horrible chant came to
+his ears, nevertheless, and it was reinforced presently by other sounds
+still more terrible. Fires sprang up in the forest, and cries came from
+these fires. The victorious army of “Indian” Butler was beginning to
+burn the prisoners alive. But at this point we must stop. The details
+of what happened around those fires that night are not for the ordinary
+reader. It suffices to say that the darkest deed ever done on the soil
+of what is now the United States was being enacted.
+
+Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken. He could not
+close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came from the fires, but
+he shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. Nevertheless, he opened
+them again in a moment. The horrible fascination was too great. He saw
+Queen Esther still shaking her tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly
+darted through the circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and
+disappeared in the darkness. The scalp dance went on, but it had lost
+some of its fire and vigor.
+
+Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+
+“She's gone,” he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his
+eyes. The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors,
+was becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.
+
+Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there
+on the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt
+thrust a violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:
+
+“Get up! You're wanted!”
+
+A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of
+resistance. The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton
+Wyatt led. The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them,
+tomahawks in their hands. Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the
+impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure
+that they were marching to their fate. Death he did not fear so greatly,
+although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one
+of the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.
+Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that
+he might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.
+Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder
+gently against Paul's.
+
+“Paul,” he whispered, “I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways,
+I still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but
+oncet.”
+
+“I'll remember, Sol,” Paul whispered back.
+
+“Silence, there!” exclaimed Braxton Wyatt. But the two had said all they
+wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled. They
+had passed through so much that they were like those who are under the
+influence of opiates. The path was now dark, although both torches and
+fires burned in the distance. Presently they heard that chant with which
+they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and
+they knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose
+they could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one.
+As they approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of
+frenzy, and Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.
+
+“Get up there!” exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both
+a push. Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space
+seized them and threw them forward with much violence. When they
+struggled into a sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a
+broad flat rock and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something
+Oriental. She still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be
+in her hand. Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red
+dress gleamed in the dusk. Surely no more terrible image ever appeared
+in the American wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were
+twenty bound Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a
+sprinkling of their white allies.
+
+What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor
+Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois,
+and so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came
+the refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+
+“Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six
+Nations, greatest of men.”
+
+“What under the sun is she about?” whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+“It is a fearful face,” was Paul's only reply.
+
+Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to
+the warriors. Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners,
+dragged him to his feet, and held him up before her. She uttered a
+shout, whirled the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering
+in the moonlight, and struck with all her might. The skull of the
+prisoner was cleft to the chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of
+the woman who had killed him. Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it
+was lost in the joyful yells of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the
+woman, offered a second victim. Again the tomahawk descended, and again
+a man fell dead without a sound.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move
+them. Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud. It was strange to see how fast one
+with a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before
+him. Now he was as cruel as the Indians themselves. Wilder and shriller
+grew the chant of the savage queen. She was intoxicated with blood. She
+saw it everywhere. Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth,
+a sixth, a seventh, and eighth. As fast as they fell the warriors at her
+command brought up new victims for her weapon. Paul shut his eyes, but
+he knew by the sounds what was passing. Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+
+“Hold, woman! Enough of this! Will your tomahawk never be satisfied?”
+
+Paul understood it, the meaning, but not the words. He opened his eyes
+and saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding forward, his hand
+upraised in protest.
+
+The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. “Timmendiquas,”
+ she said, “we are the Iroquois, and we are the masters. You are far from
+your own land, a guest in our lodges, and you cannot tell those who have
+won the victory how they shall use it. Stand back!”
+
+A loud laugh came from the Iroquois. The fierce old chiefs, Hiokatoo and
+Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves before Timmendiquas.
+The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred throats pealed out with her
+the chorus:
+
+Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six Nations,
+greatest of men.
+
+She gave the signal anew. The ninth victim stood before her, and then
+fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
+twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
+the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
+minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
+straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken
+them, and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
+impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
+Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two,
+Joseph Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men,
+feeling that life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful
+as that scene at “The Bloody Rock.”
+
+A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the
+Indians pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for
+the fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would
+come under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did
+not see a form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended
+once, then twice, and the bands of both fell free.
+
+“Run! run!” exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. “I
+would save you from this!”
+
+Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not
+seen by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look
+of gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a
+course that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying
+fugitives.
+
+At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being
+noticed, had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were
+first in cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing
+fingers of the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At
+the same time several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the
+fugitives.
+
+“I hate to hit a woman,” breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, “but I'm goin'
+to do it now.”
+
+A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
+hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although
+she clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side.
+Shots were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a
+look backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit,
+silent and deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly,
+were only a few hundred yards away. They carried rifle, tomahawk, and
+knife, and Paul and Shif'less Sol were unarmed. Moreover, they were
+coming fast, spreading out slightly, and the shiftless one, able even
+at such a time to weigh the case coolly, saw that the odds were against
+them. Yet he would not despair. Anything might happen. It was night.
+There was little organization in the army of the Indians and of their
+white allies, which was giving itself up to the enjoyment of scalps and
+torture. Moreover, he and Paul were, animated by the love of life, which
+is always stronger than the desire to give death.
+
+Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. Only once
+did the pursuers give tongue. Paul tripped over a root, and a triumphant
+yell came from the Mohawks. But it merely gave him new life. He
+recovered himself in an instant and ran faster. But it was terribly hard
+work. He could hear Shif'less Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he
+was sure that his own must have the same sound for his comrade.
+
+“At any rate one uv 'em is beat,” gasped Shif'less Sol. “Only four are
+ban-in' on now.”
+
+The ground rose a little and became rougher. The lights from the Indian
+fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a dense thicket lay
+before them. Something stirred in the thicket, and the eyes of Shif'less
+Sol caught a glimpse of a human shoulder. His heart sank like a plummet
+in a pool. The Indians were ahead of them. They would be caught, and
+would be carried back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+
+The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a rifle was
+projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+
+But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell. They heard a cry
+behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance backward he saw
+one of the Mohawks fall. The three who were left hesitated and stopped.
+When a second shot was fired from the bushes and another Mohawk went
+down, the remaining two fled.
+
+Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes, dragging
+Paul after him. Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to receive them.
+
+“So you wuz watchin' over us!” exclaimed the shiftless one joyously. “It
+wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we didn't even notice the
+shot.”
+
+“Thank God, you were here!” exclaimed Paul. “You don't know what Sol and
+I have seen!”
+
+Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+
+
+Paul revived in a few minutes. They were still lying in the bushes,
+and when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an angle several
+hundred yards before they stopped. One pistol was thrust into Paul's
+hand and another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Keep those until we can get rifles for you,” said Henry. “You may need
+'em to-night.”
+
+They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the Indian
+camp. The warriors whom they had repulsed were not returning with help,
+and, for the moment, they seemed to have no enemy to fear, yet they
+could still see through the woods the faint lights of the Indian camps,
+and to Paul, at least, came the echoes of distant cries that told of
+things not to be written.
+
+“We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry,” said Henry.
+“There was nothing to do but run. Then we hid and waited a chance for
+rescue.”
+
+“It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas,” said
+Paul.
+
+“Timmendiquas!” exclaimed Henry.
+
+“Yes, Timmendiquas,” said Paul, and then he told the story of “The
+Bloody Rock,” and how, in the turmoil and excitement attending the
+flight of the last four, Timmendiquas had cut the bonds of Shif'less Sol
+and himself.
+
+“I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is,” said Shif'less
+Sol, “jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter an' torture o'
+prisoners.”
+
+“I'm sure you're right,” said Henry.
+
+“'Pears strange to me,” said Long Jim Hart, “that Timmendiquas was made
+an Injun. He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be white, an' he'd be
+pow'ful useful, too. I don't jest eggzactly understan' it.”
+
+“He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us,” said Henry.
+“I hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full.”
+
+“But he's the only one,” said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that he had
+seen that night. “The Iroquois an' the white men that's allied with 'em
+won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em happen to come under
+my thumb. I don't think the like o' this day an' night wuz ever done on
+this continent afore. I'm for revenge, I am, like that place where the
+Bible says, 'an eye for an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin'
+to stay in this part o' the country till we git it!”
+
+It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and energy.
+
+“We're all going to stay with you, Sol,” said Henry. “We're needed here.
+I think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in if we can, and fight
+with the defense.”
+
+“Yes, we'll do that,” said Shif'less Sol, “but the Wyoming fort can't
+ever hold out. Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to fight, an'
+thar are more than than a thousand howlin' devils outside ready to
+attack it. Thar may be worse to come than anything we've yet seen.”
+
+“Still, we'll go in an' help,” said Henry. “Sol, when you an' Paul have
+rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in the woods, and
+come up to the fort on the other side.”
+
+They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where they
+lay completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy, they
+undertook to reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the palisades.
+Paul was still weak from shock, but Shif'less Sol had fully recovered.
+Neither bad weapons, but they were sure that the want could be supplied
+soon. They curved around toward the west, intending to approach the fort
+from the other side, but they did not wholly lose sight of the fires,
+and they heard now and then the triumphant war whoop. The victors were
+still engaged in the pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death.
+Little did the five, seeing and feeling only their part of it there in
+the dark woods, dream that the deeds of this day and night would soon
+shock the whole civilized world, and remain, for generations, a crowning
+act of infamy. But they certainly felt it deeply enough, and in each
+heart burned a fierce desire for revenge upon the Iroquois.
+
+It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort, which
+was filled with grief and wailing. That afternoon more than one hundred
+and fifty women within those walls had been made widows, and six hundred
+children had been made orphans. But few men fit to bear arms were left
+for its defense, and it was certain that the allied British and Indian
+army would easily take it on the morrow. A demand for its surrender
+in the name of King George III of England had already been made, and,
+sitting at a little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the
+room lighted only by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel
+Dennison were writing an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next
+day, with what it should contain. But Colonel Butler put his wife on a
+horse and escaped with her over the mountains.
+
+Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in, only
+to be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in a stream,
+seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest, preferring any
+dangers that might be found there to the mercies of the victors.
+
+When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, he said:
+
+“It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to beg 'em
+to take us back.”
+
+“I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are bein'
+surrendered,” said Long Jim Hart.
+
+“I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands an' feet
+tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul,” said Henry.
+“Of course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be captured again.
+Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the women and children that are
+going.”
+
+Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort. It was far better to let
+Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. They were
+able to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern, long and
+slender barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and also excellent
+double-barreled pistols. The other three now had double-barreled
+pistols, too. In addition they resupplied themselves with as much
+ammunition as scouts and hunters could conveniently carry, and toward
+morning left the fort.
+
+Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the flank
+of a frightened crowd of fugitives. It was composed of one hundred women
+and children and a single man, James Carpenter, who was doing his best
+to guide and protect them. They were intending to flee through the
+wilderness to the Delaware and Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn,
+built by Jacob Stroud, where Stroudsburg now is.
+
+When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like Indians
+themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and raised his rifle.
+A cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line, a cry so intensely bitter
+that it cut Henry to the very heart. He threw up his hand, and exclaimed
+in a loud voice:
+
+“We are friends, not Indians or Tories! We fought with you yesterday,
+and we are ready to fight for you now!”
+
+Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle. He had fought in the battle,
+too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades who had been
+there with him.
+
+“What do you want of us?” asked he.
+
+“Nothing,” replied Henry, “except to help you.”
+
+Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+
+“You don't belong here in Wyoming,” he said, “and there's nothing to
+make you stick to us. What are you meaning to do?”
+
+“We will go with you wherever you intend to go,” replied Henry; “do
+fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which you are
+certain to need.”
+
+The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+
+“I thought God had clean deserted us,” he said, “but I'm ready to take
+it back. I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with all these
+women and little ones.”
+
+It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for this
+very purpose, but he replied simply:
+
+“You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to watch for
+the Indians. Draw into the woods, where we'll be hidden.”
+
+Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on toward
+the woods. The long line of women and children followed. Some of the
+women carried in their arms children too small to walk. Yet they were
+more hopeful now when they saw that the five were friends. These lithe,
+active frontiersmen, so quick, so skillful, and so helpful, raised their
+courage. Yet it was a most doleful flight. Most of these women had
+been made widows the day before, some of them had been made widows and
+childless at the same time, and wondered why they should seek to live
+longer. But the very mental stupor of many of them was an aid. They
+ceased to cry out, and some even ceased to be afraid.
+
+Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear. Paul and Long
+Jim were on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward the
+mountains.
+
+“'Pears to me,” said Tom, “that the thing fur us to do is to hurry 'em
+up ez much ez possible.”
+
+“So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain,” said Henry. “We
+couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would merely be a
+massacre. We must persuade them to walk faster.”
+
+Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis. He could talk forever in
+his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement, mild sarcasm, and
+anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had known, he soon had them
+moving faster.
+
+Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear. They could see ahead of them
+the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but they could
+also see to right and left towers of smoke rising in the clear morning
+sunlight. These, they knew, came from burning houses, and they knew,
+also, that the valley would be ravaged from end to end and from side
+to side. After the surrender of the fort the Indians would divide into
+small bands, going everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+
+The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if the
+black tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen recognized their
+greatest danger in this brilliant morning. Objects could be seen at a
+great distance, and they could be seen vividly.
+
+Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry, Sol, and
+Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. They caught a
+distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot among some trees, and
+they saw the sunlight glancing off the opposite mountains, but for the
+present they saw nothing that seemed hostile.
+
+They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to grow
+until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have let it grow
+farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay down in the grass.
+
+
+“You see 'em, don't you!” the youth whispered to his comrade.
+
+“Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock,” replied Shif'less Sol;
+“two o' em, an' Senecas, I take it.”
+
+“They've seen that crowd of women and children,” said Henry.
+
+It was obvious that the flying column was discovered. The two Indians
+stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands. It was too far
+away for the three to see their faces, but they knew the joy that would
+be shown there. The two could return with a few warriors and massacre
+them all.
+
+“They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,”
+ whispered Henry. “I hate to shoot men from ambush, but it's got to be
+done. Wait, they're coming a little closer.”
+
+The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+
+“S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry,” said Tom, “an' me an'
+Sol will take the one to the left.”
+
+“All right,” said Henry. “Fire!”
+
+They wasted no time, but pulled trigger. The one at whom Henry had aimed
+fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded, but evidently
+with plenty of strength left.
+
+“We mustn't let him escape! We mustn't let him carry a warning!” cried
+Henry.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the
+ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran. Under ordinary
+circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for
+his life, but here the necessity was vital. If he lived, carrying the
+tale that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish. Henry
+followed his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed
+behind. The Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others
+were compelled to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and
+bullets in their rifles. But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and
+Silent Tom to hear them exchange a few words.
+
+“How far away is that savage?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Hundred and eighty yards,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body.”
+
+Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from
+the muzzles. The Indian fell forward and lay still. They went up to him,
+and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
+
+“We may miss once, but we don't twice,” said Tom Ross.
+
+The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three
+felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian. It
+was but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night
+before.
+
+“We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,” said Sol.
+“They may be needed, an' some o' the women in that crowd kin shoot.”
+
+They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see
+whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was
+no indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the
+fugitives. Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he
+saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
+
+“They didn't give no alarm, did they?” he asked in a tone so low that
+none of the fugitives could hear.
+
+“They didn't have any chance,” replied Henry. “We've brought away all
+their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found
+them in an abandoned house.”
+
+The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most
+stalwart of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came.
+Meanwhile the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it
+became. Children became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so
+tired that they could scarcely walk themselves. There was nobody in the
+line who had not lost some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed
+in battle, or tortured to death. As they slowly ascended the green slope
+of the mountain that inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back
+upon ruin and desolation. The whole black tragedy was being consummated.
+They could see the houses in flames, and they knew that the Indian war
+parties were killing and scalping everywhere. They knew, too, that other
+bodies of fugitives, as stricken as their own, were fleeing into the
+mountains, they scarcely knew whither.
+
+As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from
+the weakest of the women and children. Then it became a sad and terrible
+wail, and it was a long time before it ceased. It was an awful sound, so
+compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that
+Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes. But neither the five
+nor Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing. They thought it
+best for them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as
+they could, often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. Paul
+and Long Jim were the best as comforters. The two knew how, each in his
+own way, to soothe and encourage. Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort
+Penn, led doggedly on, scarcely saying a word. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and
+Tom were the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest
+danger and responsibility.
+
+Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July,
+the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the
+foliage was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain. In this
+mass of greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any
+observer in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives
+would be hidden in the same manner. He felt sure that no living human
+being would be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to
+end and then left to desolation, until new people, protected by American
+bayonets, should come in and settle it again.
+
+At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley,
+those emblems of destruction, were hidden. Between them and Fort Penn,
+sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.
+But the five welcomed the forest. A foe might lie there in ambush, but
+they could not see the fugitives at a distance. What the latter needed
+now was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them.
+Carpenter led on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in
+single file now, while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and
+at the rear. Henry and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they
+fully realized the overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as
+small as ten or a dozen warriors, appear. Should the latter scatter,
+it would be impossible to protect all the women and children from their
+tomahawks.
+
+The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.
+Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end
+of the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness. The
+shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+
+“No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods.”
+
+His words came true all too soon. Before the afternoon closed, two
+women, ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were
+buried in shallow graves under the trees. Before dark a halt was made at
+the suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in
+a close, drooping group. Many of the children cried, though the women
+had all ceased to weep. They had some food with them, taken in the
+hurried flight, and now the men asked them to eat. Few could do it, and
+others insisted on saving what little they had for the children. Long
+Jim found a spring near by, and all drank at it.
+
+The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it would be
+best to remain there until the morning. Evidently the fugitives were in
+no condition, either mental or physical, to go farther that day, and the
+rest was worth more than the risk.
+
+When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took it
+apathetically. Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was to be had;
+otherwise, on leaves and branches. Again Henry thanked God that it was
+summer, and that these were people of the frontier, who could sleep in
+the open. No fire was needed, and, outside of human enemies, only rain
+was to be dreaded.
+
+And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate than
+some of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley. It had now to
+protect it six men Henry and Paul, though boys in years, were men in
+strength and ability--five of whom were the equals of any frontiersmen
+on the whole border. Another crowd of women was escorted by a single man
+throughout its entire flight.
+
+Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about the
+group. At times they helped gather whortleberries as food for the
+others, but they looked for Indians or game, intending to shoot in
+either case. When Paul and Henry were together they once heard a light
+sound in a thicket, which at first they were afraid was made by an
+Indian scout, but it was a deer, and it bounded away too soon for either
+to get a shot. They could not find other game of any kind, and they came
+back toward the camp-if a mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any
+kind, could be called a camp.
+
+The sun was now setting, blood red. It tinged the forest with a fiery
+mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had seen. But the
+mist was gone in a few moments, and then the blackness of night came
+with a weird moaning wind that told of desolation. Most of the children,
+having passed through every phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen
+asleep. Some of the women slept, also, and others wept. But the terrible
+wailing note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no
+longer.
+
+The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to them.
+
+“Men,” he said simply, “don't know much about you, though I know you
+fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what you're doin' now
+nobody can ever repay you. I knew that I never could get across the
+mountains with all these weak ones.”
+
+The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at such a
+time. Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle about the
+camp.
+
+Some women did not sleep at all that night. It is not easy to conceive
+what the frontier women of America endured so many thousands of times.
+They had seen their husbands, brothers, and sons killed in the battle,
+and they knew that the worst of torture had been practiced in the Indian
+camp. Many of them really did not want to live any longer. They merely
+struggled automatically for life. The darkness settled down thicker and
+thicker; the blackness in the forest was intense, and they could see the
+faces of one another only at a little distance. The desolate moan of the
+wind came through the leaves, and, although it was July, the night grew
+cold. The women crept closer together, trying to cover up and protect
+the children. The wind, with its inexpressibly mournful note, was
+exactly fitted to their feelings. Many of them wondered why a Supreme
+Being had permitted such things. But they ceased to talk. No sound at
+all came from the group, and any one fifty yards away, not forewarned,
+could not have told that they were there.
+
+Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a
+little hillock. Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on the most
+dangerous of frontiers, but they had never been stirred as they were
+tonight. Even Paul, the mildest of the five, felt something burning
+within him, a fire that only one thing could quench.
+
+“Henry,” said he, “we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn, and
+we may get some of them there, but I don't think our work will be ended
+them. I don't think I could ever be happy again if we went straight from
+Fort Penn to Kentucky.”
+
+Henry understood him perfectly.
+
+“No, Paul,” he said, “I don't want to go, either, and I know the others
+don't. Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to stay, but it is
+vengeance. I know it's Christian to forgive your enemies, but I can't
+see what I have seen, and hear what I have heard, and do it.”
+
+“When the news of these things spreads,” said Paul, “they'll send an
+army from the east. Sooner or later they'll just have to do it to punish
+the Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got to be here to join
+that army.”
+
+“I feel that way, too, Paul,” said Henry.
+
+They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little while,
+and they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+
+Then they began their circles about the camp again, always looking and
+always listening. About two o'clock in the morning they heard a scream,
+but it was only the cry of a panther. Before day there were clouds, a
+low rumble of distant thunder, and faint far flashes of lightning. Henry
+was in dread of rain, but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the
+clouds went away. Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three
+rose from the earth. The three-one woman and two children-had died in
+silence in the night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow
+graves in the woods. But there was little weeping or external mourning
+over them. All were now heavy and apathetic, capable of but little more
+emotion.
+
+Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which now
+moved slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted with
+vines and bushes and without a path. The march was now so painful
+and difficult that they did not make more than two miles an hour. The
+stronger of them helped the men to gather more whortleberries, as it was
+easy to see that the food they had with them would never last until they
+reached Fort Penn, should they ever reach it.
+
+The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily grew
+worse. They were well into the mountains, a region exceedingly wild and
+rough, but little known to the settlers, who had gone around it to build
+homes in the fertile and beautiful valley of Wyoming. The heavy forest
+was made all the more difficult by the presence everywhere of almost
+impassable undergrowth. Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes,
+and in two cases they died there because the power to live was no longer
+in them. They grew weaker and weaker. The food that they had brought
+from the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the wild whortleberries
+were far from sustaining. Fortunately there was plenty of water
+flowing tinder the dark woods and along the mountainside. But they were
+compelled to stop at intervals of an hour or two to rest, and the more
+timid continually expected Indian ambush.
+
+The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+situation. They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian
+pursuit, which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. Anybody
+could follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but the Iroquois,
+busy with destruction in the valley, might not follow, even if they
+saw it. No one could tell. The danger of starvation or of death from
+exhaustion was more imminent, more pressing, and the five resolved to
+let scouting alone for the rest of the day and seek game.
+
+“There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods,” said Shif'less Sol,
+“though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd, but we ought
+to find it.”
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and Long
+Jim in another. But with all their hunting they succeeded in finding
+only one little deer, which fell to the rifle of Silent Tom. It made
+small enough portions for the supper and breakfast of nearly a hundred
+people, but it helped wonderfully, and so did the fires which Henry and
+his comrades would now have built, even had they not been needed for the
+cooking. They saw that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing
+coals, would alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+
+They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and the next
+morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible memory, the Great
+Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to this day, as “The Shades
+of Death.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE SHADES OF DEATH
+
+
+“The Shades of Death” is a marsh on a mountain top, the great, wet, and
+soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains. When the fugitives from
+Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense growth of pines, growing
+mostly out of dark, murky water, which in its turn was thick with a
+growth of moss and aquatic plants. Snakes and all kinds of creeping
+things swarmed in the ooze. Bear and panther were numerous.
+
+Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and they
+were compelled to enter it. Henry was again devoutly thankful that
+it was summer. In such a situation with winter on top of it only the
+hardiest of men could survive.
+
+But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still leading.
+Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd. One could not scout in
+such a morass, and it proved to be worse than they had feared. The day
+turned gray, and it was dark among the trees. The whole place was filled
+with gloomy shadows. It was often impossible to judge whether fairly
+solid soil or oozy murk lay before them. Often they went down to their
+waists. Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the
+stronger. Now and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the women
+killed them with sticks. Other serpents slipped away in the slime.
+Everybody was plastered with mud, and they became mere images of human
+beings.
+
+In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible swamp,
+and there they buried two more of their number who had perished from
+exhaustion. The rest, save a few, lay upon the ground as if dead. On all
+sides of them stretched the pines and the soft black earth. It looked to
+the fugitives like a region into which no human beings had ever come,
+or ever would come again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from
+which no human being would ever emerge.
+
+Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the morass,
+and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within him. They were
+hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they seemed practically
+lifeless now. Everything was dull, heavy, and dead. The note of the wind
+among the leaves was somber. A long black snake slipped from the marshy
+grass near his feet and disappeared soundlessly in the water. He was
+sick, sick to death at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire
+for vengeance, slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst,
+grew within him. A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+
+“Did you hear?” asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+
+“Hear what?” asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+
+“The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under the
+horizon, but thar all the same. Listen, thar she goes ag'in!”
+
+Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note, and
+then it came a third time.
+
+He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white--but not for
+himself.
+
+“Yes,” said Shif'less Sol. He understood the look. “We are pursued. Them
+wolves howlin' are the Iroquois. What do you reckon we're goin' to do,
+Henry?”
+
+“Fight!” replied the youth, with fierce energy. “Beat 'em off!”
+
+“How?”
+
+Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his plan
+came.
+
+“You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing,” he said, “you,
+Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you will be Paul
+Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old friends of yours.
+Carpenter will at once lead the women and children on ahead, and perhaps
+they will not hear the battle that is going to be fought here.”
+
+A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over the
+face of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the shiftless
+one. “It seems to me,” he said, “that I've heard o' them four fellers
+you're talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all over this planet an' them
+other planets that Paul tells of, I couldn't find four other fellers
+that I'd ez soon have with me.”
+
+“We've got to stand here to the death,” said Henry.
+
+“You're shorely right,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+
+The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met with
+their full approval. Then the news was carried to Carpenter, who quickly
+agreed that their course was the wisest. He urged all the fugitives to
+their feet, telling them that they must reach another dry place
+before night, but they were past asking questions now, and, heavy and
+apathetic, they passed on into the swamp.
+
+Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes and
+weeds, and turned back to his friends on the oasis. The five lay down
+behind a big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last look. They
+had never been armed better. Their rifles were good, and the fine
+double-barreled pistols, formidable weapons, would be a great aid,
+especially at close quarters.
+
+“I take it,” said Tom Ross, “that the Iroquois can't get through at all
+unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef we wuz settin'
+on solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come sloshin' up to us.”
+
+“That's exactly it,” said Henry. “We've a natural defense which we can
+hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold 'em off, the
+nearer our people will be to Fort Penn.”
+
+“I never felt more like fightin' in my life,” said Tom Ross.
+
+It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among them
+was bloodthirsty.
+
+“Can any of you hear anything?” asked Henry. “Nothin',” replied
+Shif'less Sol, after a little wait, “nothin' from the women goin', an'
+nothin' from the Iroquois comin'.”
+
+“We'll just lie close,” said Henry. “This hard spot of ground isn't more
+than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get on it without our
+knowing it.”
+
+The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides, with
+their shoulders raised a little, in order that they might take instant
+aim when the time came. Some rays of the sun penetrated the canopy of
+pines, and fell across the brown, determined faces and the lean brown
+hands that grasped the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another
+snake slipped from the ground into the black water and swam away. Some
+water animal made a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of
+these strange intruders. Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a
+foot drawn from mud, and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching,
+savages in war, whatever they might be otherwise, and expecting an easy
+prey. Five brown thumbs cocked their rifles, and five brown forefingers
+rested upon the triggers. The eyes of woodsmen who seldom missed looked
+down the sights.
+
+The sound of feet in the mud came many times. The enemy was evidently
+drawing near.
+
+“How many do you think are out thar?” whispered Shif'less Sol to Henry.
+
+“Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds.” “I s'pose the best
+thing for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see.”
+
+“Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man.”
+
+It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen, and he
+agreed to do so. Shif'less Sol was to fire first. The sounds now ceased.
+The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or instinct that they were
+approaching an enemy who was to be feared, not weak and unarmed women
+and children.
+
+The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger. The American
+wilderness had heroes without number. It was Horatius Cocles five times
+over, ready to defend the bridge with life. Over the marsh rose the
+weird cry of an owl, and some water birds called in lonely fashion.
+
+Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile away,
+out of the sound of rifle shot. He had urged Carpenter to marshal them
+on as far as he could. But the silence endured yet a while longer. In
+the dull gray light of the somber day and the waning afternoon the marsh
+was increasingly dreary and mournful. It seemed that it must always be
+the abode of dead or dying things.
+
+The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the boughs
+appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted brow, the
+savage black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. Only Henry saw
+it, but with fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming leaped up before him-he
+fired at the painted brow. The Mohawk uttered his death cry and fell
+back with a splash into the mud and water of the swamp. A half dozen
+bullets were instantly fired at the base of the smoke that came from
+Henry's rifle, but the youth and his comrades lay close and were
+unharmed. Shif'less Sol and Tom were quick enough to catch glimpses of
+brown forms, at which they fired, and the cries coming back told that
+they had hit.
+
+“That's something,” said Henry. “One or two Iroquois at least will not
+wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts.”
+
+“Wish they'd try to rush us,” said Shif'less Sol. “I never felt so full
+of fight in my life before.”
+
+“They may try it,” said Henry. “I understand that at the big battle of
+the Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois would wait until a
+white man behind a tree would fire, then they would rush up and tomahawk
+him before he could reload.”
+
+“They don't know how fast we kin reload,” said Long Jim, “an' they don't
+know that we've got these double-barreled pistols, either.”
+
+“No, they don't,” said Henry, “and it's a great thing for us to have
+them. Suppose we spread out a little. So long as we keep them
+from getting a lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a great
+disadvantage.”
+
+Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the others
+toward the left. They still had good cover, as fallen timber was
+scattered all over the oasis, and they were quite sure that another
+attack would be made soon. It came in about fifteen minutes. The
+Iroquois suddenly fired a volley at the logs and brush, and when the
+five returned the fire, but with more deadly effect, they leaped forward
+in the mud and attempted to rush the oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+
+But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a second
+volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch foot on solid
+earth. Then the double barreled pistols came into play. The bullets
+sent from short range drove back the savages, who were amazed at such
+a deadly and continued fire. Henry caught sight of a white face among
+these assailants, and he knew it to be that of Braxton Wyatt. Singularly
+enough he was not amazed to see it there. Wyatt, sinking deeper and
+deeper into savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois
+in such a pursuit. He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the infamous
+son of the Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself worse than the
+worst of the savages, as Thayendanegea himself has written.
+
+Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now about
+shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger Wyatt darted
+behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the bullet. He also saw
+the renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not able to secure a shot at him,
+either. Nevertheless, the Iroquois attack was beaten back. It was a
+foregone conclusion that the result would be so, unless the force was
+in great numbers. It is likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had
+thought only a single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the
+five had joined them later.
+
+Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but
+their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for
+their lives, could not carry them off. Paul, with a kind of fascinated
+horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper. Then one was
+entirely gone. The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too,
+was gone. But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading
+the fugitives on toward Fort Penn. They had not only held it, but they
+believed that they could continue to hold it against anything, and their
+hearts became exultant. Something, too, to balance against the long
+score, lay out there in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over
+Wyoming, were sorry that Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+
+The stillness came again. The sun did not break through the heavy gray
+sky, and the somber shadows brooded over “The Shades of Death.” They
+heard again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on
+the murky surface. Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry
+of wolf replying.
+
+“More Iroquois coming,” said Shif'less Sol. “Well, we gave them a pretty
+warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm
+thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in.”
+
+“We can, except in one case,” said Henry, “if the new party brings their
+numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround
+us in the darkness. Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when
+twilight comes. Carpenter and the train have a long lead now.”
+
+“Yes,” said Shif'less Sol, “Now, what in tarnation is that?”
+
+“A white flag,” said Paul. A piece of cloth that had once been white had
+been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
+
+“They want a talk with us,” said Henry.
+
+“If it's Braxton Wyatt,” said Long Jim, “I'd like to take a shot at him,
+talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another.”
+
+“We'll see what they have to say,” said Henry, and he called aloud:
+“What do you want with us?”
+
+“To talk with you,” replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton
+Wyatt.
+
+“Very well,” replied Henry, “show yourself and we will not fire upon
+you.”
+
+A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were
+held aloft in sign of peace. It was a splendid figure, at least six feet
+four inches in height. At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke
+through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant
+scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face
+with the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red
+bronze. It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the
+mighty Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+
+“Ware,” he said, “I would speak with you. Let us talk as one chief to
+another.”
+
+The five were amazed. Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he
+had come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far
+more formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe.
+But his demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
+
+“Are you going to answer him?” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Of course,” replied Henry.
+
+“The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot.”
+
+“Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare.”
+
+Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height. The same ruddy
+sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another
+splendid figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height
+of man, his hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed
+in buckskin, and his whole attitude that of one without fear. The two,
+the white and the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across
+the marsh.
+
+“What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?” asked Henry. In the presence
+of the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held
+his heart vanished. He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk
+under the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for
+White Lightning. He himself had owed him his life on another and more
+distant occasion, and he was not ungrateful. So there was warmth in his
+tone when he spoke.
+
+“Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground,” said Timmendiquas, “I
+have things to say that are important and that you will be glad to
+hear.”
+
+Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the
+young chief, coming forward, met him. Henry held out his hand in white
+fashion, and the young chief took it. There was no sound either from the
+swamp or from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of
+the eyes of those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
+
+“I wish to tell you, Ware,” said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity
+becoming a great chief, “that it was not I who led the pursuit of the
+white men's women and children. I, and the Wyandots who came with me,
+fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies
+when I can. We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in
+battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose
+in its birch-bark cradle.”
+
+The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which
+impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was
+usually a mask.
+
+“I believe that you tell the truth,” said Henry gravely.
+
+“I and my Wyandots,” continued the chief, “followed a trail through
+the woods. We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up
+there had just been a battle. The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven
+back. It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little
+children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect
+them.”
+
+“You speak true words, Timmendiquas,” said Henry.
+
+“The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill squaws
+and papooses,” continued Timmendiquas. “So I say to you, go on with
+those who flee across the mountains. Our warriors shall not pursue you
+any longer. We will turn back to the valley from which we come, and
+those of your race, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, shall go with us.”
+
+The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone that
+told that every word was meant. Henry felt a glow of admiration. The
+true greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+
+“And the Iroquois?” he said, “will they go back with you?”
+
+“They will. They have killed too much. Today all the white people in the
+valley are killed or driven away. Many scalps have been taken, those
+of women and children, too, and men have died at the stake. I have
+felt shame for their deeds, Ware, and it will bring punishment upon my
+brethren, the Iroquois. It will make so great a noise in the world that
+many soldiers will come, and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to
+be.”
+
+“I think it is so, Timmendiquas,” said Henry. “But you will be far away
+then in your own land.”
+
+The chief drew himself up a little.
+
+“I shall remain with the Iroquois,” he said. “I have promised to help
+them, and I must do so.”
+
+“I can't blame you for that,” said Henry, “but I am glad that you do
+not seek the scalps of women and children. We are at once enemies and
+friends, Timmendiquas.”
+
+White Lightning bowed gravely. He and Henry touched hands again, and
+each withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked back toward
+his comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy were near.
+
+The four rose up to greet him. They had heard part of what was said, and
+Henry quickly told them the rest.
+
+“He's shorely a great chief,” said Shif'less Sol. “He'll keep his word,
+too. Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear from pursuit.”
+
+“He's a statesman, too,” said Henry. “He sees what damage the deeds of
+Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them. He thinks our people
+will now send a great army against the Iroquois, and I think so, too.”
+
+“No nation can stand a thing like that,” said Paul, “and I didn't dream
+it could happen.”
+
+They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by the
+fugitives. All of them had confidence in the word of Timmendiquas. There
+was a remote chance that some other band had entered the swamp at a
+different point, but it was remote, indeed, and it did not trouble them
+much.
+
+Night was now over the great swamp. The sun no longer came through the
+gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes of flame made by
+fireflies. Had not the trail been so broad and deep it could easily have
+been lost, but, being what it was, the skilled eyes of the frontiersmen
+followed it without trouble.
+
+“Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired,” said Tom Ross, looking at
+the tracks in the mud. Then he suddenly added: “Here's whar one's quit
+forever.”
+
+A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some bushes,
+and its length indicated that a woman lay there. They passed it by
+in silence. Henry now appreciated more fully than ever the mercy of
+Timmendiquas. The five and Carpenter could not possibly have protected
+the miserable fugitives against the great chief, with fifty Wyandots and
+Iroquois at his back. Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none
+of the Indians or white allies around him would have done.
+
+In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but watchful,
+and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm. It was Carpenter, a man
+whose task was not less than that of the five. They were in the thick
+of it and could see what was done, but he had to lead on and wait. He
+counted the dusk figures as they approached him, one, two, three, four,
+five, and perhaps no man ever felt greater relief. He advanced toward
+them and said huskily:
+
+“There was no fight! They did not attack!”
+
+“There was a fight,” said Henry, “and we beat them back; then a second
+and a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of Wyandots, led
+by their great chief, Timmendiquas. He came forward and said that they
+would not pursue women and children, and that we could go in safety.”
+
+Carpenter looked incredulous.
+
+“It is true,” said Henry, “every word of it.”
+
+“It is more than Brant would have done,” said Carpenter, “and it saves
+us, with your help.”
+
+“You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter,” said
+Henry sincerely.
+
+They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the oasis,
+but they spread the news that there would be no more pursuit, and many
+drooping spirits revived. They spent another day in the Great Dismal
+Swamp, where more lives were lost. On the day after their emergence
+from the marsh, Henry and his comrades killed two deer, which furnished
+greatly needed food, and on the day after that, excepting those who had
+died by the way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into
+shelter and safety.
+
+The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois began the
+celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great victory and the
+many scalps taken at Wyoming. They could not recall another time when
+they had secured so many of these hideous trophies, and they were drunk
+with the joy of victory. Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes,
+and some painted and dressed like Indians, took part in it.
+
+According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand council
+to prepare for it. All the leading chiefs were present, Sangerachte,
+Hiokatoo, and the others. Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe, and other white
+men were admitted. After their deliberations a great fire was built in
+the center of the camp, the squaws who had followed the army feeding
+it with brushwood until it leaped and roared and formed a great red
+pyramid. Then the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance,
+and waited.
+
+Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the farthest
+point of the camp emerged a long line of warriors, hundreds and hundreds
+of them, all painted in red and black with horrible designs. They were
+naked except the breechcloth and moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a
+tomahawk as he sang.
+
+Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the
+red light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced and
+wheeled about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid light upon
+faces hideous with paint or the intoxication of triumph. The glare of
+their black eyes was like those of Eastern eaters of hasheesh or opium,
+and they bounded to and fro as if their muscles were springs of steel.
+They sang:
+
+  We have met the Bostonians [*] in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+     [* Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by
+     the Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+
+The monotonous chant with the refrain, “Ever-victorious is the League of
+the Ho-de-no-sau-nee,” went on for many verses. Meanwhile the old squaws
+never ceased to feed the bonfire, and the flames roared, casting a
+deeper and more vivid light over the distorted faces of the dancers and
+those of the chiefs, who sat gravely beyond.
+
+Higher and higher leaped the warriors. They seemed unconscious of
+fatigue, and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. Their whole
+souls were possessed by the orgy. Beads of sweat, not of exhaustion, but
+of emotional excitement, appeared upon their faces and naked bodies, and
+the red and black paint streaked together horribly.
+
+For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased suddenly to
+sing, although they continued their dance. A moment later a cry which
+thrilled every nerve came from a far point in the dark background.
+It was the scalp yell, the most terrible of all Indian cries, long,
+high-pitched, and quavering, having in it something of the barking howl
+of the wolf and the fiendish shriek of a murderous maniac. The warriors
+instantly took it up, and gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+
+A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight. It was that
+of a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the waist, her body
+covered with red and black paint, her long black hair hanging in a loose
+cloud down her back. She held a fresh scalp, taken from a white head,
+aloft in either band. It was Catharine Montour, and it was she who had
+first emitted the scalp yell. After her came more warriors, all bearing
+scalps. The scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken,
+and, as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+hours, penetrating every part of the forest. All the time Catharine
+Montour led the dance. None bounded higher than she. None grimaced more
+horribly.
+
+While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and black
+caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around amid hoots
+and yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. They were the
+surviving prisoners, and the black caps meant that they were to be
+killed and scalped on the morrow. Stupefied by all through which they
+had gone, they were scarcely conscious now.
+
+Midnight came. The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm stars
+looked down upon the savage and awful scene. Now the dancers began to
+weary. Many dropped unconscious, and the others danced about them where
+they lay. After a while all ceased. Then the chiefs brought forth a
+white dog, which Hiokatoo killed and threw on the embers of the fire.
+When it was thoroughly roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it.
+Thus closed the Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A FOREST PAGE
+
+
+When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five had
+helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food and rest
+they needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt themselves
+relieved of a great responsibility. They were also aware how much they
+owed to Timmendiquas, because few of the Indians and renegades would
+have been so forbearing. Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to
+the great Wyandot. Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the
+prisoners and the slaughter of women and children, he did not do it.
+The five could never forget these things in after life, when Brant was
+glorified as a great warrior and leader. Their minds always turned to
+Timmendiquas as the highest and finest of Indian types.
+
+While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful state
+of exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death on the way.
+Other groups reached the Moravian towns, where they were received with
+all kindness by the German settlers. The five were able to give some
+help to several of these parties, but the beautiful Wyoming Valley lay
+utterly in ruins. The ruthless fury of the savages and of many of the
+Tories, Canadians, and Englishmen, can scarcely be told. Everything was
+slaughtered or burned. As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. An
+entire population was either annihilated or driven out, and finally
+Butler's army, finding that nothing more was left to be destroyed,
+gathered in its war parties and marched northward with a vast store
+of spoils, in which scalps were conspicuous. When they repassed Tioga
+Point, Timmendiquas and his Wyandots were still with them. Thayendanegea
+was also with them here, and so was Walter Butler, who was destined
+shortly to make a reputation equaling that of his father, “Indian”
+ Butler. Nor had the terrible Queen Esther ever left them. She marched
+at the head of the army, singing, horrid chants of victory, and swinging
+the great war tomahawk, which did not often leave her hand.
+
+The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was still
+full of the impulse of savage triumph. Wild Indian songs floated along
+the stream or through the meadows, which were quiet now. They advanced
+at their ease, knowing that there was nobody to attack them, but they
+were watched by five woodsmen, two of whom were boys. Meanwhile the
+story of Wyoming, to an extent that neither Indians nor woodsmen
+themselves suspected, was spreading from town to town in the East, to
+invade thence the whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation
+and horror that would make the name Wyoming long memorable. Wyoming
+had been a victory for the flag under which the invaders fought, but it
+sadly tarnished the cause of that flag, and the consequences were to be
+seen soon.
+
+Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were thinking
+little of distant consequences, but they were eager for the present
+punishment of these men who had committed so much cruelty. From the
+bushes they could easily follow the canoes, and could recognize some of
+their occupants. In one of the rear boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young
+man whom they knew to be Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by
+the most savage ferocity against the patriots. He and Wyatt seemed to
+be on the best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the
+five who were watching among the bushes on the river bank. Certainly
+Braxton Wyatt and he were a pair well met.
+
+“Henry,” said Shif'less Sol longingly, “I think I could jest about reach
+Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here. I ain't over fond o' shootin'
+from ambush, but I done got over all scruples so fur ez he's concerned.
+Jest one bullet, one little bullet, Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur
+a second chance.”
+
+“No, Sol, it won't do,” said Henry. “They'd get off to hunt us. The
+whole fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as fast as
+possible.”
+
+“I s'pose you're right, Henry,” said the shiftless one sadly, “but
+I'd jest like to try it once. I'd give a month's good huntin' for that
+single trial.”
+
+After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river, they
+turned back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses near it. Here
+everything had been destroyed. It was about dusk when they approached
+the battlefield, and they heard a dreadful howling, chiefly that of
+wolves.
+
+“I think we'd better turn away,” said Henry. “We couldn't do anything
+with so many.”
+
+They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up the
+Susquehanna. A light rain fell that night, but they slept under a little
+shed, once attached to a house which had been destroyed by fire. In some
+way the shed had escaped the flames, and it now came into timely use.
+The five, cunning in forest practice, drew up brush on the sides, and
+half-burned timber also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which
+had not long been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain,
+although they did not sleep for a long time.
+
+It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night had come
+on cool, and the rain made it cooler. The five, profiting by experience,
+often carried with them two light blankets instead of one heavy one.
+With one blanket beneath the body they could keep warmer in case the
+weather was cold.
+
+Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old outhouse,
+protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. They had eaten
+of a deer that they had shot in the morning, and they had a sense
+of comfort and rest that none of them had known before in many days.
+Henry's feelings were much like those that he had experienced when he
+lay in the bushes in the little canoe, wrapped up from the storm and
+hidden from the Iroquois. But here there was an important increase
+of pleasure, the pattering of the rain on the board roof, a pleasant,
+soothing sound to which millions of boys, many of them afterwards great
+men, have listened in America.
+
+It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost musical
+in its rhythm, kept up. Not much wind was blowing, and it, too, was
+melodious. Henry lay with his head on a little heap of ashes, which
+was covered by his under blanket, and, for the first time since he had
+brought the warning to Wyoming, he was free from all feeling of danger.
+The picture itself of the battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture,
+and of the savage Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was
+at times as vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then
+in its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth, hope,
+and strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+
+Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower. Physical comfort and the
+presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that permeated his
+whole being. The light wind mingled pleasantly with the soft summer
+rain. The sound of the two grew strangely melodious, almost piercingly
+sweet, and then it seemed to be human. They sang together, the wind and
+rain, among the leaves, and the note that reached his heart, rather than
+his ear, thrilled him with courage and hope. Once more the invisible
+voice that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told him,
+even here in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was lost would be
+regained. The chords ended, and the echoes, amazingly clear, floated far
+away in the darkness and rain. Henry roused himself, and came from the
+imaginative borderland. He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice
+to Shif'less Sol:
+
+“Did you hear anything, Sol?”
+
+“Nothin' but the wind an' the rain.”
+
+Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+
+“I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry,” continued the
+shiftless one, “'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near sleep
+ez a feller could be without bein' ackshooally so.”
+
+“I was drifting away,” said Henry.
+
+He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather gift.
+Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything in brilliant
+colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air, but Henry's gift
+went deeper. It was the power to evoke the actual living picture of
+the event that bad not yet occurred, something akin in its nature
+to prophecy, based perhaps upon the wonderful power of observation,
+inherited doubtless, from countless primitive ancestors. The finest
+product of the wilderness, he saw in that wilderness many things that
+others did not see, and unconsciously he drew his conclusions from
+superior knowledge.
+
+The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another note, a
+howl almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full of ferocity.
+All knew it at once. They had heard the cry of wolves too often in their
+lives, but this had an uncommon note like the yell of the Indian in
+victory. Again the cry arose, nearer, haunting, and powerful. The five,
+used to the darkness, could see one another's faces, and the look that
+all gave was the same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+
+“It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley,” whispered Paul,
+“and striking our trail they think they are going to find what they have
+been finding in such plenty before.”
+
+“Yes,” nodded Henry, “but do you remember that time when in the house
+we took the place of the man, his wife and children, just before the
+Indians came?”
+
+“Yes,” said Paul.
+
+“We'll treat them wolves the same way,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I'm glad of the chance,” said Long Jim.
+
+“Me, too,” said Tom Ross.
+
+The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and
+everyone held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle, with the
+muzzle pointing toward the forest. All accomplished marksmen, it would
+only be a matter of a moment for the stock to leap to the shoulder, the
+eye to glance down the barrel, the finger to pull the trigger, and the
+unerring bullet to leap forth.
+
+“Henry, you give the word as usual,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet, and
+they saw many gleaming eyes draw near. There must have been at least
+thirty of the wolves, and the five figures that they saw reclining,
+silent and motionless, against the unburned portion of the house might
+well have been those of the dead and scalped, whom they had found in
+such numbers everywhere. They drew near in a semicircular group, its
+concave front extended toward the fire, the greatest wolves at the
+center. Despite many feastings, the wolves were hungry again. Nothing
+had opposed them before, but caution was instinctive. The big gray
+leaders did not mind the night or the wind or the rain, which they
+had known all their lives, and which they counted as nothing, but they
+always had involuntary suspicion of human figures, whether living or
+not, and they approached slowly, wrinkling back their noses and sniffing
+the wind which blew from them instead of the five figures. But their
+confidence increased as they advanced. They had found many such burned
+houses as this, but they had found nothing among the ruins except what
+they wished.
+
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the human
+figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves curling
+back farther from the strong white teeth. The outer ends of the concave
+semicircle also drew in. The whole pack was about to spring upon its
+unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true that many a wolfish pulse
+beat a little higher in anticipation. With a suddenness as startling
+ figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a gush
+of flame shot from five muzzles. Five of the wolves-and they were the
+biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon the ashes of the
+charred timbers, and the others, howling their terror to the dark,
+skies, fled deep into the forest.
+
+Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with his foot.
+
+“I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting those
+wolves,” he said, “but I for one am glad we did it.”
+
+“So am I,” said Paul.
+
+“Me, too,” said the other three together.
+
+They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one fell
+asleep. No more wolves howled that night anywhere near them.
+
+When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and a
+splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold. Jim Hart built a fire
+among the blackened logs, and cooked venison. They had also brought from
+Fort Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim carried with a small coffee
+pot in his camp kit, and everyone had a small tin cup. He made coffee
+for them, an uncommon wilderness luxury, in which they could rarely
+indulge, and they were heartened and strengthened by it.
+
+Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with its
+silver river in the center, and its green mountain walls on either side.
+But the beauty was for the eye only. It did not reach the hearts of
+those who had seen it before. All of the five loved the wilderness, but
+they felt now how tragic silence and desolation could be where human
+life and all the daily ways of human life had been.
+
+It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its own.
+The game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into the valley.
+Deer ate what had grown in the fields and gardens, and the wolves were
+everywhere. The whole black tragedy was written for miles. They were
+never out of sight of some trace of it, and their anger grew again as
+they advanced in the blackened path of the victorious Indians.
+
+It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts and
+skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign against
+the Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted sooner or later.
+Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering news of the Indian
+plans, and, when that army of which they dreamed should finally march,
+they could help it most of all by warning it of ambush, the Indian's
+deadliest weapon.
+
+Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was manifest in
+all wars with the Indians along the whole border from North to South,
+as it steadily shifted farther West. The practical hunter and scout was
+always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw
+levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were
+invariably at a great disadvantage. They were likely to be caught in
+ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened
+at Wyoming. The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his
+comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it. An army needed
+eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs. So they went
+swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of
+the Iroquois. They had a plan of approaching the upper Mohawk village
+of Canajoharie, where one account says that Thayendanegea was born,
+although another credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+
+They turned now from the valley to the deep woods. The trail showed
+that the great Indian force, after disembarking again, split into large
+parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound for its home village. The
+five noted several of the trails, but one of them consumed the whole
+attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+
+He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about eight
+Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he took to be
+those of a white woman and of several children, captives, as even a
+tyro would infer. The soul of Tom, the good, honest, and inarticulate
+frontiersman, stirred within him. A white woman and her children being
+carried off to savagery, to be lost forevermore to their kind! Tom,
+still inarticulate, felt his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that
+the tracks in the soft mud told so plainly. But despair was not the only
+emotion in his heart. The silent and brave man meant to act.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “see these tracks here in the soft spot by the creek.”
+
+The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly the same
+tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+
+“About a day old, I think,” he said.
+
+“Just about,” said Tom; “an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in my
+mind.”
+
+“I think I do,” said Henry, “and we ought to overtake them by to-morrow
+night. You tell the others, Tom.”
+
+Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words, receiving
+from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed fast on the
+trail. They knew that the Indians could not go very fast, as their speed
+must be that of the slowest, namely, that of the children, and it seemed
+likely that Henry's prediction of overtaking them on the following night
+would come true.
+
+It was an easy trail. Here and there were tiny fragments of cloth,
+caught by a bush from the dress of a captive. In one place they saw a
+fragment of a child's shoe that had been dropped off and abandoned. Paul
+picked up the worn piece of leather and examined it.
+
+“I think it was worn by a girl,” he said, “and, judging from its size,
+she could not have been more than eight years old. Think of a child like
+that being made to walk five or six hundred miles through these woods!”
+
+“Younger ones still have had to do it,” said Shif'less Sol gravely, “an'
+them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk.”
+
+The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they had no
+doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more numerous than
+any others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming battle. They came that
+afternoon to a camp fire beside which the warriors and captives had
+slept the night before.
+
+“They ate bar meat an' wild turkey,” said Long Jim, looking at some
+bones on the ground.
+
+“An' here,” said Tom Ross, “on this pile uv bushes is whar the women an'
+children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is whar the warriors
+lay anywhars. You can still see how the bodies uv some uv 'cm crushed
+down the grass an' little bushes.”
+
+“An' I'm thinkin',” said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail that
+led away from the camp fire, “that some o' them little ones wuz gittin'
+pow'ful tired. Look how these here little trails are wobblin' about.”
+
+“Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar tomahawks,”
+ said Tom Ross.
+
+The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance of Tom's
+remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+
+“It's the greatest danger to be feared,” he said, “and we must overtake
+them in the night when they are not suspecting. If we attack by day they
+will tomahawk the captives the very first thing.”
+
+“Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+
+“Then,” said Henry, “we don't need to hurry. We'll go on until about
+midnight, and then sleep until sunrise.”
+
+They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far less
+skillful than they could have followed. But a silent dread was in the
+heart of every one of them. As they saw the path of the small feet
+staggering more and more they feared to behold some terrible object
+beside the path.
+
+“The trail of the littlest child is gone,” suddenly announced Paul.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “but the mother has picked it up and is carrying it.
+See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven.”
+
+“Poor woman,” said Paul. “Henry, we're just bound to overtake that
+band.”
+
+“We'll do it,” said Henry.
+
+At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes that they
+could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. Then they resumed
+the trail, haunted always by that fear of finding something terrible
+beside it. But it was a trail that continually grew slower. The Indians
+themselves were tired, or, feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of
+hurry. By and by the trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+
+“It feels a lot better now,” said Tom Ross. “So do I.”
+
+They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet cold.
+Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians had taken
+time for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+
+“They can't be more than two or three hours ahead,” said Henry, “and
+we'll have to go on now very cautiously.”
+
+They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests, a
+region suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on their own
+account; but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now advanced slowly.
+The afternoon was long and warm, but an hour before sunset they looked
+over a hill into a glade, and saw the warriors making camp for the
+night.
+
+The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. The
+Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were cooking
+venison upon it. Others were lying on the grass, apparently resting,
+but a little to one side sat a woman, still young and of large, strong
+figure, though now apparently in the last stages of exhaustion, with her
+feet showing through the fragments of shoes that she wore. Her head was
+bare, and her dress was in strips. Four children lay beside her' the
+youngest two with their heads in her lap. The other two, who might be
+eleven and thirteen each, had pillowed their heads on their arms, and
+lay in the dull apathy that comes from the finish of both strength
+and hope. The woman's face was pitiful. She had more to fear than the
+children, and she knew it. She was so worn that the skin hung loosely on
+her face, and her eyes showed despair only. The sad spectacle was almost
+more than Paul could stand.
+
+“I don't like to shoot from ambush,” he said, “but we could cut down
+half of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the rest.”
+
+“And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk the
+woman and children in an instant,” replied Henry. “We agreed, you know,
+that it would be sure to happen. We can't do anything until night comes,
+and then we've got to be mighty cautious.”
+
+Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew
+carefully to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the undergrowth,
+watching the Indians complete their fire and their preparations for the
+night. It was evident to Henry that they considered themselves perfectly
+safe. Certainly they had every reason for thinking so. It was not likely
+that white enemies were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it
+could only be a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce
+band of Senecas who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they'
+had suffered the year before at the Oriskany.
+
+They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just enough
+for broiling deer meat which they carried. They drank at a little spring
+which ran from under a ledge near them, and gave portions of the meat to
+the woman and children. After the woman had eaten, they bound her hands,
+and she lay back on the grass, about twenty feet from the camp fire. Two
+children lay on either side of her, and they were soon sound asleep. The
+warriors, as Indians will do when they are free from danger and care,
+talked a good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them
+a luxurious time. They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and looked
+at some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at their belts.
+The woman could not keep from seeing these, too, but her face did not
+change from its stony aspect of despair. Then the light of the fire went
+out, the sun sank behind the mountains, and the five could no longer see
+the little group of captives and captors.
+
+They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging at the
+hearts of every one of them. But they must give the Indians time to
+fall asleep if they would secure rescue, and not merely revenge. They
+remained in the bushes, saying but little and eating of venison that
+they carried in their knapsacks.
+
+They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark, but
+with a faint moon showing. Then they descended slowly into the valley,
+approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they knew the Indian camp
+lay. This work required at least three quarters of an hour, and they
+reached a point where they could see the embers of the fire and the dark
+figures lying about it. The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put
+out no sentinels, and all were asleep. But the five knew that, at the
+first shot, they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and
+as formidable as tigers. Their problem seemed as great as ever. So they
+lay in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+
+“It's this,” said Henry. “We want to save the woman and the children
+from the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of range of the
+blade before the battle begins.” “How?” said Tom Ross.
+
+“I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run for
+the woods with the children, and then you four must do the most of the
+rest.”
+
+“Do you think you can do it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I can, as I will soon show you. I'm going to steal forward to the woman,
+but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your rifles and pistols.
+You can come a little nearer without being heard.”
+
+All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in the
+last fringe of bushes except Henry. He lay almost flat upon the ground,
+carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his right hand. He
+was undertaking one of the severest and most dangerous tests known to
+a frontiersman. He meant to crawl into the very midst of a camp of the
+Iroquois, composed of the most alert woodsmen in the world, men who
+would spring up at the slightest crackle in the brush. Woodmen who,
+warned by some sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange
+presence.
+
+The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their hearts
+from beating louder and faster. They knew the tremendous risk undertaken
+by their comrade, but there was not one of them who would have shirked
+it, had not all yielded it to the one whom they knew to be the best
+fitted for the task.
+
+Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years of skill
+that he had acquired in his life in the wilds. His body was like that
+of a serpent, going forward, coil by coil. He was near enough now to see
+the embers of the fire not yet quite dead, the dark figures scattered
+about it, sleeping upon the grass with the long ease of custom, and then
+the outline of the woman apart from the others with the children about
+her. Henry now lay entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those
+of a serpent. It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body
+that he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+
+The object of his advance was the woman. He saw by the faint light of
+the moon that she was not yet asleep. Her face, worn and weather beaten,
+was upturned to the skies, and the stony look of despair seemed to have
+settled there forever. She lay upon some pine boughs, and her hands were
+tied behind her for the night with deerskin.
+
+Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like a great
+snake. Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with war paint, and
+came closer to the woman. She was not paying attention to anything about
+her, but was merely looking up at the pale, cold stars, as if everything
+in the world had ceased for her.
+
+Henry crept a little nearer. He made a slight noise, as of a lizard
+running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. He crept
+closer, and there he lay flat upon the grass within six feet of her,
+his figure merely a slightly darker blur against the dark blur of the
+earth. Then, trusting to the woman's courage and strength of mind, he
+emitted a hiss very soft and low, like the warning of a serpent, half in
+fear and half in anger.
+
+The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which the
+sound had come. It might have been the formidable hiss of a coiling
+rattlesnake that she heard, but she felt no fear. She was too much
+stunned, too near exhaustion to be alarmed by anything, and she did
+not look a second time. She merely settled back on the pine boughs, and
+again looked dully up at the pale, cold stars that cared so little for
+her or hers.
+
+Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low noise,
+sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the border, knew
+to be made by a human being. She raised herself a little, although it
+was difficult with her bound hands to sit upright, and saw a dark shadow
+approaching her. That dark shadow she knew to be the figure of a man. An
+Indian would not be approaching in such a manner, and she looked again,
+startled into a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the
+incredible, the impossible, was about to happen. A voice came from the
+figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+
+“Do not move,” said that incredible voice out of the unknown. “I have
+come for your rescue, and others who have come for the same purpose are
+near. Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds that hold your arms.”
+
+The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary Newton.
+A sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her four children
+awoke within her just when hope had gone the call to life came. She
+had never heard before a voice so full of cheer and encouragement. It
+penetrated her whole being. Exhaustion and despair fled away.
+
+“Turn a little on your side,” said the voice.
+
+She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel as it
+swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them together. Her
+arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein of her being.
+
+“We shall attack in a few moments,” said the voice, “but at the first
+shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your children. Hold out
+your hands.”
+
+She held out both hands obediently. The handle of a tomahawk was pressed
+into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into the other.
+Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+
+“If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how,” said
+the voice. Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+
+
+The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far days
+of Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom the unknown
+figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. It had seemed to
+her that God himself had deserted her, but at the last moment he had
+sent some one. She did not doubt, she could not doubt, because the bonds
+had been severed, and there she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand.
+The friendly stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come,
+but she was not helpless now. Like many another frontier woman, she
+was naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope, all her
+strength had returned for the present.
+
+Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape superstition,
+and Mary Newton began to believe that some supernatural creature had
+intervened in her behalf. She raised herself just a little on one elbow
+and surveyed the surrounding thicket. She saw only the dead embers of
+the fire, and the dark forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground.
+Had it not been for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have
+believed that the voice was only a dream.
+
+There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose quickly
+to his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands. The woman's fingers
+clutched the knife and pistol more tightly, and her whole gaunt figure
+trembled. The Seneca listened only a moment. Then he gave a sharp cry,
+and all the other warriors sprang up. But three of them rose only
+to fall again, as the rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others
+staggered from wounds.
+
+The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket, and then
+they rushed upon the camp. Quick as a flash two of the Senecas started
+toward the woman and children with their tomahawks, but Mary Newton was
+ready. Her heart had leaped at the shots when the Senecas fell, and
+she kept her courage. Now she sprang to her full height, and, with the
+children screaming at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly
+into the face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same
+way with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. Then,
+tomahawk in hand, she rushed forward. In judging Mary Newton, one must
+consider time and place.
+
+But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk. As the five
+rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled pistols, while
+Henry swung his clubbed rifle with terrible effect. It was too much
+for the Senecas. The apparition of the armed woman, whom they had left
+bound, and the deadly fire from the five figures that sprang upon them,
+was like a blow from the hand of Aieroski. The unhurt and wounded fled
+deep into the forest, leaving their dead behind. Mary Newton, her great
+deed done, collapsed from emotion and weakness. The screams of the
+children sank in a few moments to frightened whimpers. But the oldest,
+when they saw the white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+
+Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was
+revived; Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three were in
+the thickets, watching lest the surviving Senecas return for attack.
+
+“I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must have
+sent you to our rescue,” said Mary Newton reverently.
+
+“We don't know,” said Paul, “but we are doing the best we can. Do you
+think you can walk now?”
+
+“Away from the savages? Yes!” she said passionately. She looked down at
+the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a single trace of
+pity for them. Again it is necessary to consider time and place.
+
+“Some of my strength came back while I was lying here,” she said, “and
+much more of it when you drove away the Indians.”
+
+“Very well,” said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire with
+his comrades, “we must start on the back trail at once. The surviving
+Senecas, joined by other Iroquois, will certainly pursue, and we need
+all the start that we can get.”
+
+Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him over
+his shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the older two
+scorned help. They were full of admiration for the great woodsmen,
+mighty heroes who had suddenly appeared out of the air, as it were,
+and who had swept like a tornado over the Seneca band. It did not seem
+possible now that they, could be retaken.
+
+But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also recovered her
+forethought.
+
+“Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail,” she said. “One
+of the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles farther on was a
+river flowing into the Susquehanna, and that they would cross this river
+on a boat now concealed among bushes on the bank. The crossing was at a
+sudden drop between high banks. Might not we go on, find the boat, and
+come back in it down the river and into the Susquehanna?”
+
+“That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me,” said Shif'less Sol.
+“Besides, it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the Iroquois off
+our track. They'll think, o' course, that we've gone straight back, an'
+we'll pass 'em ez we're going forward.”
+
+“It's certainly the best plan,” said Henry, “and it's worth our while
+to try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois. Do you know the general
+direction?”
+
+“Almost due north.”
+
+“Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any Iroquois
+who may be returning to this camp, and push for it.”
+
+Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others followed in a
+silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the two smallest children,
+who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. Henry did not believe that the
+returning Iroquois could follow their trail on such a dark night, and
+the others agreed with him.
+
+After a while they saw the gleam of water. Henry knew that it must be
+very near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such a dark night.
+
+“I think, Mrs. Newton,” he said, “that this is the river of which you
+spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they would.”
+
+The woman smiled.
+
+“Yes,” she said, “you've done well with my poor guess, and the boat must
+be hidden somewhere near here.”
+
+Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two older children, unable
+to walk farther, sank down beside her. But the two who slept soundly on
+the shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not awaken. Henry motioned
+to Jim and Tom to remain there, and Shif'less Sol bent upon them a
+quizzical and approving look.
+
+“Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed galoot,” he
+said, “carryin' a baby that tender. Knew Jim could sling a little black
+bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think you'd take to nussin' so
+easy.”
+
+“I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde,” said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+condescension, “that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. In face
+uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but with the little
+an' the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez human bein's are ever
+made to be.”
+
+“You're right, old hoss,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Well,” said the shiftless one, “I can't argify with you now, ez the
+general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his major, which is
+Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o' them barges o' Clepatry
+that Paul tells about, all solid silver, with red silk sails an' gold
+oars, an' we're meanin' to do it.”
+
+Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they discovered, deep
+among bushes growing in the shallow water, a large, well-made boat with
+two pairs of oars and with small supplies of parched corn and venison
+hidden in it.
+
+“Good luck an' bad luck come mixed,” said the shift-less one, “an' this
+is shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck. The woman an' the children
+are clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we could never hev got
+them back. Now it's jest a question o' rowin' an' fightin'.”
+
+“Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water,” said
+Henry, “while you can go back and tell the others, Sol.”
+
+“That just suits a lazy man,” said Sol, and he walked away jauntily.
+Under his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at the find, which he
+knew to be of such vast importance. He approached the dusky group, and
+his really tender heart was stirred with pity for the rescued captives.
+Long Jim and Silent Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but
+the older ones and the woman, also, had fallen asleep. Sol, in order to
+conceal his emotion, strode up rather roughly. Mary Newton awoke.
+
+“Did you find anything?” she asked.
+
+“Find anything?” repeated Shif'less Sol. “Well, Long Jim an' Tom
+here might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me, three
+eddicated men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally bound to find
+it whether it wuz thar or not. Yes, we've unearthed what Paul would call
+an argosy, the grandest craft that ever floated on this here creek,
+that I never saw before, an' that I don't know the name uv. She's bein'
+floated out now, an' I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to
+tell the princes and princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the
+other gran' an' mighty passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice
+is in the stream, an' the Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin', settin'
+on the Pup to welcome ye.”
+
+“Sol,” said Long Jim, “you do talk a power uv foolishness, with your
+Dogs an' Pups.”
+
+“It ain't foolishness,” rejoined the shiftless one. “I heard Paul read
+it out o' a book oncet, plain ez day. They've been ruled by Dogs at
+Venice for more than a thousand years, an' on big 'casions the Dog comes
+down a canal in a golden barge, settin' on the Pup. I'll admit it 'pears
+strange to me, too, but who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the
+ways of foreign countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the
+sea?”
+
+“They've found the boat,” said Tom Ross, “an' that's enough!”
+
+“Is it really true?” asked Mrs. Newton.
+
+“It is,” replied Shif'less Sol, “an' Henry an' Paul are in it, waitin'
+fur us. We're thinkin', Mrs. Newton, that the roughest part of your trip
+is over.”
+
+In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really fine
+one, and they were delighted. Mary Newton for the first time broke down
+and wept, and no one disturbed her. The five spread the blankets on the
+bottom of the boat, where the children soon went to sleep once more, and
+Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol took the oars.
+
+“Back in a boat ag'in,” said the shiftless one exultantly. “Makes me
+feel like old times. My fav'rite mode o' travelin' when Jim Hart, 'stead
+o' me, is at the oars.”
+
+“Which is most o' the time,” said Long Jim.
+
+It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the wilderness.
+They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful arms, with scarcely an
+effort, propelled the boat along the stream. The woman herself lay down
+on the blankets and fell asleep with the children. Henry at the prow,
+Tom Ross at the stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with
+their rifles across their knees. They knew that the danger was far from
+over. Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown to them, as
+a highway, and those who survived of their original captors could pick
+up their trail by daylight. And the Senecas, being mad for revenge,
+would surely get help and follow. Henry believed that the theory of
+returning toward the Wyoming Valley was sound. That region had been so
+thoroughly ravaged now that all the Indians would be going northward.
+If they could float down a day or so without molestation, they would
+probably be safe. The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened,
+flowing with a smooth, fairly swift current. The forest on either side
+was dense with oak, hickory, maple, and other splendid trees, often
+with a growth of underbrush. The three riflemen never ceased to watch
+intently. Henry always looked ahead. It would have been difficult for
+any ambushed marksman to have escaped his notice. But nothing occurred
+to disturb them. Once a deer came down to drink, and fled away at sight
+of the phantom boat gliding almost without noise on the still waters.
+Once the far scream of a panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton
+and her children, sleeping soundly, did not hear it. The five themselves
+knew the nature of the sound, and paid no attention. The boat went
+steadily on, the three riflemen never changing their position, and soon
+the day began to come. Little arrows of golden light pierced through the
+foliage of the trees, and sparkled on the surface of the water. In the
+cast the red sun was coming from his nightly trip. Henry looked down at
+the sleepers. They were overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake
+of their own accord for a long time.
+
+Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+
+“Why not let 'em sleep on?” he said.
+
+Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom Ross
+resumed their rifles. The day was coming fast, and the whole forest was
+soon transfused with light.
+
+No one of the five had slept during the night. They did not feel the
+need of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great exaltation. They
+had saved the prisoners thus far from a horrible fate, and they were
+firmly resolved to reach, with them, some strong settlement and safety.
+They felt, too, a sense of exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo,
+the Butlers, the Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed
+such terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+
+The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver to
+gold, and the woman and the children still slept. The five chewed some
+strips of venison, and looked rather lugubriously at the pieces they
+were saving for Mary Newton and the children.
+
+“We ought to hev more'n that,” said Shif'less Sol. “Ef the worst comes to
+the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer.”
+
+“But not yet,” said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the sleepers. “I
+think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon, and its width will be
+a good thing for us. I wish we were there now. I don't like this narrow
+stream. Its narrowness affords too good an ambush.”
+
+“Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast,” said the shiftless one,
+“an' that is a good sign. What's that you see ahead, Henry--ain't it a
+river?”
+
+“It surely is,” replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad expanse of
+water, “and it's the Susquehanna. Pull hard, Sol! In five more minutes
+we'll be in the river.”
+
+It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout behind
+them, and saw at least a dozen canoes following. The canoes were filled
+with Indians and Tories, and they had spied the fugitives.
+
+“Keep the women and the children down, Paul,” cried Henry.
+
+All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and, without
+a word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled watermen, swung
+heavily on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less Sol sat in the rear with
+their rifles ready. Mary Newton awoke with a cry at the sound of the
+shots, and started to rise, but Paul pushed her down.
+
+“We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton,” he said, “and we are
+pursued. The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't be afraid.
+The two who are watching there are the best shots in the world.”
+
+He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in the
+stern of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past, kings of
+the forest whom no one could overcome, and her courage came back. The
+children, too, had awakened with frightened cries, but she and Paul
+quickly soothed them, and, obedient to commands, the four, and Mary
+Newton with them, lay flat upon the bottom of the boat, which was now
+being sent forward rapidly by Jim Hart and Tom. Paul took up his rifle
+and sat in a waiting attitude, either to relieve one of the men at the
+oars or to shoot if necessary.
+
+The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light. The Indians,
+after their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful were Long Jim
+and Tom that they were gaining but little, although some of the boats
+contained six or eight rowers.
+
+As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces in the
+first boat. One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other, he was quite
+sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler. Hot anger swept through
+all his veins, and the little pulses in his temples began to beat like
+trip hammers. Now the picture of Wyoming, the battle, the massacre,
+the torture, and Queen Esther wielding her great tomahawk on the bound
+captives, grew astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his
+brain. The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+
+“Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?” he called clearly across the intervening
+water. “Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women and children,
+champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of the savages. And
+it is you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of a wicked father. Come a
+little closer, won't you? We've messengers here for both of you!”
+
+He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of Shif'less Sol,
+and repeated his request that they come a little closer.
+
+They understood his words, and they understood, also, the significant
+gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles. The hearts of both
+Butler and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and their boat dropped back
+to third place. Henry laughed aloud when he saw. The Viking rage was
+still upon him. This was the primeval wilderness, and these were no
+common foes.
+
+“I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers,” he cried.
+“Why have you dropped back to third place in the line, Braxton Wyatt and
+Walter Butler, when you were first only a moment ago? Are you cowards as
+well as murderers of women and children?”
+
+“That's pow'ful good talk,” said Shif'less Sol admiringly. “Henry,
+you're a real orator. Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get a chance at one
+o' them renegades.”
+
+It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of the
+renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain first place.
+Thus the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+
+The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called Henry's
+attention to it.
+
+“Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in the
+first boat?” he said to Henry. “Wyatt an' Butler are a leetle too fur
+away.”
+
+“I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!” said Henry. “Take that
+fellow on the right who is pulling so hard.”
+
+The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over his aim,
+and pulled the trigger. The rower whom Henry had pointed out fell back
+in the boat, his hands slipping from the handles of his oars. The boat
+was thrown into confusion, and dropped back in the race. Scattering
+shots were fired in return, but all fell short, the water spurting up in
+little jets where they struck.
+
+Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long stay
+among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+
+“That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!”
+ he shouted. “And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler, murderers of women and children! Why don't you keep your proper
+places in the front?”
+
+“That's the way to talk to 'em,” whispered Shif'less Sol, as he
+reloaded. “Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton Wyatt
+hisself. Since Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a chance.”
+
+“Nor I, either,” said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful tones: “The
+place of a leader is in front, isn't it? Then why don't you come up?”
+
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up. They were not lacking
+in courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the fugitive boat
+contained, and he had also told Butler. So they still hung back,
+although they raged at Henry Ware's taunts, and permitted the Mohawks
+and Senecas to take the lead in the chase.
+
+“They're not going to give us a chance,” said Henry. “I'm satisfied
+of that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets, though just now
+I'd rather it were the two white ones. What do you think, Sol, of that
+leading boat? Shouldn't we give another hint?”
+
+“I agree with you, Henry,” said the shiftless one. “They're comin'
+much too close fur people that ain't properly interduced to us. This
+promiskus way o' meetin' up with strangers an' lettin' 'em talk to you
+jest ez ef they'd knowed you all their lives hez got to be stopped. It's
+your time, Henry, to give 'em a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you
+take the big fellow in the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk.”
+
+Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. Again
+confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a decline of
+enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and swore, but, as
+they showed no great zeal for the lead themselves, the Iroquois did not
+gain on the fugitive boat. They, too, were fast learning that the two
+who crouched there with their rifles ready were among the deadliest
+marksmen in existence. They fired a dozen shots, perhaps, but their
+rifles did not have the long range of the Kentucky weapons, and again
+the bullets fell short, causing little jets of water to spring up.
+
+“They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present,” said Henry,
+“but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for some chance to
+help them.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and announced
+that he could see no danger. There was probably no Indian fleet farther
+down the river than the one now pursuing them, and the danger was behind
+them, not before.
+
+Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not said a
+word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that would have carried
+oarsmen of our day to many a victory. Moreover, they had the inducement
+not merely of a prize, but of life itself, to row and to row hard. They
+had rolled up their sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of
+woven steel rose and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver
+current of the Susquehanna.
+
+Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat. The children had cried
+out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing, but she and
+Paul bad soothed them and kept them down. Somehow Mary Newton had become
+possessed of a great faith. She noticed the skill, speed, and success
+with which the five always worked, and, so long given up to despair,
+she now went to the other extreme. With such friends as these coming
+suddenly out of the void, everything must succeed. She had no doubt of
+it, but lay peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed
+by the sound of the shots.
+
+Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. The
+Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were driven
+back by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. Shif'less
+Sol, while he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose place he had
+taken, nevertheless was not silent.
+
+“I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller Butler,”
+ he said. “Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see us here, almost
+where they could stretch out their hands an' put 'em on us. Like reachn'
+fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git it by half a finger's length.”
+
+“They are certainly not pleased,” said Henry, “but this must end some
+way or other, you know.”
+
+“I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin',” rejoined the shiftless one,
+“but when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. Ez I've said
+more'n once before, floatin' down a river with somebody else pullin' at
+the oars is the life jest suited to me.”
+
+Henry looked up. “A summer thunderstorm is coming,” he said, “and from
+the look of things it's going to be pretty black. Then's when we must
+dodge 'em.”
+
+He was a good weather prophet. In a half hour the sky began to darken
+rapidly. There was a great deal of thunder and lightning, but when
+the rain came the air was almost as dark as night. Mary Newton and her
+children were covered as much as possible with the blankets, and then
+they swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern shore. They had already
+lost sight of their pursuers in the darkness, and as they coasted along
+the shore they found a large creek flowing into the river from the east.
+
+They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when the
+rain ceased. Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly drying
+everything.
+
+They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too shallow
+for them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to the land.
+Two days later they arrived at a strong fort and settlement, where Mary
+Newton and her four children, safe and well, were welcomed by relatives
+who had mourned them as dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. “THE ALCOVE”
+
+
+They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as food
+was served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually slept
+soundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry and
+his comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a single
+room inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newton
+had already spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside their
+hunting shirts and leggins, prepared for rest.
+
+“Jim,” said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flat
+and broad, in one corner of the room, “that's a bed. Mebbe you don't
+think it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar.”
+
+Long Jim grinned.
+
+“Mebbe you're right, Sol,” he said. “I hev seen sech things ez that, an'
+mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tells
+us about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess the
+ground wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong,
+an' all the rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man
+myself I'll jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender,
+Sol Hyde, an' not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed
+yourself, an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in
+a silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffled
+red silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jest
+comin' to the knee, where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' out
+uv purple satin slippers, an' then he'll clap on your head a big wig
+uv snow-white hair, fallin' all about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a
+silver sword to your side, an' he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez long
+been known ez Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in reality
+is the King o' France, is now before you. Down on your knees an' say
+your prayers!'”
+
+Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+
+“You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sun
+is a wally?”
+
+“I heard all about 'em from Paul,” replied Long Jim in a tone of intense
+satisfaction. “A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to do
+fur yourself.”
+
+“Then I want one,” said Shif'less Sol emphatically. “He'd jest suit a
+lazy man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbe
+you're more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all the
+instincts uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'm
+hungry, I like to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired,
+an' I like to sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed at
+birth by fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France,
+after all, an' my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal
+ancestors.”
+
+“Mebbe it's so,” rejoined Long Jim. “I've heard that thar hev been a
+pow'ful lot uv foolish kings.”
+
+With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them,
+and was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him to
+slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than two
+minutes behind Sol.
+
+Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted in
+his ear: “Henry Ware, by all that's glorious,” and a hand pressed his
+fingers together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figure
+and smiling brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made that
+adventurous journey up the Mississippi and Ohio.
+
+“And the others?” was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+
+“They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, but
+we're as sound as ever.”
+
+“That's always a safe prediction to make,” said Adam Colfax, smiling. “I
+never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out
+of danger.”
+
+“We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live.”
+
+The face of the New Englander darkened.
+
+“Wyoming!” he exclaimed. “I cannot hear of it without every vein growing
+hot within me.”
+
+“We saw things done there,” said Henry gravely, “the telling of which few
+men can bear to hear.”
+
+“I know! I know!” exclaimed Adam Colfax. “The news of it has spread
+everywhere!”
+
+“What we want,” said Henry, “is revenge. It is a case in which we must
+strike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a white
+life will be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to the
+Mississippi.”
+
+“It is true,” said Adam Colfax, “and we would send an army now against
+the Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at
+their lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That
+is the reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which
+has suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will
+strike in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make
+more than half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you
+know this.”
+
+He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
+here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us
+so fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
+Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
+means to help Thayendanegea to the end.”
+
+Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+
+“That is bad,” he said. “Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader,
+but there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will
+relieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry,
+that we got through safely with our supplies to the Continental army,
+and they could not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in
+time.”
+
+The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
+Adam Colfax.
+
+“It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax,” said
+Shif'less Sol, “an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on
+the Mississippi an' the Ohio'--an' now that you're here, they're goin'
+to win again.”
+
+“I think we are going to win here and everywhere,” said Adam Colfax,
+“but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because
+our people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just.”
+
+The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
+east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot
+cause, and the five, on the day after that, received a message written
+on a piece of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts
+of the settlement. It was addressed to “Henry Ware and Those with Him,”
+ and it read:
+
+
+     “You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     “I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     “I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     “I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT.”
+
+Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+
+“A renegade catches something of the Indian nature,” he said, “and
+always likes to threaten and boast.”
+
+But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+
+“Sometimes I think,” he said, “that the invention o' writin' wuz a
+mistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mighty
+big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' up
+to him face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing a
+pow'ful sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then.”
+
+“I think I'll keep this letter,” said Henry, “an' we five will give an
+answer to it later on.”
+
+He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravely
+tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significant
+action. Nothing more was needed.
+
+The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton and
+her children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chiefly
+ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. It
+was their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois,
+until some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations,
+was assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined borderers
+could achieve something.
+
+It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of the
+great heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was now
+at its highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed with
+victory, and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything.
+Only the strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. The
+colonists here were so much reduced, and so little help could be
+sent them from the East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into
+innumerable small parties and rake the country as with a fine tooth
+comb. They never missed a lone farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive
+in the woods able to evade them. And they were constantly fed from the
+North with arms, ammunition, rewards for scalps, bounties, and great
+promises.
+
+But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silent
+and invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struck
+hard. There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a single
+Iroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, and
+the warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommon
+size and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, and
+they carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served to
+them at the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided by
+the evil spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably.
+No one could find where they slept, unless it was those who never came
+back again.
+
+The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and Braxton
+Wyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,
+also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their red
+allies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of the
+raiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,
+but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. While
+their acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+manifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They were
+heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, on
+the Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and as
+far north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplished
+more for a defense than did those five in the waning months of the
+summer. Late in September the most significant of all these events
+occurred. A party of eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part in
+the Wyoming affair, was attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such
+deadly fierceness that only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John
+Johnson. Brant sent out six war parties, composed of not less than
+twenty warriors apiece, to seek revenge, but they found nothing.
+
+Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one of
+the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at that
+point was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At the
+entrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or,
+rather, cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ample
+shelter from the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was about
+halfway between the top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of
+approach both from below and above. Unless completely surprised-a very
+unlikely thing with them-the five could hold it against any force as
+long as their provisions lasted. They also built a boat large enough for
+five, which they hid among the bushes at the lake's edge. They were thus
+provided with a possible means of escape across the water in case of the
+last emergency.
+
+Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great
+delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called “The
+Alcove.” The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of
+other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk
+over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with
+skins of deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls
+furnished many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They
+also, with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long
+Jim was to use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones
+so near the mouth of “The Alcove” that the smoke would pass out and be
+lost in the thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing
+toward the inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on
+them all, but Jim would not be cooking then.
+
+Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied “The Alcove”
+ plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no
+way in which they could store water, and for that they had to take
+their chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting
+caution, was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a
+few miles of “The Alcove,” but the pursuers invariably went astray on
+the hard, rocky ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution
+to swim down the creek before climbing up to “The Alcove.” Nobody could
+follow a trail in the face of such difficulties.
+
+It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, but
+they easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half
+waded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to “The Alcove,” where
+the others were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water.
+When they had eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth
+of “The Alcove,” where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage
+that hid the entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happy
+mood.
+
+“It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',” he said, “to set up in a nice safe
+place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,
+seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap
+in knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that
+old town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind
+that it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but
+'cause old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a
+plain. That wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on
+a mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been
+enough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable
+weepins they used in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the
+walls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin'
+killed by A-killus, fur which I've always been sorry.”
+
+“It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them
+ancient times that Paul tells about,” said Long Jim. “Now, thar wuz
+'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin'
+his ship on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants,
+one-eyed women, an' sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the
+woods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed?
+Then thar wuz the keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that
+river so no arrow could enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an'
+keepin' it out o' the water, which caused his death the very first time
+Paris shot it off with his little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev
+sense enough to let the heel go under, too. She could hev dragged it out
+in two seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'
+on the part of A-killus.”
+
+“I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,” said
+Tom Ross. “I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an'
+I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I
+know now that's whar the French come from.”
+
+“But Paris was the name of a man,” persisted Paul. “Maybe the French
+named their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars.”
+
+“Then they showed mighty poor jedgment,” said Shif'less Sol. “Ef I'd
+named my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector.”
+
+“You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills,” said
+Henry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. “Come here, you
+fellows, and see what's passing down the lake.”
+
+They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being
+rowed slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each
+canoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them
+contained two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler.
+
+“Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Quite likely,” said Henry, “and at the same time they may be engaged in
+some general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the base
+of the cliff.”
+
+The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage,
+and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six
+long war canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and
+flooded all the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was
+not mistaken, and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in
+the first boat. From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off
+either with a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he
+knew that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might not
+escape, and which at least would check their activities and plans for a
+long time. Similar impulses flitted through the minds of the other four,
+but all kept still, although fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle
+stocks until they touched triggers.
+
+The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming
+of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of
+moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's
+finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to
+let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
+
+The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close
+together. They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and
+smaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+
+“I'm thinkin',” said Shif'less Sol, “that thar's some kind uv a movement
+on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that
+they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something
+three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois
+town of Oghwaga.”
+
+“It's most likely true,” said Henry, “and it seems to me that it's our
+business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?”
+
+“Just as you do,” they replied with unanimity.
+
+“Then we leave this place and start in the morning,” said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW
+
+
+Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues, and
+Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains, but the
+five avoided them all. On one or two occasions they would have been
+willing to stop and fight, but they had bigger work on hand. They had
+received from others confirmation of the report that Long Jim had heard
+from the hunters, and they were quite sure that a strong force was
+advancing to strike the first blow in revenge for Wyoming. Curiously
+enough, this body was commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William
+Butler, and according to report it was large and its leaders capable.
+
+When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the Delaware,
+it was joined by the five. They were introduced to the colonel by the
+celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom they had met several
+times in the woods, and they were received warmly.
+
+“I've heard of you,” said Colonel Butler with much warmth, “both from
+hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax. Two of you were to have
+been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming.”
+
+Henry indicated the two.
+
+“What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal against the
+Indians and their white allies,” continued Colonel Butler.
+
+“Anyone who was there,” said Henry, “would feel all his life, the desire
+to punish those who did it.”
+
+“I think so, too, from all that I have heard,” continued Colonel Butler.
+“It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of our column and
+warn us of what lies before us. I believe you have volunteered for that
+duty.”
+
+The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered only
+two hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and brave, and it
+was the best force that could yet be sent to the harassed border.
+It might, after all, strike a blow for Wyoming if it marched into no
+ambush, and Henry and his comrades were resolved to guard it from that
+greatest of all dangers.
+
+When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the five
+were far ahead, passing through the woods, up the Susquehanna, toward
+the Indian villages that lay on its banks, though a great distance above
+Wyoming. The chief of these was Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the
+destination of the little army, they were resolved to visit it, or at
+least come so near it that they could see what manner of place it was.
+
+“If it's a big village,” said Colonel Butler, “it will be too strong
+to attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are absent on
+expeditions.”
+
+They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of the
+approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October evening
+they knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of the Iroquois
+supplies. They considered it very risky and unwise to approach in the
+daytime, and accordingly they lay in the woods until the dark should
+come.
+
+The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly in the three
+months since Wyoming. All the green was now gone, and it was tinted
+red and yellow and brown. The skies were a mellow blue, and there was a
+slight haze over the forest, but the air had the wonderful crispness and
+freshness of the American autumn. It inspired every one of the five with
+fresh zeal and energy, because they believed the first blow was about to
+be struck.
+
+About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the reports
+of its importance were confirmed. They had not before seen an Indian
+village with so many signs of permanence. They passed two or three
+orchards of apple and peach trees, and they saw other indications of
+cultivation like that of the white farmer.
+
+“It ain't a bad-lookin' town,” said Long Jim Hart. “But it'll look
+wuss,” said Shif'less Sol, “onless they've laid an ambush somewhar.
+I don't like to see houses an' sech like go up in fire an' smoke, but
+after what wuz done at Wyomin' an' all through that valley, burnin' is a
+light thing.”
+
+“We're bound to strike back with all our might,” said Paul, who had the
+softest heart of them all.
+
+“Now, I wonder who's in this here town,” said Tom Ross. “Mebbe
+Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades.”
+
+“It may be so,” said Henry. “This is their base and store of supplies.
+Oh, if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men, what a rush we
+could make!”
+
+So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the village,
+passing among some thick clusters of grapevines. Henry was in the lead,
+and he heard a sudden snarl. A large cur of the kind that infest Indian
+villages leaped straight at him.
+
+The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades from the
+consequences of an alarm. He dropped his rifle instinctively, and seized
+the dog by the throat with both hands. A bark following the snarl had
+risen to the animal's throat, but it was cut short there. The hands of
+the great youth pressed tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from
+the earth. The four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no
+alarm would be made now.
+
+The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. Henry
+cast the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all five of them
+sank softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. About fifteen yards
+away an Indian warrior was walking cautiously along and looking among
+the vines. Evidently he had heard the snarl of the dog, and was seeking
+the cause. But it had been only a single sound, and he would not look
+far. Yet the hearts of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among
+the vines, and their nerves were tense for action should the need for it
+come.
+
+The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did not see
+the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with the dark
+growth, and presently, satisfied that the sound he had heard was of no
+importance, he walked in another direction, and passed out of sight.
+
+The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept to the
+very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon an open space,
+beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but their attention was
+centered upon a figure that stood in the open.
+
+Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to disclose
+the features, every one of the scouts recognized the figure. It could be
+none other than that of Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots. He was pacing back and forth, somewhat in the fashion of the
+white man, and his manner implied thought.
+
+“I could bring him down from here with a bullet,” said Shif'less Sol,
+“but I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry.”
+
+“No,” said Henry, “nor will I. But look, there's another.”
+
+A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first. It was also
+that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall as Timmendiquas.
+It was Thayendanegea. Then three white figures appeared. One was that of
+Braxton Wyatt, and the others they took to be those of “Indian” Butler
+and his son, Walter Butler. After a talk of a minute or two they entered
+one of the wooden houses.
+
+“It's to be a conference of some kind,” whispered Henry. “I wish I could
+look in on it.”
+
+“And I,” said the others together.
+
+“Well, we know this much,” continued Henry. “No great force of the
+Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up quickly, we can
+take the town.”
+
+“It's a chance not to be lost,” said Paul.
+
+They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they reached
+the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs of two or three
+of the Indian houses.
+
+“I've a feeling in me,” said Paul, “that the place is doomed. We'll
+strike the first blow for Wyoming.”
+
+They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their trail with
+the utmost speed toward the marching American force, going in Indian
+file through the wilderness. Henry, as usual, led; Shif'less Sol
+followed, then came Paul, and then Long Jim, while Silent Tom was the
+rear guard. They traveled at great speed, and, some time after daylight,
+met the advance of the colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+
+William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a little
+when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared. But he uttered an
+exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader, Henry.
+
+“What have you found?” he asked eagerly.
+
+“We've been to Oghwaga,” replied the youth, “and we went all about the
+town. They do not suspect our coming. At least, they did not know when
+we left. We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the Butlers, and Wyatt enter the
+house for a conference.”
+
+“And now is our chance,” said eager young William Gray. “What if we
+should take the town, and with it these men, at one blow.”
+
+“We can scarcely hope for as much as that,” said Henry, who knew
+that men like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to allow
+themselves to be seized by so small a force, “but we can hope for a good
+victory.”
+
+The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the news, and,
+led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with all possible haste.
+William Gray was still sanguine of a surprise, but the young riflemen
+did not expect it. Indian sentinels were sure to be in the forest
+between them and Oghwaga. Yet they said nothing to dash this hope. Henry
+had already seen enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and
+the little army full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came.
+Besides the young captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant named
+Taylor, who had been in the battle at Wyoming, but who had escaped the
+massacre. The five had not met him there, but the common share in so
+great a tragedy proved a tie between them. Taylor's name was Robert,
+but all the other officers, and some of the men for that matter, who
+had known him in childhood called him Bob. He was but little older than
+Henry, and his earlier youth, before removal to Wyoming, had been passed
+in Connecticut, a country that was to the colonials thickly populated
+and containing great towns, such as Hartford and New Haven.
+
+A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any other
+that they had ever seen. His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. Holland was
+his birthplace, but America was his nation. He was short and extremely
+fat, but he had an agility that amazed the five when they first saw it
+displayed. He talked much, and his words sounded like grumbles, but
+the unctuous tone and the smile that accompanied them indicated to the
+contrary. He formed for Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining
+study in character.
+
+
+“I ain't quite seen his like afore,” said the shiftless one to Paul.
+“First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble down among the
+first bushes he met. 'Stead o' that, he sailed right through 'em, makin'
+never a trip an' no noise at all, same ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into
+a juicy venison steak.”
+
+“I've heard tell,” said Long Jim, who also contemplated the prodigy,
+“that big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes ez spry ez you.
+They say that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the giraffe across the sands
+uv Afriky, an' I know from pussonal experience that the bigger an'
+clumsier a b'ar is the faster he kin make you scoot fur your life. But
+he's the real Dutch, ain't he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the
+Spanish under the Duke uv Alivy an' Belisarry?”
+
+“Undoubtedly,” replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to
+correct Long Jim's history, “and I'm willing to predict to you, Jim
+Hart, that Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight that we may
+have.”
+
+Heemskerk rolled up to them. He seemed to have a sort of circular
+motion like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace with the others,
+nevertheless, and he showed no signs of exertion.
+
+“Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am here?”
+ he said to Paul.
+
+“Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?” replied Paul politely. “Because I am a
+Dutchman. I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a baby. I,
+Cornelius Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle country of Holland
+in a goot leetle house, by the side of a goot leetle canal, painting
+beautiful blue china, dishes, plates, cups, saucers, all most beautiful,
+and here I am running through the woods of this vast America, carrying
+on my shoulder a rifle that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian
+and hunted by him. Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?”
+
+“I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr. Heemskerk,”
+ replied Paul, “and wish to see punishment inflicted upon those who have
+committed great crimes.”
+
+“Not so! Not so!” replied the Dutchman with energy. “It is because I am
+one big fool. I am not really a big enough man to be as big a fool as I
+am, but so it is! so it is!” Shif'less Sol regarded him critically, and
+then spoke gravely and with deliberation: “It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk,
+an' Paul ain't told quite all the truth, either. I've heard that the
+Dutch was the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe;
+that all you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden
+shoe, an' all the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump right
+on top o' you all at once. Lookin' you up an' lookin' you down, an'
+sizin' you up, an' sizin you down, all purty careful, an' examinin' the
+corners O' your eyes oncommon close, an' also lookin' at the way you set
+your feet when you walk, I'm concludin' that you just natcherally love a
+fight, an' that you are lookin' fur one.”
+
+But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+
+“It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me brave
+when I am not,” he said. “I only say once more that I ought to be in
+Holland painting blue plates, and not here in the great woods holding on
+to my scalp, first with one hand and then with the other.”
+
+He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men, only
+laughed.
+
+Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a little
+rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night before, caught
+a few winks. But in less than an hour they were up and away again. The
+five riflemen were once more well in advance, and with them were Taylor
+and Heemskerk, the Dutchman, grumbling over their speed, but revolving
+along, nevertheless, with astonishing ease and without any sign of
+fatigue. They discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and
+as the village now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his
+belief that the Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would not
+stay to give battle. If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were prepared
+for a strong resistance, the bullets of the skirmishers would already be
+whistling through the woods.
+
+The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn leaves
+fell fast before the rising wind. The promise of the night was dark,
+which was not bad for their design, and once more the five-now the seven
+approached Oghwaga. From the crest of the very same hill they looked
+down once more upon the Indian houses.
+
+“It is a great base for the Iroquois,” said Henry to Heemskerk, “and
+whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel Butler must
+attack.”
+
+“Ah,” said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little higher
+point for a better view, “now I feel in all its fullness the truth that
+I should be back in Holland, painting blue plates.”
+
+Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of the
+Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of the time,
+and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell him the way was
+open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of them. There were also many
+serious thoughts in the back of his head.
+
+At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile of
+Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the Iroquois
+knew of their advance. Henry and his comrades, well in front, looked
+down upon the town, but saw nothing. No light came from an Indian
+chimney, nor did any dog howl. Just behind them were the troops in loose
+order, Colonel Butler impatiently striking his booted leg with a switch,
+and William Gray seeking to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good
+example to the men.
+
+“What do you think, Mr. Ware?” asked Colonel Butler.
+
+“I think we ought to rush the town at once.”
+
+“It is so!” exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting blue
+plates.
+
+“The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then we'll
+charge.”
+
+William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a long,
+thrilling note. Before its last echo was ended, the little army rushed
+upon the town. Three or four shots came from the houses, and the
+soldiers fired a few at random in return, but that was all. Indian
+scouts had brought warning of the white advance, and the great chiefs,
+gathering up all the people who were in the village, had fled. A
+retreating warrior or two had fired the shots, but when the white men
+entered this important Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single
+human being. Timmendiquas, the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was
+gone; Thayendanegea, the real head of the Six Nations, had slipped away;
+and with them had vanished the renegades. But they had gone in haste.
+All around them were the evidences. The houses, built of wood, were
+scores in number, and many of them contained furniture such as a
+prosperous white man of the border would buy for himself. There were
+gardens and shade trees about these, and back of them, barns, many of
+them filled with Indian corn. Farther on were clusters of bark lodges,
+which had been inhabited by the less progressive of the Iroquois.
+
+Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses misty
+in the moonlight. The army had not yet made much noise, but he was
+beginning to hear behind him the ominous word, “Wyoming,” repeated more
+than once. Cornelius Heemskerk had stopped revolving, and, standing
+beside Henry, wiped his perspiring, red face.
+
+“Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland,
+Mr. Ware,” he said. “It is a dark and sanguinary time. The men whose
+brethren were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not now spare the
+town of those who did it. In this wilderness they give blow for blow, or
+perish.”
+
+Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness. His heart
+had been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never forget Wyoming or
+its horrors; but in the destruction of an ancient town the long labor
+of man perished, and it seemed waste. Doubtless a dozen generations of
+Iroquois children had played here on the grass. He walked toward the
+northern end of the village, and saw fields there from which recent corn
+had been taken, but behind him the cry, “Wyoming!” was repeated louder
+and oftener now. Then he saw men running here and there with torches,
+and presently smoke and flame burst from the houses. He examined the
+fields and forest for a little distance to see if any ambushed foe might
+still lie among them, but all the while the flame and smoke behind him
+were rising higher.
+
+Henry turned back and joined his comrades. Oghwaga was perishing. The
+flames leaped from house to house, and then from lodge to lodge. There
+was no need to use torches any more. The whole village was wrapped in
+a mass of fire that grew and swelled until the flames rose above the
+forest, and were visible in the clear night miles away.
+
+So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and scouts
+were compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest. The wind rose and
+the flames soared. Sparks flew in myriads, and ashes fell dustily on the
+dry leaves of the trees. Bob Taylor, with his hands clenched tightly,
+muttered under his breath, “Wyoming! Wyoming!”
+
+“It is the Iroquois who suffer now,” said Heemskerk, as he revolved
+slowly away from a heated point.
+
+Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks would
+leap higher and the flames roar louder. The barns, too, were falling
+down, and the grain was destroyed. The grapevines were trampled under
+foot, and the gardens were ruined. Oghwaga, a great central base of the
+Six Nations, was vanishing forever. For four hundred years, ever since
+the days of Hiawatha, the Iroquois had waxed in power. They had ruled
+over lands larger than great empires. They had built up political and
+social systems that are the wonder of students. They were invincible in
+war, because every man had been trained from birth to be a warrior, and
+now they were receiving their first great blow.
+
+From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, “Indian” Butler, Walter Butler, Braxton Wyatt,
+a low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman, with whom Wyatt had become very
+friendly, and about sixty Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a
+tower of light to the south that had just appeared above the trees. It
+was of an intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band
+knew that it was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that was
+burning, and that the men who were doing it were the white frontiersmen,
+who, his red-coated allies had told him, would soon be swept forever
+from these woods. And they were forced to stand and see it, not daring
+to attack so strong and alert a force.
+
+They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the column
+of fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. Timmendiquas
+never said a word. In his heart, Indian though he was, he felt that
+the Iroquois had gone too far. In him was the spirit of the farseeing
+Hiawatha. He could perceive that great cruelty always brought
+retaliation; but it was not for him, almost an alien, to say these
+things to Thayendanegea, the mighty war chief of the Mohawks and the
+living spirit of the Iroquois nation.
+
+Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter storms.
+His arms were folded across his breast, and he looked steadily toward
+that red threatening light off there in the south. Some such idea as
+that in the mind of Timmendiquas may have been passing in his own. He
+was an uncommon Indian, and he had had uncommon advantages. He had not
+believed that the colonists could make head against so great a kingdom
+as England, aided by the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large
+body of Tories among their own people. But he saw with his own eyes the
+famous Oghwaga of the Iroquois going down under their torch.
+
+“Tell me, Colonel John Butler,” he said bitterly, “where is your great
+king now? Is his arm long enough to reach from London to save our town
+of Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his great city of London
+is to him?”
+
+The thickset figure of “Indian” Butler moved, and his swart face flushed
+as much as it could.
+
+“You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant,” he replied. “We
+are fighting here for your country as well as his, and you cannot say
+that Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the British and Canadians
+have not done their part.”
+
+“It is true,” said Thayendanegea, “but it is true, also, that one must
+fight with wisdom. Perhaps there was too much burning of living men at
+Wyoming. The pain of the wounded bear makes him fight the harder, and
+it, is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga yonder burns. Say, is it not so,
+Colonel John Butler?”
+
+“Indian” Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering. The Tory,
+Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was the only one
+who spoke aloud.
+
+“Thayendanegea,” he said, “I, and the Wyandots who are with me, have
+come far. We expected to return long ago to the lands on the Ohio, but
+we were with you in your village, and now, when Manitou has turned his
+face from you for the time, we will not leave you. We stay and fight by
+your side.”
+
+Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+
+“You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots,” he said, “and
+you and I are brothers. I shall be proud and happy to have such a mighty
+leader fighting with me. We will have vengeance for this. The power of
+the Iroquois is as great as ever.”
+
+He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and the
+flames of hate and resolve burned in his eyes. Old Hiokatoo, the most
+savage of all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a murmur passed
+through the group of Indians.
+
+Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend, Coleman,
+the Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and savage Walter
+Butler, whom he somewhat feared. Wyatt was perhaps the least troubled
+of all those present. Caring for himself only, the burning of Oghwaga
+caused him no grief. He suffered neither from the misfortune of friend
+nor foe. He was able to contemplate the glowing tower of light with
+curiosity only. Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies
+would attempt revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for
+himself in such adventures. His horizon had broadened somewhat of late.
+The renegade, Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon Girty, but he
+had found a new friend in Coleman. He was coming now more into touch
+with the larger forces in the East, nearer to the seat of the great war,
+and he hoped to profit by it.
+
+“This is a terrible blow to Brant,” Coleman whispered to him. “The
+Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while the rebels,
+occupied with the king's troops, have not been able to send help to
+their own. But they have managed to strike at last, as you see.”
+
+“I do see,” said Wyatt, “and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not sorry.
+Perhaps these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll soon realize
+that they need likely chaps such as you and me, eh, Coleman.”
+
+“You're not far from the truth,” said Coleman, laughing a little, and
+pleased at the penetration of his new friend. They did not talk further,
+although the agreement between them was well established. Neither did
+the Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders say any more. They watched the
+tower of fire a long time, past midnight, until it reached its zenith
+and then began to sink. They saw its crest go down behind the trees,
+and they saw the luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely,
+leaving there only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+
+Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched northward. It
+was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay down for the rest that
+they needed badly. They spread their blankets at the edge of the open,
+but well back from the burned area, which was now one great mass of
+coals and charred timbers, sending up little flame but much smoke. Many
+of the troops were already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged
+William Gray to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from
+ambush. He knew that the rashness and confidence of the borderers,
+especially when drawn together in masses, had often caused them great
+losses, and he was resolved to prevent a recurrence at the present
+time if he could. He had made these urgent requests of Gray, instead of
+Colonel Butler, because of the latter's youth and willingness to take
+advice.
+
+“I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town,” he said.
+“We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap.”
+
+Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row almost
+at the edge of the forest. The heat from the fire was still great, but
+it would die down after a while, and the October air was nipping. Henry
+usually fell asleep in a very few minutes, but this time, despite his
+long exertions and lack of rest, he remained awake when his comrades
+were sound asleep. Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which he saw
+the fire rising in great black coils that united far above. It seemed to
+Henry, half dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit
+was passing in the smoke.
+
+When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four hours
+he was up again, as the little army intended to march at once upon
+another Indian town. The hours while he slept had passed in silence, and
+no Indians had come near. William Gray had seen to that, and his best
+scout had been one Cornelius Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch
+birth.
+
+“It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry,” said Heemskerk,
+as he revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry was eating his
+breakfast, “and I am now very tired. It was like walking four or five
+times around Holland, which is such a fine little country, with the
+canals and the flowers along them, and no great, dark woods filled with
+the fierce Iroquois.”
+
+“Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be here, and
+perhaps before the day is over you will get some fighting hot enough to
+please even you.”
+
+Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour later
+he was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of overtaking some
+large band of retreating Iroquois.
+
+Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at Wyoming,
+Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly that very morning
+up the river against another Indian town, Cunahunta. Fortunately for
+him, a band of riflemen and scouts unsurpassed in skill led the way, and
+saw to it that the road was safe. In this band were the five, of course,
+and after them Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+
+“If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta before
+night,” said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+
+“It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their towns,” said
+Henry. “Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us strike so great a
+blow without a fight.”
+
+“Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry,” said Heemskerk,
+“or they would certainly give us a big battle. We've been lucky in the
+time of our advance. As it is, I think we'll have something to do.”
+
+It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the North,
+the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the hills, the
+leaves falling softly from the trees as the wind blew, but bringing with
+them no hint of decay. None of the vanguard felt fatigue, but when they
+crossed a low range of hills and saw before them a creek flowing down
+to the Susquehanna, Henry, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and
+dropped down in the grass. The others, knowing without question the
+significance of the action, also sank down.
+
+“What is it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. Look
+a little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the feathers in the
+headdress of an Iroquois. Farther on I think I can catch a glimpse of
+a green coat, and if I am right that coat is worn by one of Johnson's
+Royal Greens. It's an ambush, Sol, an ambush meant for us.”
+
+“But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer Henry,”
+ said Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with the desire for
+action. “I, too, see the feather of the Iroquois.”
+
+“As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear this force
+out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come up, is it not?”
+ asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the Dutchman.
+
+“What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!” exclaimed Heemskerk. “Of
+course we will fight, and fight now!”
+
+“How about them blue plates?” said Shif'less Sol softly. But Heemskerk
+did not hear him.
+
+They swiftly developed their plan of action. There could be no earthly
+doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were ambushed on
+the far side of the creek. Possibly Thayendanegea himself, stung by the
+burning of Oghwaga and the advance on Cunahunta, was there. But they
+were sure that it was not a large band.
+
+The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one was a
+veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of the woods.
+They had supreme confidence in their ability to beat the best of the
+Iroquois, man for man, and they carried the very finest arms known to
+the time.
+
+It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. The
+others, including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make a circuit,
+cross the creek a full mile above, and come down on the flank of the
+ambushing party. Theirs would be the main attack, but it would be
+preceded by sharpshooting from the four, intended to absorb the
+attention of the Iroquois. The chosen ten slipped back down the hill,
+and as soon as they were sheltered from any possible glimpse by the
+warriors, they rose and ran rapidly westward. Before they had gone far
+they heard the crack of a rifle shot, then another, then several from
+another point, as if in reply.
+
+“It's our sharpshooters,” said Henry. “They've begun to disturb the
+Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy.”
+
+“Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier,” exclaimed
+Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his face blazing red.
+
+It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that they
+intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the water breast
+high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. Then they turned and
+rapidly descended the stream on its northern bank. In a few minutes they
+heard the sound of a rifle shot, and then of another as if replying.
+
+“The Iroquois have been fooled,” exclaimed Heemskerk. “Our four good
+riflemen have made them think that a great force is there, and they have
+not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an attack.”
+
+In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the forest, they
+saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the faint flash of rifles.
+They were coming somewhere near to the Iroquois band, and they practiced
+exceeding caution. Presently they caught sight of Indian faces, and now
+and then one of Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers. They stopped and
+held a council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute. They all
+agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in the
+Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+
+Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on the
+other side of the creek, fell. Heemskerk quickly followed with a shot as
+good, and the surprised Iroquois turned to face this new foe. But they
+and the Tories were a strong band, and they retreated only a little.
+Then they stood firm, and the forest battle began. The Indians numbered
+not less than thirty, and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them,
+but the value of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one
+that attacked. The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of
+the forest, and marksmen such as the Indians were never able to become,
+continually pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree to tree. Once or
+twice the warriors started a rush, but they were quickly driven back by
+sharpshooting such as they had never faced before. They soon realized
+that this was no band of border farmers, armed hastily for an emergency,
+but a foe who knew everything that they knew, and more.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois, and Wyatt
+in particular was hot with rage. He suspected that the five who had
+defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and there might be a
+chance now to destroy them all. He crept to the side of the fierce old
+Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that a part of their band slip
+around and enfold the enemy.
+
+Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying
+aspect. He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered
+with scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready
+in his hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good
+friend, the king. The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly
+at the Battle of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout
+these years of border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois. In this
+respect Hiokatoo led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he
+was to savage scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was
+the most terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld. He was old, but
+age in him seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity. The path
+of a deep cut, healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide,
+lay across his forehead. Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek,
+his chin, and his neck. He was crouched much like a panther, with his
+rifle in his hands and the ready tomahawk at his belt. But it was the
+extraordinary expression of his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder. He
+read there no mercy for anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt,
+if he should stand in the way, and it was this last fact that brought
+the shudder.
+
+Hiokatoo thought it a good plan. Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and
+Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward
+the right. Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been
+joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed
+his little force to meet it. Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught
+sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew
+back a little. While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting
+in the front, he waited for the attack. It came in half an hour, the
+flanking force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white
+riflemen was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again. But
+they had come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor.
+The Tory, like Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of
+the most ruthless on that terrible day. When they were less than a dozen
+feet apart they recognized each other. Henry saw the look that passed
+between them, and, although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some
+reason he did not use it. The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the
+bullet missed, and the Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded
+rifle and brought the stock down with all his force upon the head of his
+enemy. The man, uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and
+Taylor stood over him, still trembling with rage. In an instant Henry
+seized him and dragged him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where
+he had been.
+
+“He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!” exclaimed young Taylor,
+still trembling all over with passion.
+
+“He'll never massacre anybody else. You've seen to that,” said Henry,
+and in a minute or two Taylor was quiet. The sharpshooting continued,
+but here as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it. Despite their
+numbers, they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who
+lay behind trees almost in security, and who never missed. Another Tory
+and a chief, also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted. Nor did
+he feel any better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+
+“We have failed here,” he said. “They shoot too well for us to rush
+them. We have lost good men.” Hiokatoo frowned, and the scars on his
+face stood out in livid red lines.
+
+“It is so,” he said. “These who fight us now are of their best, and
+while we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. Come, we
+will go.”
+
+The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone from their
+front. They scouted some distance, and, finding no enemy, hurried back
+to Colonel Butler. The troops were pushed forward, and before night they
+reached Cunahunta, which they burned also. Some farther advance was
+made into the Indian country, and more destruction was done, but now the
+winter was approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home
+to protect their families. Others were to rejoin the main Revolutionary
+army, and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the time. The first blow
+had been struck, and it was a hard one, but the second blow and third
+and fourth and more, which the five knew were so badly needed, must
+wait.
+
+Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed. They had hoped to go
+far into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the Six Nations, to
+hunt down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant himself, but they could
+not wholly blame their commander. The rear guard, or, rather, the forest
+guard of the Revolution, was a slender and small force indeed.
+
+Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much
+personal regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom were
+Morgan's riflemen from Virginia. The farewells to William Gray, Bob
+Taylor, and Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+
+“I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns,” said Gray.
+
+“We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more,” said Taylor,
+“and we'll strike another blow for Wyoming.”
+
+“I foresee,” said Cornelius Heemskerk, “that I, a peaceful man, who
+ought to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn into danger
+in the great, dark wilderness again, and that you will be there with
+me, Mynheer Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the Wise Solomon, Mynheer the
+Silent Tom, and Mynheer the Very Long James. I see it clearly. I, a man
+of peace, am always being pushed in to war.”
+
+“We hope it will come true,” said the five together.
+
+“Do you go back to Kentucky?” asked William Gray.
+
+“No,” replied Henry, speaking for them all, “we have entered upon this
+task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is finished.”
+
+“It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world,” said
+Heemskerk. “I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by your
+side in some great battle to come, but the first thing I shall do when
+I see you again, my friends, is to look around at you, one, two, three,
+four, five, and see if you have upon your heads the hair which is now so
+rich, thick, and flowing.”
+
+“Never fear, my friend,” said Henry, “we have fought with the warriors
+all the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not one of us has
+lost a single lock of hair.”
+
+“It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so,” said Heemskerk,
+and then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his face express
+emotion.
+
+The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from Colonel
+Butler, and then they parted in the forest. Many of the soldiers looked
+back and saw the five tall figures in a line, leaning upon the muzzles
+of their long-barreled Kentucky rifles, and regarding them in silence.
+It seemed to the soldiers that they had left behind them the true sons
+of the wilderness, who, in spite of all dangers, would be there to
+welcome them when they returned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE DESERTED CABIN
+
+
+When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry turned to
+the others. “Well, boys,” he asked, “what are you thinking about?”
+
+“I?” asked Paul. “I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a sort of
+alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake.”
+
+“An' me?” said Shif'less Sol. “I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove runs
+back, an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm fur the
+winter.”
+
+“Me?” said Tom Ross. “I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove would
+be when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in front of you.”
+
+“An' ez fur me,” said Long Jim Hart, “I wuz thinkin' I could run a sort
+uv flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the front an' let
+the smoke pass out. I could cook all right. It wouldn't be ez good a
+place fur cookin' ez the one we hed that time we spent the winter on the
+island in the lake, but 'twould serve.”
+
+“It's strange,” said Henry, “but I've been thinking of all the things
+that all four of you have been thinking about, and, since we are agreed,
+we are bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and pass the winter there.”
+
+Without another word he led the way, and the others followed. It was
+apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base, because
+the cold had increased greatly in the last few days. The last leaves
+had fallen from the trees, and a searching wind howled among the bare
+branches. Better shelter than blankets would soon be needed.
+
+On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins, among which
+wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now afforded, although
+Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+
+It was a long journey to “The Alcove,” but they did not hurry, seeing no
+need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of their decision by
+the fact that the cold was increasing. The country in which the lake was
+situated lay high, and, as all of them were quite sure that the cold
+was going to be great there, they thought it wise to make preparations
+against it, which they discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion
+through the woods. They spoke, also, of greater things. All felt that
+they had been drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had
+swam before. They fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution
+of this great rearguard struggle, and at present they did not have the
+remotest idea of returning to Kentucky under any circumstances.
+
+“We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois,” said
+Henry. “I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of Tories of his
+own, and that he is likely to be as dangerous as either of the Butlers.”
+
+“Some day we'll end him for good an' all,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and now all
+the forest was bare and apparently lifeless. They came down the creek,
+and found their boat unharmed and untouched still among the foliage at
+the base of the cliff.
+
+“That's one thing safe,” said Long Jim, “an' I guess we'll find 'The
+Alcove' all right, too.”
+
+“Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there,” said Paul.
+
+“'Tain't likely,” replied Long Jim. “We've left the human smell thar,
+an' even after all this time it's likely to drive away any prowlin' bear
+or panther that pokes his nose in.”
+
+Long Jim was quite right. Their snug nest, like that of a squirrel in
+the side of a tree, had not been disturbed. The skins which they
+had rolled up tightly and placed on the higher shelves of stone were
+untouched, and several days' hunting increased the supply. The hunting
+was singularly easy, and, although the five did not know it, the
+quantity of game was much greater in that region than it had been
+for years. It had been swept of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory
+hordes, and deer, bear, and panther seemed to know instinctively that
+the woods were once more safe for them.
+
+In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and more
+than once they saw something among the coals that caused them to turn
+away with a shudder. At every place where man had made a little opening
+the wilderness was quickly reclaiming its own again. Next year the grass
+and the foliage would cover up the coals and the hideous relics that lay
+among them.
+
+They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff side,
+and stored it in “The Alcove.” They also cured some bear meat, and,
+having added a further lining of skins, they felt prepared for winter.
+They had also added to the comfort of the place. They had taken the
+precaution of bringing with them two axes, and with the heads of these
+they smoothed out more of the rough places on the floor and sides of
+“The Alcove.” They thought it likely, too, that they would need the axes
+in other ways later on.
+
+Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of Indians,
+and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least ten miles from
+“The Alcove.” They seemed to be traveling north, and the five made no
+investigations. Somewhat later they met a white runner in the forest,
+and he told them of the terrible massacre of Cherry Valley. Walter
+Butler, emulating his father's exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a
+mixed horde of Iroquois, Tories, British, and Canadians. He had not
+been wholly successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and
+children, and was now returning northward with prisoners. Some said,
+according to the runner, that Thayendanegea had led the Indians on this
+occasion, but, as the five learned later, he had not come up until the
+massacre was over. The runner added another piece of information that
+interested them deeply. Butler had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by
+a young Tory or renegade named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by
+cunning and cruelty. It was said that Wyatt had built up for himself a
+semi-independent command, and was becoming a great scourge.
+
+“That's our Braxton,” said Henry. “He is rising to his opportunities. He
+is likely to become fully the equal of Walter Butler.”
+
+But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went
+somewhat sadly back to “The Alcove.” They had learned also from the
+runner that Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and this fact
+increased their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to operate on a large
+scale.
+
+“We may get a chance at him anyhow,” said Henry. “He and his band may go
+too far away from the main body of the Indians and Tories, and in that
+case we can strike a blow if we are watchful.”
+
+Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt. He had grown up
+with them. Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with his becoming a
+renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands or exile for taking
+part in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry Valley, but, long since an
+ally of the Indians, he was now at the head of a Tory band that murdered
+and burned from sheer pleasure.
+
+“Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets,” said
+Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+
+But for the present they “holed up,” and now their foresight was
+justified. To such as they, used to the hardships of forest life, “The
+Alcove” was a cheery nest. From its door they watched the wild fowl
+streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others outlined against the dark,
+wintry skies. So numerous were these flocks that there was scarcely a
+time when they did not see one passing toward the warm South.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of wild
+geese, arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. A few
+faint honks came to them, and then the geese grew misty on the horizon.
+Shif'less Sol followed them with serious eyes.
+
+“Do you ever think, Paul,” he said, “that we human bein's ain't so
+mighty pow'ful ez we think we are. We kin walk on the groun', an' by
+hard learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the water a little.
+But jest look at them geese flyin' a mile high, right over everything,
+rivers, forests any mountains, makin' a hundred miles an hour, almost
+without flappin' a wing. Then they kin come down on the water an' float
+fur hours without bein' tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun',
+too. Did you ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments? Why,
+Paul, s'pose you an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through the
+air a mile a minute fur a month an' never git tired.”
+
+“We'd certainly see some great sights,” said Paul, “but do you know,
+Sol, what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift of tireless
+wings?”
+
+“Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about.”
+
+“No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out all the
+camps of the Indians and Tories. I'd pick out the Butlers and Braxton
+Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they were planning. Then I'd
+fly away to the East and look down at all the armies, ours in buff and
+blue, and the British redcoats. I'd look into the face of our great
+commander-in-chief. Then I'd fly away back into the West and South, and
+I'd hover over Wareville. I'd see our own people, every last little one
+of them. They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but I'd
+be so high up in the air no bullet could reach me. Then I'd come soaring
+back here to you fellows.”
+
+“That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' I
+wouldn't mind takin' it in myself. But fur the present we'd better busy
+our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are givin' us, though we're
+well fixed fur a house already. It's cu'rus what good homes a handy man
+kin find in the wilderness.”
+
+The predictions of the wild fowl were true. A few days later heavy
+clouds rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched them, knowing
+what they would bring them. They spread to the zenith and then to the
+other horizon, clothing the whole circle of the earth. The great flakes
+began to drop down, slowly at first, then faster. Soon all the trees
+were covered with white, and everything else, too, except the dark
+surface of the lake, which received the flakes into its bosom as they
+fell.
+
+It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about two feet
+on the ground. After that it turned intensely cold, the surface of the
+snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered the lake. It was not
+possible to travel under such circumstances without artificial help, and
+now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in the far North, came to their help.
+He showed them how to make snowshoes, and, although all learned to use
+them, Henry, with his great strength and peculiar skill, became by far
+the most expert.
+
+As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks, Henry
+took many long journeys on the snowshoes. Sometimes be hunted, but
+oftener his role was that of scout. He cautioned his friends that he
+might be out-three or four days at a time, and that they need take no
+alarm about him unless his absence became extremely long. The winter
+deepened, the snow melted, and another and greater storm came, freezing
+the surface, again making the snowshoes necessary. Henry decided now to
+take a scout alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since
+grown into the habit of accepting his decisions almost without question,
+he started at once. He was well equipped with his rifle, double barreled
+pistol, hatchet, and knife, and he carried in addition a heavy blanket
+and some jerked venison. He put on his snowshoes at the foot of the
+cliff, waved a farewell to the four heads thrust from “The Alcove”
+ above, and struck out on the smooth, icy surface of the creek. From this
+he presently passed into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course
+almost due north.
+
+It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth. In one of his
+journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories and
+Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it was the
+party led by Braxton Wyatt. Now he meant to see.
+
+His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover signs much
+earlier than he had expected. Before the end of the first day he saw the
+traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy snow, and once he came to a
+place where a deer had been slain and dressed. Then he came to another
+where the snow had been hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping
+place for several men. Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again,
+and a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+
+Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications. All the
+primitive instincts leaped up within him. A child of the forest and of
+elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was strong within him. He
+was tired of hunting wild animals, and now there was promise of a' more
+dangerous foe. For the purposes that he had in view he was glad that
+he was alone. The wintry forest, with its two feet of snow covered with
+ice, contained no terrors for him. He moved on his snowshoes almost like
+a skater, and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who
+is practically born on such shoes.
+
+As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his snowshoes,
+he was, indeed, a wonderful figure. The added height and the white glare
+from the ice made him tower like a great giant. He was clad completely
+in soft, warm deerskin, his hands were gloved in the same material,
+and the fur cap was drawn tightly about his head and ears. The
+slender-barreled rifle lay across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer
+meat made a light package on his back. Only his face was uncovered, and
+that was rosy with the sharp but bracing cold. But the resolute blue
+eyes seemed to have grown more resolute in the last six months, and the
+firm jaw was firmer than ever.
+
+It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the earth
+of snow and ice that it inclosed. His eyes traveled the circle of the
+horizon three times, and at the end of the third circle he made out a
+dim, dark thread against that sheet of blue steel. It was the light of a
+camp fire, and that camp fire must belong to an enemy. It was not likely
+that anybody else would be sending forth such a signal in this wintry
+wilderness.
+
+Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently in a
+small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height. He made up his mind
+that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he intended to make a
+thorough scout about it. He advanced until the smoke line became much
+thicker and broader, and then he stopped in the densest clump of bushes
+that he could find. He meant to remain there until darkness came,
+because, with all foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible
+to examine the hostile camp by day. The bushes, despite the lack of
+leaves, were so dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the
+crust of ice, he dug a hole. Then, having taken off his snowshoes and
+wrapped his blanket about his body, he thrust himself into the hole
+exactly like a rabbit in its burrow. He laid his shoes on the crust of
+ice beside him. Of course, if found there by a large party of warriors
+on snowshoes he would have no chance to flee, but he was willing to take
+what seemed to him a small risk. The dark would not be long in coming,
+and it was snug and warm in the hole. As he sat, his head rose just
+above the surrounding ice, but his rifle barrel rose much higher. He ate
+a little venison for supper, and the weariness in the ankles that comes
+from long traveling on snowshoes disappeared.
+
+He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those
+uncommonly keen ears of his. No sound at all came. There was not even
+a wind to rustle the bare boughs. The sun hung a huge red globe in the
+west, and all that side of the earth was tinged with a red glare, wintry
+and cold despite its redness. Then, as the earth turned, the sun was
+lost behind it, and the cold dark came.
+
+Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles were
+soothed, and he grew sleepy. It would have been very pleasant to doze
+there, but he brought himself round with an effort of the will, and
+became as wide awake as ever. He was eager to be off on his expedition,
+but he knew how much depended on waiting, and he waited. One hour, two
+hours, three hours, four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest
+before he roused himself from his covert. Then, warm, strong, and
+tempered like steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and
+advanced toward the point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+
+He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now. He was a
+formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving like
+some spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+
+Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold stars
+twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer visible. But
+Henry did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. He had marked its
+base too clearly in his mind to make any mistake, and he advanced with
+certainty. He came presently into an open space, and he stopped with
+amazement. Around him were the stumps of a clearing made recently, and
+near him were some yards of rough rail fence.
+
+He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the clearing
+the dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys of two of
+which smoke was rising. It was his first thought that he had come upon
+a little settlement still held by daring borderers, but second thought
+told him that it was impossible. Another and more comprehensive look
+showed many signs of ruin. He saw remains of several burned houses, but
+clothing all was the atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells
+when a place is abandoned. The two threads of smoke did not alter this
+impression.
+
+Henry divined it all. The builders of this tiny village in the
+wilderness bad been massacred or driven away. A part of the houses had
+been destroyed, some were left standing, and now there were visitors. He
+advanced without noise, keeping behind the rail fence, and approaching
+one of the houses from the chimneys of which the smoke came. Here be
+crouched a long time, looking and listening attentively; but it seemed
+that the visitors had no fears. Why should they, when there was nothing
+that they need fear in this frozen wilderness?
+
+Henry stole a little nearer. It had been a snug, trim little settlement.
+Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived there, literally hewing
+a home out of the forest. His heart throbbed with a fierce hatred and,
+anger against those who had spoiled all this, and his gloved finger
+crept to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+The night was intensely cold. The mercury was far below zero, and a wind
+that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. Even the wariest of
+Indians in such desolate weather might fail to keep a watch. But Henry
+did not suffer. The fur cap was drawn farther over chin and ears, and
+the buckskin gloves kept his fingers warm and flexible. Besides, his
+blood was uncommonly hot in his veins.
+
+His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings had not
+been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that they could never
+be used again, save as a passing shelter, just as they were being used
+now. He slid cautiously about the desolate place. He crossed a brook,
+frozen almost solidly in its bed, and he saw two or three large mounds
+that had been haystacks, now covered with snow.
+
+Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from which
+the smoke came. It was rather more pretentious than the others, built of
+planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a roof. The remains of a
+small portico formed the approach to the front door. Henry supposed that
+the house had been set on fire and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a
+part of it.
+
+A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. He knew
+that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a window. A faint
+sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved forward slowly to the
+window. It was an oaken shutter originally fastened with a leather
+strap, but the strap was gone, and now some one had tied it, though not
+tightly, with a deer tendon. The crack between shutter and wall was at
+least three inches, and Henry could see within very well.
+
+He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the crevice.
+What he saw within did not still any of those primitive feelings that
+had risen so strongly in his breast.
+
+A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was burning
+somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of least crackling
+and greatest heat. The huge bed of coals threw a mass of varied and
+glowing colors across the floor. Large holes had been burned in the side
+of the room by the original fire, but Indian blankets had been fastened
+tightly over them.
+
+In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword by his
+side. He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face had increased
+much in coarseness and cruelty. It had also increased in satisfaction.
+He was a great man now, as he saw great men, and both face and figure
+radiated gratification and pride as he lolled before the fire. At the
+other corner, sitting upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform,
+was his lieutenant, Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short,
+uncommonly muscular figure. His face was dark and cruel, with small eyes
+set close together. A half dozen other white men and more than a dozen
+Indians were in the room. All these lay upon their blankets on the
+floor, because all the furniture had been destroyed. Yet they had
+eaten, and they lay there content in the soothing glow of the fire, like
+animals that had fed well. Henry was so near that he could hear every
+word anyone spoke.
+
+“It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?” said
+Wyatt.
+
+“I'm glad the fire spared a part of it,” said Coleman. “Looks as if it
+was done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter night when
+we come along. I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is watching over us.”
+
+Wyatt laughed.
+
+“You're a man that I like, Levi,” he said. “You can see to the inside of
+things. It would be a good idea to use this place as a base and shelter,
+and make a raid on some of the settlements east of the hills, eh, Levi?”
+
+“It could be done,” said Coleman. “But just listen to that wind, will
+you! On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. Even our
+Iroquois are glad to be under a roof.”
+
+Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up by an
+angry fire. So here was more talk of destruction and slaughter! His gaze
+alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner engaged upon a task. Henry
+looked more closely, and saw that he was stretching a blonde-haired
+scalp over a small hoop. A shudder shook his whole frame. Only those who
+lived amid such scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings.
+He felt, too, a bitter sense of injustice. The doers of these deeds were
+here in warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or fugitives.
+He turned away from the window, stepping gently upon the snowshoes. He
+inferred that the remainder of Wyatt's band were quartered in the other
+house from which he had seen the smoke rising. It was about twenty rods
+away, but he did not examine it, because a great idea had been born
+suddenly in his brain. The attempt to fulfill the idea would be
+accompanied by extreme danger, but he did not hesitate a moment. He
+stole gently to one of the half-fallen outhouses and went inside. Here
+he found what he wanted, a large pine shelf that had been sheltered from
+rain and that was perfectly dry. He scraped off a large quantity of the
+dry pine until it formed almost a dust, and he did not cease until he
+had filled his cap with it. Then he cut off large splinters, until
+he had accumulated a great number, and after that he gathered smaller
+pieces of half-burned pine.
+
+He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced far, but
+he never faltered. His head was bare, but he was protected from the
+wind by a fragment of the outhouse wall. Every two or three minutes he
+stopped and listened for the sound of a creaking, sliding footstep on
+the snow, but, never hearing any, he always resumed his work with the
+same concentration. All the while the wind rose and moaned through the
+ruins of the little village. When Henry chanced to raise his head above
+the sheltering wall, it was like the slash of a knife across his cheek.
+
+Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which the
+light had shone. He looked again through the crevice at the window. The
+light had died down much more, and both Wyatt and Coleman were asleep on
+the floor. But several of the Iroquois were awake, although they sat as
+silent and motionless as stones against the wall.
+
+Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside the
+plank wall. There he put the pine dust in a little heap on the snow
+and covered it over with pine splinters, on top of which he put larger
+pieces of pine. Then he went back for the remainder of the pine dust,
+and built a similar pyramid against a sheltered side of the second
+house.
+
+The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good fortune
+only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his heart aflame
+with righteous anger against those inside, still pursued the work. His
+heart throbbed, but hand and eye were steady.
+
+Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. The wind
+rose much higher and roared harder against the house. It would prevent
+the Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were, from hearing a light
+sound without. Then he drew forth his flint and steel and struck them
+together with a hand so strong and swift that sparks quickly leaped
+forth and set fire to the pine tinder. Henry paused only long enough to
+see the flame spread to the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the
+other house, where the task was repeated-he intended that his job should
+be thorough.
+
+Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to the
+first house and looked at his fire. It had already spread to the larger
+pieces of pine, and it could not go out now. The sound made by the
+flames blended exactly with the roaring of the wind, and another minute
+or two might pass before the Iroquois detected it.
+
+Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his anger.
+By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the flames would be
+so high that the wind would reach them. Then no one could put them out.
+
+It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at once,
+but that lingering desire to make his task complete and, also, the wish
+to see the result kept him from doing it. He merely walked across the
+open space and stood behind a tree at the edge of the forest.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very snug, in
+the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals before them.
+They may even have been dreaming peaceful and beautiful dreams, when
+suddenly an Iroquois sprang to his feet and uttered a cry that awoke all
+the rest.
+
+“I smell smoke!” he exclaimed in his tongue, “and there is fire, too! I
+hear it crackle outside!”
+
+Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open. Flame and smoke blew
+in his face. He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at the pistol in his
+belt.
+
+“The whole side of the house is on fire!” he exclaimed. “Whose neglect
+has done this?”
+
+Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+
+“The fire was set on the outside,” he said. “It was no carelessness of
+our men. Some enemy has done this!”
+
+“It is true!” exclaimed Wyatt furiously. “Out, everybody! The house
+burns fast!”
+
+There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were falling
+about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by the roaring winds,
+and roared with them. The shell of the house would soon be gone, and
+when Tories and Iroquois were outside they saw the remainder of their
+band pouring forth from the other house, which was also in flames.
+
+No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in a sort
+of stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest heights by the
+wind.
+
+All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments
+nothing whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton Wyatt and
+his band must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could never use this
+place as a basis for attack upon settlements.
+
+“How under the sun could it have happened?” exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+“It didn't happen. It was done,” said Coleman. “Somebody set these
+houses on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!”
+
+An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the snow
+where it was not yet melted by the heat. He saw there the track of
+snowshoes, and suddenly, looking toward the forest, whither they led, he
+saw a dark figure flit away among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. HENRY'S SLIDE
+
+
+Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body hidden
+behind one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the scene with
+a fascinated interest that would not let him go. He knew that his work
+there was done already. Everything would be utterly destroyed by the
+flames which, driven by the wind, leaped from one half-ruined building
+to another. Braxton Wyatt and his band would have enough to do
+sheltering themselves from the fierce winter, and the settlements could
+rest for a while at least. Undeniably he felt exultation as he witnessed
+the destructive work of his hand. The border, with its constant struggle
+for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+
+In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to please
+his eye and heart. A new pulse beat triumphantly every time a timber,
+burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a falling roof. He laughed
+inwardly as the flames disclosed the dismay on the faces of the Iroquois
+and Tories, and it gave him deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his
+gaudy little sword at his thigh, stalking about helpless. It was while
+he was looking, absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert
+eye saw him and gave the warning shout.
+
+Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half
+running, half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow.
+After him came warriors and some Tories who had put on their snowshoes
+preparatory to the search through the forest for shelter. Several
+bullets were fired, but he was too far away for a good aim. He heard one
+go zip against a tree, and another cut the surface of the ice near him,
+but none touched him, and he sped easily on his snowshoes through the
+frozen forest. But Henry was fully aware of one thing that constituted
+his greatest danger. Many of these Iroquois had been trained all
+their lives to snowshoes, while he, however powerful and agile, was
+comparatively a beginner. He glanced back again and saw their dusky
+figures running among the trees, but they did not seem to be gaining. If
+one should draw too near, there was his rifle, and no man, white or red,
+in the northern or southern forests, could use it better. But for the
+present it was not needed. He pressed it closely, almost lovingly, to
+his side, this best friend of the scout and frontiersman.
+
+He had chosen his course at the first leap. It was southward, toward
+the lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging from his line,
+knowing that some part of the wide half circle of his pursuers would
+profit by it.
+
+Henry felt a great upward surge. He had been the victor in what he
+meant to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape. The cold wind,
+whistling by, whipped his blood and added new strength to his great
+muscles. His ankles were not chafed or sore, and he sped forward on the
+snowshoes, straight and true. Whenever he came to a hill the pursuers
+would gain as he went up it, but when he went down the other side it
+was he who gained. He passed brooks, creeks, and once a small river,
+but they were frozen over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them.
+Again it was a lake a mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely
+increased his speed. Always he kept a wary look ahead for thickets
+through which he could not pass easily, and once he sent back a shout of
+defiance, which the Iroquois answered with a yell of anger.
+
+He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove fatal,
+the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking of a runner
+would end his flight, and in a long chase such an accident might happen.
+It might happen, too, to one or more of the Iroquois, but plenty of them
+would be left. Yet Henry had supreme confidence in his snowshoes. He had
+made them himself, he had seen that every part was good, and every thong
+had been fastened with care.
+
+The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire sank
+to nothing. The leafless trees stood up, the branches unmoving. The
+forest was bare and deserted. All the animals, big and little, had gone
+into their lairs. Nobody witnessed the great pursuit save pursuers and
+pursued. Henry kept his direction clear in his mind, and allowed the
+Iroquois to take no advantage of a curve save once. Then he came to a
+thicket so large that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to
+pass it. He turned to the right, hence the Indians on the right gained,
+and they sent up a yell of delight. He replied defiantly and increased
+his speed.
+
+But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously near-near
+enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the fugitive much.
+It aroused Henry's anger. He took it as an indignity rather than a
+danger, and he resolved to avenge it. So far as firing was concerned, he
+was at a disadvantage. He must stop and turn around for his shot, while
+the Iroquois, without even checking speed, could fire straight at the
+flying target, ahead.
+
+Nevertheless, he took the chance. He turned deftly on the snowshoes,
+fired as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw him fall, then
+Whirled and resumed his flight. He had lost ground, but he had inspired
+respect. A single man could not afford to come too near to a marksman so
+deadly, and the three or four who led dropped back with the main body.
+
+Now Henry made his greatest effort. He wished to leave the foe far
+behind, to shake off his pursuit entirely. He bounded over the ice
+and snow with great leaps, and began to gain. Yet he felt at last the
+effects of so strenuous a flight. His breath became shorter; despite
+the intense cold, perspiration stood upon his face, and the straps that
+fastened the snowshoes were chafing his ankles. An end must come even to
+such strength as his. Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was
+sinking into the darkness. If he could only increase his speed again, he
+might leave the Iroquois now. He made a new call upon the will, and
+the body responded. For a few minutes his speed became greater. A
+disappointed shout arose behind him, and several shots were fired. But
+the bullets fell a hundred yards short, and then, as he passed over a
+little hill and into a wood beyond, he was hidden from the sight of his
+pursuers.
+
+Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but they
+could not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at an angle.
+Pausing a second or two for fresh breath, he continued on his new
+course, although not so fast as before. He knew that the Iroquois would
+rush straight ahead, and would not discover for two or three minutes
+that they were off the trail. It would take them another two or three
+minutes to recover, and he would make a gain of at least five minutes.
+Five minutes had saved the life of many a man on the border.
+
+How precious those five minutes were! He would take them all. He ran
+forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick, and then
+enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute. He had felt that he
+was pumping the very lifeblood from his heart. His breath had come
+painfully, and the thongs of the snowshoes were chafing his ankles
+terribly. But those minutes were worth a year. Fresh air poured into his
+lungs, and the muscles became elastic once more. In so brief a space he
+had recreated himself.
+
+Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do his
+utmost unless the enemy came in sight. About ten minutes later he heard
+a cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a signal from some Indian
+to the others that the trail was found again. But with so much advantage
+he felt sure that he was now quite safe. He ran, although at decreased
+speed, for about two hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust
+root of a great oak. Here he depended most upon his ears. The forest was
+so silent that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but there
+was none. Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would remain there a long
+time for a thorough rest. He even dared to take off his snowshoes that
+he might rub his sore ankles, but he wrapped his heavy blanket about his
+body, lest he take deep cold in cooling off in such a temperature after
+so long a flight.
+
+He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and then he
+saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something that told him
+he must be on the alert again. It was a single ring of smoke, like that
+from a cigar, only far greater. It rose steadily, untroubled by wind
+until it was dissipated. It meant “attention!” and presently it was
+followed by a column of such rings, one following another beautifully.
+The column said: “The foe is near.” Henry read the Indian signs
+perfectly. The rings were made by covering a little fire with a blanket
+for a moment and then allowing the smoke to ascend. On clear days such
+signals could be seen a distance of thirty miles or more, and he knew
+that they were full of significance.
+
+Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. One had
+found his trail, and was signaling to the other. The party sending up
+the smoke might be a half mile away, but the others, although his trail
+was yet hidden from them, might be nearer. It was again time for flight.
+
+He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace, folded the
+blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly root, started
+once more. He ran forward at moderate speed for perhaps a mile, when he
+suddenly heard triumphant yells on both right and left. A strong party
+of Iroquois were coming up on either side, and luck had enabled them to
+catch him in a trap.
+
+They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked his
+glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might again stave
+them off. He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling into determined
+silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest here was of large trees,
+with no undergrowth, and he noticed that the two parties did not join,
+but kept on as they had come, one on the right and the other on the
+left. This fact must have some significance, but he could not fathom
+it. Neither could he guess whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but
+apparently they made no effort to come within range of his rifle.
+
+Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out, and
+then both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the kind that
+savages utter only when they see their triumph complete.
+
+Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He had
+come to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high like a
+mountain, and steep like a wall. The surface of the lake was so far down
+that it was misty white like a cloud. Now he understood the policy of
+the Indian bands in not uniting. They knew that they would soon reach
+the lofty cliffs of the lake, and if he turned to either right or left
+there was a band ready to seize him.
+
+Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in his
+life. It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a trap, and
+Braxton Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. That was perhaps
+the bitterest thing of all, to be taken and tortured by Braxton Wyatt.
+He was there. He could hear his voice in one of the bands, and then the
+courage that never failed him burst into fire again.
+
+The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from retreat
+to either right or left, but not yet closing in because of his deadly
+rifle. He gave them a single look, put forth his voice in one great cry
+of defiance, and, rushing toward the edge of the mighty cliff, sprang
+boldly over.
+
+As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of amazement and
+chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats, and, taking a single
+glance backward, he caught a glimpse of dusky faces stamped with awe.
+But the bold youth had not made a leap to destruction. In the passage
+of a second he had calculated rapidly and well. While the cliff at
+first glance seemed perpendicular, it could not be so. There was a slope
+coated with two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels of
+his snowshoes, he shot downward like one taking a tremendous slide on
+a toboggan. Faster and faster he went, but deeper and deeper he dug his
+shoes into the snow, until he lay back almost flat against its surface.
+This checked his speed somewhat, but it was still very great, and,
+preserving his self-control perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly
+Providence to save him from some great boulder or abrupt drop.
+
+The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him as he
+descended. Yet he drew himself compactly together, and held his rifle
+parallel with his body. Once or twice, as he went over a little ridge,
+he shot clear of the snow, but he held his body rigid, and the snow
+beyond saved him from a severe bruise. Then his speed was increased
+again, and all the time the white surface of the lake below, seen dimly
+through the night and his flight, seemed miles away.
+
+He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was sure.
+None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. Braxton Wyatt could
+have no triumph over him. He was alone in his great flight. Once a
+projection caused him to turn a little to one side. He was in momentary
+danger of turning entirely, and then of rolling head over heels like
+a huge snowball, but with a mighty effort he righted himself, and
+continued the descent on the runners, with the heels plowing into the
+ice and the snow.
+
+Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles nearer.
+Presently he would be there. The impossible had become possible, the
+unattainable was about to be attained. He gave another mighty dig with
+his shoes, the last reach of the slope passed behind him, and he shot
+out on the frozen surface of the lake, bruised and breathless, but
+without a single broken bone.
+
+The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay frozen
+snow, which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the cliff. There he
+lost his balance at last, and fell on his side, where he lay for a few
+moments, weak, panting, but triumphant.
+
+When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered
+nothing save some bruises, that would heal in their own good time. His
+deerskin clothing was much torn, particularly on the back, where he had
+leaned upon the ice and snow, but the folded blanket had saved him to a
+considerable extent. One of his shoes was pulled loose, and presently he
+discovered that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate.
+But he did not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of
+victory. He looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him
+fifteen hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit.
+The wall ran away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any
+easier path. He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at
+him, but it was too far away, and he saw only a black line.
+
+He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
+away from “The Alcove,” and he did not intend to go there, lest the
+Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge.
+But as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and
+the Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side,
+he felt perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the
+time of an increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly
+swollen, and he did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low
+bills. Here, under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he
+found a partial shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with
+infinite patience he built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead
+boughs, hung his blanket in front of it on two sticks that the flame
+might not be seen, took off his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared
+his ankles. Both were swollen, but the left much more badly than the
+other. He doubted whether he would be able to walk on the following day,
+but he rubbed them a long time, both with the palms of his hands and
+with snow, until they felt better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned
+back against the faithful snowshoes which had saved his life, however
+much they had hurt his ankles, and gave himself up to the warmth of the
+fire.
+
+It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
+terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one
+which, if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff
+and painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and
+legs many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he
+had venison, ate several strips.
+
+He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
+bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
+coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket,
+wrapped himself in it, and was soon asleep before the fire. He slept
+long and deeply, and although, when he awoke, the day had fully come,
+the coals were not yet out entirely. He arose, but such a violent pain
+from his left ankle shot through him that he abruptly sat down again. As
+he bad feared, it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not
+walk.
+
+In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no striving against
+unchangeable circumstance. He drew up more wood, which he had stacked
+against the cliff, and put it on the coals. He hung up the blanket once
+more in order that it might hide the fire, stretched out his lame leg,
+and calmly made a breakfast off the last of his venison. He knew he was
+in a plight that might appall the bravest, but he kept himself in
+hand. It was likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a
+shapeless mass by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet, and he
+had little fear of them, but to be unable to walk and alone in an icy
+wilderness without food was sufficient in itself. He calculated that
+it was at least a dozen miles to “The Alcove,” and the chances were a
+hundred to one against any of his comrades wandering his way. He looked
+once more at his swollen left ankle, and he made a close calculation.
+It would be three days, more likely four, before he could walk upon it.
+Could he endure hunger that long? He could. He would! Crouched in his
+nest with his back to the cliff, he had defense against any enemy in
+his rifle and pistol. By faithful watching he might catch sight of some
+wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food for his stomach.
+His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was nothing to do but sit
+quiet and wait.
+
+He scarcely moved for hours. As long as he was still his ankle troubled
+him but little. The sun came out, silver bright, but it had no warmth.
+The surface of the lake was shown only by the smoothness of its expanse;
+the icy covering was the same everywhere over hills and valleys. Across
+the lake he saw the steep down which he had slid, looming white and
+lofty. In the distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its
+terrors, it had, beyond a doubt, saved his life. He glanced down at his
+swollen ankle, and, despite his helpless situation, he was thankful that
+he had escaped so well.
+
+About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all around
+himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house. Then he let the fire die
+except some coals that gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over
+his head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
+stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was
+warm, and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him.
+He was young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance.
+Now it cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and
+for a few moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon
+came back as strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim
+silence, trying to forget that there was any such thing as food.
+
+The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon,
+but before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
+trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
+could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and,
+in fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
+daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
+pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
+thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature,
+no matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then
+he would feast!
+
+He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
+white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
+the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+
+He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
+hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
+but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The
+new snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail
+from the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to
+a gray, somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not
+feel the pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and
+then they came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in
+the night, and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease
+in the power of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as
+his physical fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same
+confidence that he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little
+more threatening.
+
+His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
+back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
+his left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move
+it with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk.
+Once more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly
+walk and hunt game or make a try for “The Alcove,” so far as his ankle
+was concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
+strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+
+Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine
+made upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so
+powerful, so skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness
+and to every manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by
+a bruised ankle to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be
+more than ten miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright
+and stepped out into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could
+scarcely keep from crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank
+back into the shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for
+another full day.
+
+The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
+blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for
+the sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering
+from cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the
+bright flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it
+go out. Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface
+of the snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a
+wandering deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He
+was more than ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of
+his den, the rifle across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the
+cheek bones showed high and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the
+fierce desire for prey, and the long, lean body drawn forward as if it
+were about to leap.
+
+He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole
+in the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
+abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
+edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned
+and dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay
+still for a long time.
+
+That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at
+himself. It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea
+think of him if they knew how he came to his end? They would put him
+with old squaws or little children. And how Braxton Wyatt and his
+lieutenant, the squat Tory, would laugh! That was the bitterest thought
+of all. But the frenzy passed, and he fell into a sleep which was only
+a succession of bad dreams. He was running the gauntlet again among
+the Shawnees. Again, kneeling to drink at the clear pool, he saw in the
+water the shadow of the triumphant warrior holding the tomahawk above
+him. One after another the most critical periods of his life were lived
+over again, and then he sank into a deep torpor, from which he did not
+rouse himself until far into the next day.
+
+Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have
+regained much of his lost will. He looked once more at the fatal left
+ankle. It had improved greatly. He could even stand upon it, but when he
+rose to his feet he felt a singular dizziness. Again, what he had gained
+in one way he had lost in another. The earth wavered. The smooth surface
+of the lake seemed to rise swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly. The far
+slope down which he had shot rose to the height of miles. There was a
+pale tinge, too, over the world. He sank down, not because of his ankle,
+but because he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+
+The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two. He was ashamed
+of such extraordinary weakness. He looked at one of his hands. It was
+thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever, and the blue veins stood
+out on the back of it. He could scarcely believe that the hand was his
+own. But after the first spasm of weakness was over, the precious will
+returned. He could walk. Strength enough to permit him to hobble along
+had returned to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+nervous system, however weakened it might be. He must seek food.
+
+He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the blanket
+tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. He was preparing
+both mind and body for the supreme effort. He knew that everything hung
+now on the surviving remnants of his skill and courage.
+
+Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great reserve
+now except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. It was proof of
+his youthful greatness that it stood the last test. As he lay there,
+the final ounce of will and courage came. Strength which was of the mind
+rather than of the body flowed back into his veins; he felt able to dare
+and to do; the pale aspect of the world went away, and once more he was
+Henry Ware, alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+
+Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his
+shoulders. He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left ankle,
+despite its great improvement, would not stand the strain. He must
+break his way through the snow, which was a full three feet in depth.
+Fortunately the crust had softened somewhat in the last two or three
+days, and he did not have a covering of ice to meet.
+
+He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the cliff, his
+rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might miss no chance at
+game. To an ordinary observer there would have been no such chance at
+all. It was merely a grim white wilderness that might have been without
+anything living from the beginning. But Henry, the forest runner, knew
+better. Somewhere in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had
+left, and in these lairs were wild animals. To any such wild animal,
+whether panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome
+object, with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his thin lips
+opening now and then, and disclosing the two rows of strong white teeth.
+
+Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard, because
+it was desperate work for one in his condition to break his way through
+snow so deep. But his ankle stood the strain well, and his courage
+increased rather than diminished. He was no longer a cripple confined
+to one spot. While he stood resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about
+half a rod to his left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+
+He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched carefully
+among them. The snow was not nearly so thick there, and under the
+thickest clump, where the shelter was best, he saw a small round
+opening. In an instant all his old vigorous life, all the abounding hope
+which was such a strong characteristic of his nature, came back to him.
+Already he had triumphed over Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow,
+ice, crippling, and starvation.
+
+He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right hand. He
+thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit leaped for life
+from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod stretched him dead at the
+feet of the hunter. Henry picked up the rabbit. It was large and yet
+fat. Here was food for two meals. In the race between the ankle and
+starvation, the ankle had won.
+
+He did not give way to any unseemly elation. He even felt a momentary
+sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because all these wild
+things were his kindred now. He returned by the path that he had broken,
+kindled his fire anew, dexterously skinned and cleaned his rabbit,
+then cooked it and ate half, although he ate slowly and with intervals
+between each piece. How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being
+longed to leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was
+still supreme. He knew what was good for himself, and he did it.
+Everything was done in order and with sobriety. Then he put the rest of
+the rabbit carefully in his food pouch, wrapped the blanket about his
+body, leaned back, and stretched his feet to the coals.
+
+What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! He had
+not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty cliffs on the
+farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and hanging with icicles.
+
+The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+
+It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the strength
+returning to his frame. He knew that the blood in his veins had begun
+to sparkle, and that his vitality was rising fast. He could have gone
+to sleep peacefully, but instead he went forth and hunted again. He
+knew that where the rabbit had been, others were likely to be near, and
+before he returned he had secured two more. Both of these he cleaned and
+cooked at once. When this was done night had come, but he ate again,
+and then, securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best sleep
+that he had enjoyed since his flight.
+
+He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started then,
+but he was prudent. There was still a chance of meeting the Iroquois,
+and the ankle might not stand so severe a test. He would rest in his
+nest for another day, and then he would be equal to anything. Few could
+lie a whole day in one place with but little to do and with nothing
+passing before the eyes, but it was a part of Henry's wilderness
+training, and he showed all the patience of the forester. He knew,
+too, as the hours went by, that his strength was rising all the while.
+To-morrow almost the last soreness would be gone from his ankle and
+then he could glide swiftly over the snow, back to his comrades. He
+was content. He had, in fact, a sense of great triumph because he had
+overcome so much, and here was new food in this example for future
+efforts of the mind, for future victories of the will over the body. The
+wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly down the curve, but
+all the time the boy scarcely stirred. Once there was a flight of small
+birds across the heavens, and he watched them vaguely, but apparently he
+took no interest. Toward night he stood up in his recess and flexed and
+tuned his muscles for a long time, driving out any stiffness that might
+come through long lack of motion. Then he ate and lay down, but he did
+not yet sleep.
+
+The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he knew
+“The Alcove” lay. A good moon was now shining, and stars by the score
+were springing out. Suddenly at a point on that far shore a spark of red
+light appeared and twinkled. Most persons would have taken it for some
+low star, but Henry knew better. It was fire put there by human hand for
+a purpose, doubtless a signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared
+by the first, then a third, then a fourth. He uttered a great sigh of
+pleasure. It was his four friends signaling to him somewhere in the vast
+unknown that they were alive and well, and beckoning him to come. The
+lights burned for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then all went out
+together. Henry turned over on his side and fell sound asleep. In the
+morning he put on his snowshoes and started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE SAFE RETURN
+
+
+The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found
+good footing for his shoes. For a while he leaned most on the right
+ankle, but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them
+equally, and sped forward, his spirits rising at every step. The air was
+cold, and there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind
+that whipped his face. The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and
+his eyes no longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild
+animal in search of prey. A fine red color was suffused through the
+brown of his face. He had chosen his course with due precaution. The
+broad surface, smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the
+temptation away. He did not wish to run any chance whatever of another
+Iroquois pursuit, and he kept in the forest that ran down close to the
+water's edge. It was tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
+
+But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious
+freedom. With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in
+his cell, with a ball and chain to his foot. Now he flew along, while
+the cold wind whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely
+to live. He went on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that
+contained “The Alcove.” He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the
+last of his rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood
+at the hidden path that led up to their home.
+
+Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. To one
+who had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely
+desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been
+visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes. But Henry had such
+eyes. He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the
+surface of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there. He
+resolved to surprise them.
+
+Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind. As he gradually
+approached “The Alcove” he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as
+he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light
+falling on the snow.
+
+But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.
+Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound. He knew all
+those tones. They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who
+had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band
+who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+
+He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still. Lying almost
+flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into “The
+Alcove.” A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed
+about it were the four. Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was
+gazing into the coals. Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long
+Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was
+talking. Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about
+himself.
+
+“Henry will turn up all right,” he was saying. “Hasn't he always done it
+afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break
+his rule now. I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories
+between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to
+ketch Henry. I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment.”
+
+“What is he doing, Sol?” asked Paul.
+
+“When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him,” said the shiftless
+one. “He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin' around an Injun
+village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an' listenin' an' gatherin' talk
+about their plans.”
+
+“He ain't doin' any sech thing,” broke in Long Jim.
+
+“I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours,
+an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're
+talkin' about.”
+
+“What is he doing, Jim?” asked Paul.
+
+“Henry's away off to the south, not to the north,” replied the long one,
+“an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned. One house has been
+left standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the
+groun'. A whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin'
+thar fur days, eatin' so much an' hevin' such a good time that the fat's
+hangin' down over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust
+right out uv his huntin' shirt.”
+
+Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face
+to the fire. Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
+
+“Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight,” he said.
+“Can you have any vision, too, Tom?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Tom Ross, “I kin. I shet my eyes, but I don't see like
+either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong. I see Henry, an' I see
+him plain. He's had a pow'ful tough time. He ain't threatenin' to bust
+with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are
+fallin' down over his jaws. It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk
+a mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags
+his left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself. He ain't spyin'
+on no Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer
+hangin' by the side uv him. It's t'other way 'roan'. He's layin' almost
+flat on his face not twenty feet from us, lookin' right in at us, an' I
+wuz the first to see him.”
+
+All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise
+sprang to his feet. Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
+
+
+“And so you saw me, Tom,” he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand
+after another. “I might have known that, while I could stalk some of
+you, I could not stalk all of you.”
+
+“I caught the glimpse uv you,” said Silent Tom, “while Sol an' Jim wuz
+talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul
+called on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an'
+worth tellin'.”
+
+“You're right,” said Henry. “I've not been having any easy time, and for
+a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I
+will tell you all about it.”
+
+They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
+food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+
+“I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry,” said
+Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+
+“Any one of you would have done it,” said Henry, modestly.
+
+“I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons,” said Shif'less
+Sol. “One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause
+that scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
+tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt.”
+
+“You speak for us all there, Sol,” said Paul.
+
+“What have all of you been doing?” asked Henry.
+
+“Not much of anything,” replied Shif'less Sol. “We've been scoutin'
+several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
+or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
+up warmer an' storin' away food.”
+
+“We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid,” said Henry,
+“unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is
+yet on foot against the Iroquois?”
+
+“Tom ran across some scouts from the militia,” replied Paul, “and they
+said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army
+would march.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry earnestly.
+
+But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a
+long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for
+two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to
+melt under the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down
+the cliffs, and would have entered “The Alcove” had not the five made
+provision to turn it away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening
+to the gush of the water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one
+another. Yet the time dragged.
+
+“Man wuz never made to be a caged animile,” said Shif'less Sol. “The
+longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
+improve, neither, an' I ain't happy.”
+
+“Guess it's the same with all uv us,” said Tom Ross.
+
+But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still
+cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in every
+direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were
+becoming active. There were more burnings, more slaughters, and more
+scalpings. The whole border was still appalled at the massacres of
+Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the savages were continually spreading
+over a wider area. Braxton Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the
+aid of his Tory lieutenant, Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name
+equal to that of Walter Butler. As for “Indian” Butler and his men, no
+men were hated more thoroughly than they.
+
+The five continued to do the best they could, which was much, carrying
+many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have been victims.
+While they devoted themselves to their strenuous task, great events in
+which they were to take a part were preparing. The rear guard of the
+Revolution was about to become for the time the main guard. A great eye
+had been turned upon the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great
+mind, which could bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint,
+was preparing to send help to those farther away. So mighty a cry of
+distress had risen, that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed. As
+the warm weather came, the soldiers began to march.
+
+Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the Iroquois
+and their allies, the Tories, the English, and the Canadians. There
+was a great stirring among the leaders, Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo,
+Sangerachte, the Johnsons, the Butlers, Claus, and the rest. Haldimand,
+the king's representative in Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all
+the Iroquois to meet the enemy. The Tories were' extremely active.
+Promises were made to the tribes that they should have other victories
+even greater than those of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the
+terrible Queen Esther went among them, swinging her great war tomahawk
+over her head and chanting her song of death. She, more than any other,
+inflamed the Iroquois, and they were eager for the coming contest.
+
+Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter, but,
+faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the last, he
+returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of the Wyandot
+nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not be estimated too
+highly.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the forest,
+and they thrilled at the thought that the crisis was approaching. Then
+they set out for Lake Otsego, where the army was gathering for the great
+campaign. They were equipped thoroughly, and they were now so well known
+in the region that they knew they would be welcome.
+
+They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the last
+night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry, scouting as
+usual to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep in the forest. He
+wheeled instantly to cover behind the body of a great beech tree, and
+the stranger sought to do likewise, only he had no convenient tree
+that was so large. It was about the twelfth hour, but Henry could see a
+portion of a body protruding beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he
+recognized it. As he held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the
+stranger.
+
+“Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and woodsman,
+what are you doing in my wilderness? Stand forth at once and give an
+account of yourself, or I will shoot off the part of your body that
+sticks beyond that oak tree!”
+
+The answer was instantaneous. A round, plump body revolved from the
+partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open, rifle in hand
+and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+
+“Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware,” replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud, clear
+tone, “I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that you are. Come
+from behind that beech and let us see which has the stronger grip.”
+
+Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so powerful that
+both winced. Then they released hands simultaneously, and Heemskerk
+asked:
+
+“And the other four mynheers? Am I wrong to say that they are near,
+somewhere?”
+
+“You are not wrong,” replied Henry. “They are alive, well and hungry,
+not a mile from here. There is one man whom they would be very glad to
+see, and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is roaming in our woods
+without a permit.”
+
+The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed. It was obvious that he
+felt as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in seeing him.
+
+“My heart swells,” he said. “I feared that you might have been killed or
+scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far land of Kentucky.”
+
+“We have wintered well,” said Henry, “in a place of which I shall not
+tell you now, and we are here to see the campaign through.”
+
+“I come, too, for the same purpose,” said Heemskerk. “We shall be
+together. It is goot.” “Meanwhile,” said Henry, “our camp fire is
+lighted. Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is cooking strips of meat
+over the coals, and, although it is a mile away, the odor of them is
+very pleasant in my nostrils. I wish to go back there, and it will be
+all the more delightful to me, and to those who wait, if I can bring
+with me such a welcome guest.”
+
+“Lead on, mynheer,” said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+
+He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then they
+ate and talked. Heemskerk was sanguine.
+
+“Something will be done this time,” he said. “Word has come from the
+great commander that the Iroquois must be crushed. The thousands who
+have fallen must be avenged, and this great fire along our border must
+be stopped. If it cannot be done, then we perish. We have old tales in
+my own country of the cruel deeds that the Spaniards did long, long ago,
+but they were not worse than have been done here.”
+
+The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them traveled
+back to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and the scars and
+traces of many more tragedies.
+
+They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw that
+all they had heard was true. The most formidable force that they had
+ever seen was gathering. There were many companies in the Continental
+buff and blue, epauletted officers, bayonets and cannon. The camp was
+full of life, energy, and hope, and the five at once felt the influence
+of it. They found here old friends whom they had known in the march on
+Oghwaga, William Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very
+welcome. They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge,
+received roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with Heemskerk
+and the two celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and David Elerson,
+they roamed the forest in a great circle about the lake, bringing much
+valuable information about the movements of the enemy, who in their turn
+were gathering in force, while the royal authorities were dispatching
+both Indians and white men from Canada to help them.
+
+These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much impatience. It
+takes a long time for an army to gather and then to equip itself for the
+march, and they were so used to swift motion that it was now a part of
+their nature. At last the army was ready, and it left the lake. Then it
+proceeded in boats down the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an
+artificial dam built with immense labor, to its confluence with the
+larger river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander,
+General James Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then the army,
+late in August, began its march upon the Iroquois.
+
+The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. They knew
+that no important movement of so large a force could escape the notice
+of the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made it their duty to see
+that the Americans marched into no trap.
+
+It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched with
+brown, and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were ripening on
+the vines, and the quantity of game had increased, the wild animals
+returning to the land from which civilized man had disappeared. The
+desolation seemed even more complete than in the autumn before. In the
+winter and spring the Iroquois and Tories had destroyed the few
+remnants of houses that were left. Braxton Wyatt and his band had been
+particularly active in this work, and many tales had come of his cruelty
+and that of his swart Tory lieutenant, Coleman. Henry was sure, too,
+that Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps fifty Indians and Tories, was
+now in front of them.
+
+He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others, twelve
+brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night about ten miles
+ahead of the army. They lighted no fire, and, even had it been cold,
+they would not have done so, as the region was far too dangerous for any
+light. Yet the little band felt no fear. They were only twelve, it is
+true, but such a twelve! No chance would either Indians or Tories have
+to surprise them.
+
+They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to keep
+watch while the others slept. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Heemskerk were
+the sentinels. It was very late, nearly midnight; the sky was clear, and
+presently they saw smoke rings ascending from high hills to their right,
+to be answered soon by other rings of smoke to their left. The three
+watched them with but little comment, and read every signal in turn.
+They said: “The enemy is still advancing,” “He is too strong for
+us...... We must retreat and await our brethren.”
+
+“It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least,” whispered
+Heemskerk. “Brant is probably ahead of us in command, and he will avoid
+us until he receives the fresh forces from Canada.”
+
+“I take it that you're right,” Henry whispered back. “Timmendiquas also
+is with him, and the two great chiefs are too cunning to fight until
+they can bring their last man into action.”
+
+“An' then,” said the shiftless one, “we'll see what happens.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry very gravely, “we'll see what happens. The Iroquois
+are a powerful confederacy. They've ruled in these woods for hundreds
+of years. They're led by great chiefs, and they're helped by our white
+enemies. You can't tell what would happen even to an army like ours in
+an ambush.”
+
+Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later, when
+they heard footsteps. They awakened the others, and the twelve, crawling
+to the edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat upon their faces, with
+their hands upon the triggers of their rifles.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and Tories in
+about equal numbers, were passing. Wyatt walked at the head. Despite his
+youth, he had acquired an air of command, and he seemed a fit leader
+for such a crew. He wore a faded royal uniform, and, while a small sword
+hung at his side, he also carried a rifle on his shoulder. Close behind
+him was the swart and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and
+Tories together.
+
+The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as many
+belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle fairly
+ached to press it. What an opportunity this would be if the twelve were
+only forty, or even thirty! With the advantage of surprise they might
+hope to annihilate this band which had won such hate for itself on the
+border. But twelve were not enough and twelve such lives could not be
+spared at a time when the army needed them most.
+
+Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+disappointment by a mere physical act if possible. He happened to look
+at Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed together in the
+same manner. It is probable that like feelings swayed every one of the
+twelve, but they were so still in the brushwood that no Iroquois heard
+grass or leaf rustle. Thus the twelve watched the sixty pass, and
+after they were gone, Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for
+several miles. They saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as
+they approached the stream they beheld signs of fortifications. It was
+now nearly daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they turned back.
+But they were convinced that the enemy meant to fight on the Chemung.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+
+
+The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the brushwood
+and saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of men, famous or
+infamous in their day, were gathered around a low camp fire on the crest
+of a small hill. The most distinguished of them all in looks was a young
+Indian chief of great height and magnificent build, with a noble and
+impressive countenance. He wore nothing of civilized attire, the
+nearest approach to it being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung
+gracefully over his right shoulder. It was none other than the great
+Wyandot chief, Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without
+expression to the words of the others.
+
+Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his mixture
+of savage and civilized costume, and about him were other famous Indian
+chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Little
+Beard, a young Seneca renowned for ferocity, and others.
+
+On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir John
+Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his oath of
+neutrality, the condition of his release, and then, fleeing to Canada,
+had returned to wage bloody war on the settlements; his brother-in-law,
+Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy;
+his son, Walter Butler, of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart;
+the Canadian Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark
+Tory, Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former
+land.
+
+Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together, wore the
+handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed many dark deeds
+or permitted them to be done by men under his command, and he had
+secured the opportunity only through his broken oath, but he had lost
+greatly. The vast estates of his father, Sir William Johnson, were being
+torn from him, and perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he
+had done he would lose all and become an exile from the country in which
+he was born.
+
+It was not a cheerful council. There was no exultation as after Wyoming
+and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places. Sir John bit his
+lip uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his hand on his knee,
+stared gloomily at the fire. The two Butlers were silent, and the dark
+face of Thayendanegea was overcast.
+
+A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a mile
+long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner that an enemy
+could attack only in front and on one flank, that flank itself being
+approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge which ran parallel to the
+river. The ground about the camp was covered with pine and scrub oaks.
+Many others had been cut down and added to the breastwork. A deep brook
+ran at the foot of the hill on which the leaders sat. About the slopes
+of this hill and another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian
+warriors, all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white
+allies, conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+Rangers. These men made but little noise now. They were resting and
+waiting.
+
+Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at the
+fire. He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said in his
+excellent English: “The king promised us that if we would take up arms
+for him against the Yankees, he would send a great army, many thousands,
+to help us. We believed him, and we took up the hatchet for him. We
+fought in the dark and the storm with Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many
+of our warriors fell. But we did not sulk in our lodges. We have ravaged
+and driven in the whole American border along a line of hundreds of
+miles. Now the Congress sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we
+have done, and the great forces of the king are not here. I have been
+across the sea; I have seen the mighty city of London and its people as
+numerous as the blades of grass. Why has not the king kept his promise
+and sent men enough to save the Iroquois?”
+
+Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the soul of
+the great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred. His penetrating mind saw the
+uplifted hand about to strike-and the target was his own people. His
+tone became bitterly sarcastic as he spoke, and when he ceased he looked
+directly at the baronet in a manner that showed a reply must be given.
+Sir John moved uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+
+“Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea,” he admitted, “but the king
+has many things to do. The war is spread over a vast area, and he must
+keep his largest armies in the East. But the Royal Greens, the Rangers,
+and all others whom we can raise, even in Canada, are here to help you.
+In the coming battle your fortunes are our fortunes.”
+
+Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased. His glance fell upon
+the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+
+“There are many in England itself,” he said, “who wish us harm, and who
+perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that we ought to
+have. They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of the torture and of
+the slaughter of women and children, and they say that war must not
+be carried on in such a way. But there are some among us who are more
+savage than the savages themselves, as they call us. It was you, John
+Butler, who led at Wyoming, and it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed
+the women and children to be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would
+have been slain there had I not, come up in time.”
+
+The dark face of “Indian” Butler grew darker, and the pallid face of
+his son grew more pallid. Both were angry, and at the same time a little
+afraid.
+
+“We won at Wyoming in fair battle,” said the elder Butler.
+
+“But afterwards?” said Thayendanegea.
+
+The man was silent.
+
+“It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians against us,”
+ continued Thayendanegea. “It is because of them that the commander of
+the Bostonians has sent a great army, and the Long House is threatened
+with destruction.”
+
+“My son and I have fought for our common cause,” said “Indian” Butler,
+the blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+
+Sir John Johnson interfered.
+
+“We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois,” he said, calling
+the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name, “but I and my
+brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain Butler have already lost
+though we may regain. And with this strong position and the aid of
+ambush it is likely that we can defeat the rebels.”
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long
+embankment, the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors scattered
+numerously here and there.
+
+“You may be right, Sir John,” he said; “yes, I think you are right,
+and by all the gods, red and white, we shall see. I wish to fight here,
+because this is the best place in which to meet the Bostonians. What say
+you, Timmendiquas, sworn brother of mine, great warrior and great chief
+of the Wyandots, the bravest of all the western nations?”
+
+The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was sonorous,
+and his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to hear.
+
+“If we fight--and we must fight--this is the place in which to meet the
+white army,” he said. “The Wyandots are here to help the Iroquois, as
+the Iroquois would go to help them. The Manitou of the Wyandots, the
+Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end.”
+
+He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he said no
+more. All regarded him with respect and admiration. Even Braxton Wyatt
+felt that it was a noble deed to remain and face destruction for the
+sake of tribes not his own.
+
+Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the while in
+silence.
+
+“You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt,” he said. “What further
+information can you give us?”
+
+“We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow,” replied Wyatt, “and the
+American army is advancing cautiously. It has out strong flanking
+parties, and it is preceded by the scouts, those Kentuckians whom I know
+and have met often, Murphy, Elerson, Heemskerk, and the others.”
+
+“If we could only lead them into an ambush,” said Sir John. “Any kind
+of troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before an unseen foe
+pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep woods. Then they magnify
+the enemy tenfold.”
+
+“It is so,” said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. “When we killed
+Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors stood in the
+moccasins of only one.”
+
+Sir John frowned. He did not like this allusion to the time when the
+Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a great
+defeat. But he feared to rebuke the old chief. Hiokatoo and the Senecas
+were too important.
+
+“There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade,” he said. “The foliage
+is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is not used to
+forest warfare. What say you to this, Wyatt?”
+
+Wyatt shook his head. He knew the caliber of the five from Kentucky, and
+he had little hope of such good fortune.
+
+“They have learned from many lessons,” he replied, “and their scouts are
+the best. Moreover, they will attempt anything.”
+
+They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the renegade
+roved about the dark circle of trees and warriors that inclosed them.
+Presently he saw something that caused him to rise and walk a little
+distance from the fire. Although his eye suspected and his mind
+confirmed, Braxton Wyatt could not believe that it was true. It was
+incredible. No one, be he ever so daring, would dare such a thing. But
+the figure down there among the trees, passing about among the warriors,
+many of whom did not know one another, certainly looked familiar,
+despite the Indian paint and garb. Only that of Timmendiquas could rival
+it in height and nobility. These were facts that could not be hidden by
+any disguise.
+
+“What is it, Wyatt?” asked Sir John. “What do you see? Why do you look
+so startled?”
+
+Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+
+“There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not
+seen here before,” he replied, “he is as tall and as powerful as
+Timmendiquas, and there is only one such. There is a spy among us, and
+it is Henry Ware.”
+
+He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the
+flitting figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and the
+warriors.
+
+“What do you say?” exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, “a spy,
+and you know him to be such!”
+
+“Yes, he is the worst of them all,” replied Wyatt. “I know him. I could
+not mistake him. But he has dared too much. He cannot get away.”
+
+The great camp was now in an uproar. The tall figure was seen here and
+there, always to vanish quickly. Twenty shots were fired at it. None
+hit. Many more would have been fired, but the camp was too much crowded
+to take such a risk. Every moment the tumult and confusion increased,
+but Thayendanegea quickly posted warriors on the embankment and
+the flanks, to prevent the escape of the fugitive in any of those
+directions.
+
+But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. It was
+next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving to strike with
+a tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great force. The next instant
+the figure leaped far out into the stream. The moonlight glimmered an
+instant on the bare head, while bullets the next moment pattered on the
+water where it had been. Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger
+reclaimed the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods
+with more vain bullets flying about him. But he sent back a shout of
+irony and triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the bank
+bite their lips in anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+
+
+Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a
+trumpet awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henry was
+standing beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's excitement,
+danger, and escape, but his face was flushed and his eyes sparkled.
+
+“Up, Paul! Up!” he cried. “We know the enemy's position, and we will be
+in battle before another sun sets.”
+
+Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on his feet,
+rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great attack. He, like all
+the others, had slept on such a night fully dressed. Shif'less Sol, Long
+Jim, Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the rest were by the side of him, and
+all about them rose the sounds of an army going into battle, commands
+sharp and short, the rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of
+bayonets, the clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of
+men talking in half-finished sentences.
+
+It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was the first time
+that they had ever beheld a large and regular army going into action,
+and they were a part of it, a part by no means unimportant. It was
+Henry, with his consummate skill and daring, who had uncovered the
+position of the enemy, and now, without snatching a moment's sleep, he
+was ready to lead where the fray might be thickest.
+
+The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and the
+army began to move through the thick forest. A light wind, crisp with
+the air of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. The sun, swinging
+upward in the east, poured down a flood of brilliant rays that lighted
+up everything, the buff and blue uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the
+bayonets, and the forest, still heavy with foliage.
+
+“Now! now!” thought every one of the five, “we begin the vengeance for
+Wyoming!”
+
+The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the thickets
+for the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so terribly. As Braxton
+Wyatt had truly said, these scouts were the best in the world. Nothing
+could escape the trained eyes of Henry Ware and his comrades, and those
+of Murphy, Ellerson, and the others, while off on either flank of the
+army heavy detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement.
+They saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deep silence in
+front of them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its golden light down
+upon the army in such an intense, vivid flood that rifle barrels and
+bayonets gave back a metallic gleam. All around them the deep woods
+swayed and rustled before the light breeze, and now and then they caught
+glimpses of the river, its surface now gold, then silver, under the
+shining sun.
+
+Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, but he had
+seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he could not keep
+down the desire to see punishment. It is only those in sheltered homes
+who can forgive the tomahawk and the stake. Now he was the very first of
+the scouts, although his comrades and a dozen others were close behind
+him.
+
+The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them by the
+forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and the sound of
+commands.
+
+Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankment ran, and
+he knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by timber. They
+were not far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded very slowly, examining
+every tree and clump of bushes to see whether a lurking enemy was hidden
+there. The silence endured longer than he had thought. Nothing could be
+seen in front save the waving forest.
+
+Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown shoulder's edge
+showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all the scouts sank to the
+ground.
+
+The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle, whistled over
+their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loud at such a time, came
+back from the forest in many echoes, and a light puff of smoke arose.
+Quick as a flash, before the brown shoulder and body exposed to take aim
+could be withdrawn, Tom Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his
+death yell. The Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a
+war whoop, fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and
+before it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in
+tremendous volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout that had
+often appalled the bravest, but the little band of scouts were not
+afraid. When its last echo died they sent forth a fierce, defiant note
+of their own, and, crawling forward, began to send in their bullets.
+
+The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers, who
+replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line through the
+undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of smoke arose and,
+uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed. Twigs and bark fell, and
+now and then a man, as they fought from tree to tree. Henry caught one
+glimpse of a face that was white, that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought
+a shot at the renegade leader, but he could not get it. But the scouts
+pushed on, and the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on
+the flanks they began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of the
+army were in action, but the main body still advanced without firing a
+shot.
+
+The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and rifle
+pits, and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and Tory
+skirmishers leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge with their
+army. Then they turned back and saw the long line of their own army
+steadily advancing, while the sounds of heavy firing still continued on
+both flanks. Henry looked proudly at the unbroken array, the front of
+steel, and the cannon. He felt prouder still when the general turned to
+him and said:
+
+“You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
+lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of
+the rifles shall talk.”
+
+The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest
+of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there
+among the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.
+
+Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
+waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
+be thickest.
+
+The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
+and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells,
+new and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
+position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in
+a curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
+followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
+aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+like cry came back.
+
+
+Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.
+
+“That's the medicine!” he cried. “I wonder how you like that, you
+Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your
+scalp-taking crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!”
+
+The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
+the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower
+of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short,
+and the whoop hurt no one.
+
+The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision,
+while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
+engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
+his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
+from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
+bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field.
+They could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork,
+the dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by
+shell and shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the
+great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men,
+and striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
+bullets at close quarters, but more terrifying.
+
+Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian camp,
+creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance to shoot down
+the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watching them.
+
+“Come, boys,” exclaimed Henry. “Here's work for us now.”
+
+He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the skirmishers,
+who were soon driven in again. The artillery fire had never ceased for a
+moment, the shells and balls passing over their heads. Their work done,
+the sharpshooters fell back again, the gunners worked faster for a
+while, and then at a command they ceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all
+the others knew instinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in
+every bone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+
+“Now!” Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment the order was
+given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke floating away for
+the moment and the sun flashing off the bayonets. The five sprang up
+and rushed on ahead. A sheet of flame burst from the embankment, and the
+rifle pits sprang into fire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past
+them, and the sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never
+ceased to rush straight for the embankment.
+
+It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. There was
+one continuous flash from the earthwork, and a continuous flash replied.
+The rifles were at work now, thousands of them, and they kept up an
+incessant crash, while above them rose the unbroken thunder of the
+cannon. The volume of smoke deepened, and it was shot through with the
+sharp, pungent odor of burned gunpowder.
+
+Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded, and
+fired again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had never
+ceased. It had not been checked even for a moment, and the bayonets of
+one of the regiments glittered in the sun a straight line of steel.
+
+Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was lowest.
+He saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he intended to strike
+if he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulating and shouting to his men to
+stand fast and drive back the charge. He believed even then, and he knew
+later, that Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were showing courage superior
+to that of the Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian
+allies. The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the
+Iroquois did not cease to send a stream of bullets from the earthwork.
+
+Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and closer.
+He saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he snapped his
+empty pistol at it. But it was hidden the next instant behind others,
+and then they were at the embankment. He saw the glowing faces of
+his comrades at his side, the singular figure of Heemskerk revolving
+swiftly, and behind them the line of bayonets closing in with the
+grimness of fate.
+
+Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him point blank, and
+he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then his comrades were by his
+side, and they leaped down into the Indian camp. After them came the
+riflemen, and then the line of bayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and
+the great Wyandot shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+
+Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
+had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
+of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown
+faces before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and
+there, shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that
+the battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best
+of the Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they
+fell back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest
+fighter, the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly
+Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who
+were most strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield,
+with its numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.
+They retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of
+bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+
+Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
+face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+
+“The victory is won already!” said he. “Now to drive it home!”
+
+“Come on,” cried Henry in return, “and we'll lead!”
+
+A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long
+Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed,
+and they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they
+now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down
+in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their
+bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled
+them to retreat anew.
+
+The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
+the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
+Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of
+their allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and
+white force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives
+from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics
+to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but
+the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
+their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the
+Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
+
+The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but
+the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army
+was driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
+confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
+the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere.
+The victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties
+that had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The
+Iroquois were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might
+be hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford.
+Uttering their cry of despair, “Oonali! Oonali!” a wail for a battle
+lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them throwing away their
+rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the
+Scouts and a body of riflemen were after them.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
+opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
+men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men
+in the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
+pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
+kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering
+fire over their heads.
+
+Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton
+Wyatt again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the
+riflemen, he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders
+were driven back. Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence,
+escaped among the thickets.
+
+The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Little
+groups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together
+enough men for an ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but
+they were pushed too hard and fast. A rally was always destroyed in the
+beginning, and the chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives. The
+pursuit was continued for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the
+army itself moved forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest
+on the trail of the flying Iroquois.
+
+The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close watch,
+nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then they exchanged shots with
+a band, but the Indians always fled quickly, and at last they stopped
+because they could no longer find any resistance. They had been in
+action or pursuit for many hours, and they were black with smoke, dust,
+and sweat, but they were not yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk
+drew a great red silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his
+glowing face, which was as red as the handkerchief.
+
+“It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a year,” he
+said. “The Iroquois have always thought they were invincible, and now
+the spell's been broke. If we only follow it up.”
+
+“That's sure to be done,” said Henry. “I heard General Sullivan himself
+say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois power.”
+
+They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps over
+the path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. They beheld a dead
+warrior at every step, and at intervals were rifles, tomahawks, scalping
+knives, blankets, and an occasional shot pouch or powder horn. Presently
+they reached the main army, which was going into camp for the night.
+Many camp fires were built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory,
+were getting ready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been
+told already that they were to march again in the morning.
+
+Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field of
+battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was now coming, and
+it was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets, and the trees were
+torn by cannon balls. Some tents raised by the Tories lay in ruins, and
+the earth was stained with many dark splotches. But the army had passed
+on, and it was silent and desolate where so many men had fought. The
+twilight drew swiftly on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome
+sounds. The wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done
+so much to turn into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they
+were telling it to one another. By and by, as the night deepened, the
+five saw fiery eyes in the thickets, and the long howls came again.
+
+“It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House,” said Paul,
+upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+
+The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush of victory
+in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoice over a fallen
+foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory, and none of them could
+wish any part of it undone. They returned slowly to the camp, and once
+more they heard behind them the howl of the wolves as they invaded the
+battlefield.
+
+They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp fires
+twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many men talking.
+Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+
+“Come, lads,” he said. “You must eat-you won't find out until you begin,
+how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we march early
+to-morrow, and we march fast.”
+
+The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food since morning;
+they had never thought of it, but now, with the relaxation from battle,
+they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+
+“It's mighty good,” said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and ate
+bread and meat and drank coffee, “but I'll say this for you, you old
+ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than the venison an'
+bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a time.”
+
+“An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more,” said Long Jim
+complacently.
+
+“But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo again,
+Jim,” said Henry. “We are going on a long campaign through the Iroquois
+country.”
+
+“An' it's shore to be a dangerous one,” said Shif'less Sol. “Men like
+warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one fight. They'll
+be hangin' on our flanks like wasps.”
+
+“That's true,” said Henry, “but in my opinion the Iroquois are
+overthrown forever. One defeat means more to them than a half dozen to
+us.”
+
+
+They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the fires.
+They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
+scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could
+not sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He
+watched the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth
+around the camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank
+to sleep. The fires which had formed a great core of light also sank,
+and the shadows crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing
+sentinels, rifle on shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves,
+attuned so long to great effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over
+him, and his eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the
+lowest murmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from the
+battlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirge of the
+Iroquois.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+
+
+The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose,
+refreshed, ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and
+breakfast was cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as
+all had eaten, the army marched, going northward and westward, intending
+to cut through the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come
+from the great commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had
+been so long such a terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be
+annihilated. They must be made strangers in their own country. Women and
+children were not to be molested, but their towns must perish.
+
+As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung,
+the power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the
+border did not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had
+promised them certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the
+promises would come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were
+fugitives in their own country.
+
+The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
+and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for
+a surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still
+lurked in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the
+bullets of ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible.
+Nothing could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory
+chiefs might plan.
+
+They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
+sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little danger of
+the latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at least, bring a
+sufficient force into the field. But after the moon had risen, the five,
+with Heemskerk, went ahead through the forest. The Iroquois town of
+Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the army would reach it on the morrow.
+It was the intention of the scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+
+It was near midnight when the little party drew near to Kanawaholla
+and watched it from the shelter of the forest. Like most other Iroquois
+towns, it contained wooden houses, and cultivated fields were about it.
+No smoke rose from any of the chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts
+saw loaded figures departing through a great field of ripe and waving
+corn. It was the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could
+carry. Two or three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives,
+but the scouts made no attempt to pursue. They could not restrain a
+little feeling of sympathy and pity, although a just retribution was
+coming.
+
+“If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the war, as
+we asked them,” said Heemskerk, “how much might have been spared to both
+sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a moment.”
+
+The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of the
+corn field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were taking a
+last look at their town, and the feeling of pity and sympathy deepened,
+despite Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the rest. But that feeling
+never extended to the white allies of the Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea
+characterized in word and in writing as “more savage than the savages
+themselves.”
+
+The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul was in
+Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken away, but that
+was all. Most of the houses were in disorder, showing the signs of hasty
+flight, but the town lay wholly at the mercy of the advancing army.
+Henry and his comrades withdrew with the news, and the next day, when
+the troops advanced, Kanawaholla was put to the torch. In an hour it was
+smoking ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+
+Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the Iroquois
+power under foot and laying waste the country. One after another
+the Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown, Kendaia,
+Kanadesaga, Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye, Kanaghsawa,
+Gathtsewarohare, and others, forming a long roll, bearing the sounding
+Iroquois names. Villages around Cayuga and other lakes were burned
+by detachments. The smoke of perishing towns arose everywhere in
+the Iroquois country, while the Iroquois themselves fled before the
+advancing army. They sent appeal after appeal for help from those to
+whom they had given so much help, but none came.
+
+It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold. The forests blazed
+with brilliant colors. The winds blew, leaves rustled and fell. The
+winter would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so proud of what they
+had achieved, would have to find what shelter they could in the forests
+or at the British posts on the Canadian frontier. Thayendanegea was
+destined to come again with bands of red men and white and inflict great
+loss, but the power of the Six Nations was overthrown forever, after
+four centuries of victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all
+the time in the thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched
+into the Genesee Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul, as
+they lay on their blankets one night, counted fires in three different
+directions, and every one of the three marked a perishing Indian
+village. It was not a work in which they took any delight; on the
+contrary, it often saddened them, but they felt that it had to be done,
+and they could not shirk the task.
+
+In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of scouts
+and riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in advance of the
+army. It was a democratic little band, everyone saying what he pleased,
+but yielding in the end to the authority of the leader. They were now
+far up the Genesee toward the Great Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of
+advancing ahead of the army on the great Seneca village known variously
+as the Seneca Castle and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full
+match in cruelty for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. Several causes
+led to this decision. It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+all the Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there. While not
+likely to be true about all, it was probably true about some of them,
+and a bold stroke might effect much.
+
+It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind. The renegade
+was in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he had developed
+great abilities as a partisan, being skillfully seconded by the squat
+Tory, Coleman. His reputation now was equal at least to that of Walter
+Butler, and he had skirmished more than once with the vanguard of the
+army. Growing in Henry's heart was a strong desire to match forces with
+him, and it was quite probable that a swift advance might find him at
+the Seneca Castle.
+
+The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late autumn. The
+night had been clear and cold, with a touch of winter in it, and
+the brilliant colors of the foliage had now turned to a solid brown.
+Whenever the wind blew, the leaves fell in showers. The sky was a fleecy
+blue, but over hills, valley, and forest hung a fine misty veil that is
+the mark of Indian summer. The land was nowhere inhabited. They saw
+the cabin of neither white man nor Indian. A desolation and a silence,
+brought by the great struggle, hung over everything. Many discerning
+eyes among the riflemen noted the beauty and fertility of the country,
+with its noble forests and rich meadows. At times they caught glimpses
+of the river, a clear stream sparkling under the sun.
+
+“Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in Kentucky,” said
+Shif'less Sol, “an' it seems to me I like one about ez well ez t'other.
+Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go back home? 'Pears to me that
+we're always goin' farther an' farther away.”
+
+Henry laughed.
+
+“It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us away,
+Sol,” he replied.
+
+“Then,” said the shiftless one with a resigned air, “I hope them same
+circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me gently, but
+strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest fur a lazy an'
+tired man like me.”
+
+“I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at least,” said
+Henry.
+
+The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were wholly
+irrelevant.
+
+“S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow night?” he
+asked.
+
+“It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely anxious
+for a fight,” Henry replied.
+
+“I try to be resigned,” said Shif'less Sol. But his eyes were sparkling
+with the light of battle.
+
+They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca Castle
+about ten miles ahead. Henry was quite sure that the Senecas to whom it
+belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with the aid of the other tribes
+might make a stand there. It was more than likely, too, that the Senecas
+had sharpshooters and sentinels well to the south of their town, and
+it behooved the riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a
+hornet's nest. Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind
+that searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their
+blankets.
+
+The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in the
+thickets. Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry. He had observed
+his young leader's face closely that day, and he had a mind of uncommon
+penetration.
+
+“Henry,” he whispered, “you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton Wyatt an'
+his band at Little Beard's town?”
+
+“That among other things,” replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+
+“That first, and the others afterwards,” persisted the shiftless one.
+
+“It may be so,” admitted Henry.
+
+“I feel the same way you do,” said Shif'less Sol. “You see, we've knowed
+Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that one who started out
+a boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. An' think uv all the cruel
+things that he's done an' helped to do. I ain't hidin' my feelin's. I'm
+jest itchin' to git at him.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “I'd like for our band to have it out with his.”
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that night,
+because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the following
+night, in view of an enterprise that he had in mind. The rosy Dutchman,
+Heemskerk, was in command of the guard, and he revolved continually
+about the camp with amazing ease, and with a footstep so light that it
+made no sound whatever. Now and then he came back in the thicket and
+looked down at the faces of the sleeping five from Kentucky. “Goot
+boys,” he murmured to himself. “Brave boys, to stay here and help. May
+they go through all our battles and take no harm. The goot and great God
+often watches over the brave.”
+
+Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to the new
+nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout man, despite a
+life of danger and hardship. The people of the woods do not lose faith,
+and he looked up at the dark skies as if he found encouragement there.
+Then he resumed his circle about the camp. He heard various noises-the
+hoot of an owl, the long whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of
+deer going down to the river to drink. But the sounds were all natural,
+made by the animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it.
+Once or twice he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to
+indicate the presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and beat up
+the woods, the night passed, eventless, away.
+
+They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw sure
+indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois evidently were
+not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. Henry had learned that
+this was one of the largest and strongest of all the Iroquois towns,
+containing between a hundred and two hundred wooden houses, and with a
+population likely to be swollen greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois
+towns already destroyed. The need of caution--great caution--was borne
+in upon him, and he paid good heed.
+
+The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about three
+miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry, according
+to his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross. He was
+resolved to find out more about this important town, and his enterprise
+was in full accord with his duties, chief among which was to save the
+vanguard of the army from ambush.
+
+When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the covert,
+and, after traveling a short distance through the forest, turned in
+toward the river. As the town lay on or near the river, Henry thought
+they might see some signs of Indian life on the stream, and from this
+they could proceed to discoveries.
+
+But when they first saw the river it was desolate. Not a canoe was
+moving on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the undergrowth,
+followed the bank toward the town. But the forest soon ceased, and they
+came upon a great field, where the Senecas had raised corn, and where
+stalks, stripped of their ears and browned by the autumn cold, were
+still standing. But all the work of planting, tending, and reaping this
+great field, like all the other work in all the Iroquois fields, had
+been done by the Iroquois women, not by the warriors.
+
+Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint lines
+of smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca Castle. The dry
+cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew across the field.
+
+“The stalks will make a little shelter,” said Henry, “and we must cross
+the field. We want to keep near the river.”
+
+“Lead on,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and
+bearing back toward the river. They crossed the field without being
+observed, and came into a thick fringe of trees and undergrowth along
+the river. They moved cautiously in this shelter for a rod or two,
+and then the three, without word from any one of them, stopped
+simultaneously. They heard in the water the unmistakable ripple made by
+a paddle, and then the sound of several more. They crept to the edge of
+the bank and crouched down among the bushes. Then they saw a singular
+procession.
+
+A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. They were
+in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. But the aspect of
+the little fleet was wholly different from that of an ordinary group
+of Iroquois war canoes. It was dark, somber, and funereal, and in
+every canoe, between the feet of the paddlers, lay a figure, stiff
+and impassive, the body of a chief slain in battle. It had all the
+appearance of a funeral procession, but the eyes of the three, as they
+roved over it, fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as
+they were to the strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+
+The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who half
+sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. Her long
+black hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered head. She wore a
+brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but it was stained and torn.
+The woman's whole attitude expressed grief, anger, and despair.
+
+“Queen Esther!” whispered Henry. The other two nodded.
+
+So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman at
+Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now. The picture of the
+great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound prisoners was still too
+vivid. She had several sons, one or two of whom were slain in battle
+with the colonists, and the body that lay in the boat may have been one
+of them. Henry always believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+
+As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and now she
+raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+
+“They're goin' to land,” whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it approached,
+a group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca chief, appeared
+among the trees, coming forward to meet them. The three in their covert
+crouched closer, interested so intensely that they were prepared to
+brave the danger in order to remain. But the absorption of the Iroquois
+in what they were about to do favored the three scouts.
+
+As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her
+crouching position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of grief,
+rage, and despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. It was
+fiercer than the cry of a wolf, and it came back from the dark forest in
+terrifying echoes.
+
+“It's not a woman, but a fiend,” whispered Henry; and, as before, his
+comrades nodded in assent.
+
+The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty that
+had once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was long since
+gone. Her white half of blood had been submerged years ago in her Indian
+half, and there was nothing now about her to remind one of civilization
+or of the French Governor General of Canada who was said to have been
+her father.
+
+The Iroquois stood respectfully before her. It was evident that she had
+lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power proceeding partly
+from her force and partly from superstition. As the bodies were brought
+ashore, one by one, and laid upon the ground, she uttered the long
+wailing cry again and again, and the others repeated it in a sort of
+chorus.
+
+When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the ground, and
+began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to interpret roughly
+to the others. She sang:
+
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory.
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could ever
+remember or translate. But every verse ended with the melancholy
+refrain: “Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!” which the
+others also repeated in chorus. Then the warriors lifted up the bodies,
+and they moved in procession toward the town. The three watched them,
+but they did not rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit
+trees. Then they stood up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of
+relief.
+
+“I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in,” said Shif'less Sol. “She
+gives me the creeps. She must be a witch huntin' for blood. She is shore
+to stir up the Iroquois in this town.”
+
+“That's true,” said Henry, “but I mean to go nearer.”
+
+“Wa'al,” said Tom Ross, “I reckon that if you mean it we mean it, too.”
+
+“There are certainly Tories in the town,” said Henry, “and if we are seen
+we can probably pass for them. I'm bound to find out what's here.”
+
+“Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I mean to know if he's here,” said Henry.
+
+“Lead on,” said the shiftless one.
+
+They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of sight,
+and entered the orchard. From that point they saw the houses and great
+numbers of Indians, including squaws and children, gathered in the open
+spaces, where the funeral train was passing. Queen Esther still stalked
+at its head, but her chant was now taken up by many scores of voices,
+and the volume of sound penetrated far in the night. Henry yet relied
+upon the absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him
+a chance for a good look through the town, and he and his comrades
+advanced with boldness.
+
+They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as their occupants had
+gone to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white men-a few
+of the Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other Tories, who were
+dressed much like Henry and his comrades. One of them spoke to Shif'less
+Sol, who nodded carelessly and passed by. The Tory seemed satisfied and
+went his way.
+
+“Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead o' the
+army,” said the shiftless one.
+
+Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. He
+saw that no preparations for defense had been made, and there was no
+evidence that any would be made. All was confusion and despair. Already
+some of the squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy burdens. The three
+coupled caution with boldness. If they met a Tory they merely exchanged
+a word or two, and passed swiftly on. Henry, although he had seen enough
+to know that the army could advance without hesitation, still pursued
+the quest. Shif'less Sol was right. At the bottom of Henry's heart was
+a desire to know whether Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a
+desire soon satisfied, as they reached the great Council House, turned a
+corner of it, and met the renegade face to face.
+
+Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he uttered
+a cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. There was no light
+but that of the moon, but he knew his foe in an instant.
+
+“Henry Ware!” he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+
+They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a
+weapon. Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching Wyatt on the
+jaw, and sending him down as if he had been shot. Shif'less Sol and Tom
+Ross ran bodily over Coleman, hurling him down, and leaping across his
+prostrate figure. Then they ran their utmost, knowing that their lives
+depended on speed and skill.
+
+They quickly put the Council House between them and their pursuers, and
+darted away among the houses. Braxton Wyatt was stunned, but he speedily
+regained his wits and his feet.
+
+“It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again!” he cried to his
+lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up. “Come, men! After
+them! After them!”
+
+A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they began a
+search among the houses. But it was hard to find the fugitives. The
+light was not good, many flitting figures were about, and the frantic
+search developed confusion. Other Tories were often mistaken for the
+three scouts, and were overhauled, much to their disgust and that of the
+overhaulers. Iroquois, drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join
+in the hunt, but Wyatt could give them little information. He had merely
+seen an enemy, and then the enemy had gone. It was quite certain that
+this enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+
+Henry and his comrades were crafty. Trained by ambush and escape, flight
+and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive their pursuers. When
+Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran around the Council House, a
+large and solid structure, and, finding a door on the opposite side and
+no one there or in sight from that point, they entered it, closing the
+door behind them.
+
+They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they made
+out the log wall of the great, single room which constituted the Council
+House. After that, with more accustomed eyes, they saw on the wall arms,
+pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some with long hair and some with
+short. The hair was usually blonde, and most of the scalps had been
+stretched tight over little hoops. Henry clenched his fist in the
+darkness.
+
+“Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I don't think so,” said Henry. “At any rate they'd find us if we were
+rushing about the village. Here we at least have a chance.”
+
+At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes, and the
+three sat down behind them in the very heart of the Iroquois sanctuary.
+Should anyone casually enter the Council House they would still be
+hidden. They sat in Turkish fashion on the floor, close together and
+with their rifles lying across their knees. A thin light filtered
+through a window and threw pallid streaks on the floor, which they could
+see when they peeped around the edge of the mats. But outside they
+heard very clearly the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the
+village. Shif'less Sol chuckled. It was very low, but it was a chuckle,
+nevertheless, and the others heard.
+
+“It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em,” said the shiftless one,
+“layin' here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're ragin' an'
+tearin' up the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. Gives me a mighty
+snug feelin', though, like the one you have when you're safe in a big
+log house, an' the wind an' the hail an' the snow are beatin' outside.”
+
+“You're shorely right, Sol,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Seems to me,” continued the irrepressible Sol, “that you did git in a
+good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all. Ain't he unhappy now, bitin' his
+fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? I feel real sorry,
+I do, fur Braxton. It's hard fur a nice young feller to have to suffer
+sech disappointments.”
+
+Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in the
+darkness. Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong. It would be a bitter blow
+to Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, it was pleasant where they sat. A hard floor
+was soft to them, and as they leaned against the wall they could relax
+and rest.
+
+“What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?” asked Tom Ross.
+
+“They won't have to think,” replied Henry. “They'll sit quiet as we're
+doing and wait.”
+
+The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops came
+from different points of the village. There were shrill cries of women
+and children, and the sound of many running feet. After a while it began
+to sink, and soon after that they heard no more noises than those of
+people preparing for flight. Henry felt sure that the town would be
+abandoned on the morrow, but his desire to come to close quarters with
+Braxton Wyatt was as strong as ever. It was certain that the army could
+not overtake Wyatt's band, but he might match his own against it. He was
+thinking of making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their
+great amazement, they heard the door of the Council House open and shut,
+and then footsteps inside.
+
+Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky figures
+near the window.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINAL FIGHT
+
+
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and the
+three would have recognized those figures anywhere. The taller was
+Timmendiquas, the other Thayendanegea. The thin light from the window
+fell upon their faces, and Henry saw that both were sad. Haughty and
+proud they were still, but each bore the look that comes only from
+continued defeat and great disappointment. It is truth to say that
+the concealed three watched them with a curiosity so intense that
+all thought of their own risk was forgotten. To Henry, as well as his
+comrades, these two were the greatest of all Indian chiefs.
+
+The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the Mohawks
+stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window, taking a last
+look at the great Seneca Castle. It was Thayendanegea who spoke first,
+using Wyandot, which Henry understood.
+
+“Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots,” he said. “You have
+come far with your warriors, and you have been by our side in battle.
+The Six Nations owe you much. You have helped us in victory, and you
+have not deserted us in defeat. You are the greatest of warriors, the
+boldest in battle, and the most skillful.”
+
+Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went on:
+
+“I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots. We owe you much,
+and some day we may repay. Here the Bostonians crowd us hard, and the
+Mohawks may yet fight by your side to save your own hunting grounds.”
+
+“It is true,” said Timmendiquas. “There, too, we' must fight the
+Americans.”
+
+“Victory was long with us here,” said Thayendanegea, “but the rebels
+have at last brought an army against us, and the king who persuaded
+us to make war upon the Americans adds nothing to the help that he has
+given us already. Our white allies were the first to run at the Chemung,
+and now the Iroquois country, so large and so beautiful, is at the mercy
+of the invader. We perish. In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes.
+The American army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca
+Castle, the last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames.
+I know not how our people will live through the Winter that is yet to
+come. Aieroski has turned his face from us.”
+
+But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+
+“The Six Nations will regain their country,” he said. “The great
+League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so many
+generations, cannot be destroyed. All the tribes from here to the
+Mississippi will help, and will press down upon the settlements. I will
+return to stir them anew, and the British posts will give us arms and
+ammunition.”
+
+The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of Thayendanegea.
+
+“You raise my spirits again,” he said. “We flee now, but we shall come
+back again. The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit. We will ravage all
+their settlements, and burn and destroy. We will make a wilderness where
+they have been. The king and his men will yet give us more help.”
+
+Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding Thayendanegea
+was long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had refused the requested
+neutrality, had lost their Country forever, save such portions as the
+victor in the end chose to offer to them.
+
+“And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I give
+you a last farewell,” said Thayendanegea.
+
+The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the white
+man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House, shutting the
+door behind him. Thayendanegea lingered a while at the window, and
+the look of sadness returned to his face. Henry could read many of the
+thoughts that were passing through the Mohawk's proud mind.
+
+Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the
+power and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory of
+the Iroquois, of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by Sir
+John Johnson, the half brother of the children of Molly Brant,
+Thayendanegea's own sister, of the Butlers and all the others who had
+said that the rebels would be easy to conquer. He knew better now,
+he had long known better, ever since that dreadful battle in the dark
+defile of the Oriskany, when the Palatine Germans, with old Herkimer at
+their head, beat the Tories, the English, and the Iroquois, and made the
+taking of Burgoyne possible. The Indian chieftain was a statesman,
+and it may be that from this moment he saw that the cause of both the
+Iroquois and their white allies was doomed. Presently Thayendanegea left
+the window, walking slowly toward the door. He paused there a moment or
+two, and then went out, closing it behind him, as Timmendiquas had done.
+The three did not speak until several minutes after he had gone.
+
+“I don't believe,” said Henry, “that either of them thinks, despite
+their brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back again.”
+
+“Serves 'em right,” said Tom Ross. “I remember what I saw at Wyoming.”
+
+“Whether they kin do it or not,” said the practical Sol, “it's time for
+us to git out o' here, an' go back to our men.”
+
+“True words, Sol,” said Henry, “and we'll go.”
+
+Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened
+slightly, they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. The
+preparations for departure had probably ceased until morning. Forth
+stole the three, passing swiftly among the houses, going, with silent
+foot toward the orchard. An old squaw, carrying a bundle from a house,
+saw them, looked sharply into their faces, and knew them to be white.
+She threw down her bundle with a fierce, shrill scream, and ran,
+repeating the scream as she ran.
+
+Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. Wyatt
+caught a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on each side,
+running toward the orchard, and he knew it. Hate and the hope to capture
+or kill swelled afresh. He put a whistle to his lip and blew shrilly.
+It was a signal to his band, and they came from every point, leading the
+pursuit.
+
+Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt who had
+made the sound. A single glance backward confirmed him. He knew Wyatt's
+figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark mass with him was
+certainly composed of his own men. The other Indians and Tories, in
+all likelihood, would turn back soon, and that fact would give him the
+chance he wished.
+
+They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the orchard,
+and Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at once.
+
+“We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark,” he said.
+
+“We don't want to dodge 'em,” said Henry.
+
+The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's face he
+understood.
+
+“You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?” he said.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+“Glad you thought uv it,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They crossed the very corn field through which they had come, Braxton
+Wyatt and his band in full cry after them. Several shots were fired, but
+the three kept too far ahead for any sort of marksmanship, and they were
+not touched. When they finally entered the woods they curved a little,
+and then, keeping just far enough ahead to be within sight, but not
+close enough for the bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of
+the riflemen. As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered
+the long shout of the forest runner. He shouted a second time, and
+now Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry
+penetrating far through the woods.
+
+Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and Tories
+suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never knew, but the
+pursuit came on with undiminished speed. There was a good silver moon
+now, shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt still in the van, with
+his Tory lieutenant close behind, and after them red men and white,
+spreading out like a fan to inclose the fugitives in a trap. The blood
+leaped in his veins. It was a tide of fierce joy. He had achieved both
+of the purposes for which he had come. He had thoroughly scouted the
+Seneca Castle, and he was about to come to close quarters with Braxton
+Wyatt and the band which he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+
+Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was startled.
+He had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute, and so pitiless. He
+seemed to remember as one single, fearful picture all the ruthless and
+terrible scenes of the last year. Henry uttered again that cry which was
+at once a defiance and a signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was
+answered, signal for signal. The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim,
+and Heemskerk at their head. They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw the
+flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them. From the Indians
+and Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and every one in either
+band knew that the issue was now about to be settled by battle, and
+by battle alone. They used all the tactics of the forest. Both sides
+instantly dropped down among the trees and undergrowth, three or four
+hundred yards apart, and for a few moments there was no sound save heavy
+breathing, heard only by those who lay close by. Not a single human
+being would have been visible to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight,
+which tipped boughs and bushes with ghostly silver. Yet no area so small
+ever held a greater store of resolution and deadly animosity. On one
+side were the riflemen, nearly every one of whom had slaughtered kin to
+mourn, often wives and little children, and on the other the Tories and
+Iroquois, about to lose their country, and swayed by the utmost passions
+of hate and revenge.
+
+“Spread out,” whispered Henry. “Don't give them a chance to flank us.
+You, Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you, Heemskerk, take ten
+and go to the left.”
+
+“It is well,” whispered Heemskerk. “You have a great head, Mynheer
+Henry.”
+
+Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen remained
+in the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim on one side of
+him, and Silent Tom on the other. When he thought that the two flanking
+parties had reached the right position, he uttered a low whistle, and
+back came two low whistles, signals that all was ready. Then the line
+began its slow advance, creeping forward from tree to tree and from
+bush to bush. Henry raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see
+anything where the hostile force lay hidden. They went a little farther,
+and then all lay down again to look.
+
+Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. He was
+almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling himself along by a
+sort of muscular action of his whole body. Now he was so still that
+he did not seem to breathe. Yet his eyes, uncommonly eager now, were
+searching the thickets ahead. They rested at last on a spot of brown
+showing through some bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure
+aim. The Iroquois uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and
+then fell back prone. Shots were fired in return, and a dozen riflemen
+replied to them. The battle was joined.
+
+They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of the
+Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack of the
+rifles. The riflemen continued to advance in slow, creeping fashion,
+always pressing the enemy. Every time they caught sight of a hostile
+face or body they sent a bullet at it, and Wyatt's men did the same. The
+two lines came closer, and all along each there were many sharp little
+jets of fire and smoke. Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two
+were slain, dying quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who
+continued to press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+
+This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a moment, and
+which was now without the sound of voices, continued without a moment's
+cessation in the dark forest. The fury of the combatants increased as
+the time went on, and neither side was yet victorious. Closer and closer
+came the lines. Meanwhile dark clouds were piling in a bank in the
+southwest. Slow thunder rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at
+intervals by lightning. But the combatants did not notice the heralds of
+storm. Their attention was only for each other.
+
+It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had culminated.
+Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his pitiless resolve
+was not relaxed a particle. The thunder and the lightning, although he
+did not notice them, seemed to act upon him as an incitement, and with
+low words he continually urged those about him to push the battle.
+
+Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver on
+boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire, pressed
+down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees, and the moon was
+partly hidden. But file combat did not relax because of the obscurity.
+Wandering Indians, hearing the firing, came to Wyatt's relief, but,
+despite their aid, he was compelled to give ground. His were the most
+desperate and hardened men, red and white, in all the allied forces, but
+they were faced by sharpshooters better than themselves. Many of them
+were already killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and
+Coleman raged and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so
+hard pressed were they that the Iroquois could not perform the sacred
+duty of carrying off their dead. No one sought to carry away the Tories,
+who lay with the rain, that had now begun to fall, beating upon them.
+
+So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point where
+bodies of their enemies lay. Again that fierce joy surged up in Henry's
+heart. His friends and he were winning. But he wished to do more than
+win. This band, if left alone, would merely flee from the Seneca Castle
+before the advance of the army, and would still exist to ravage and slay
+elsewhere.
+
+“Keep on, Tom! Keep on!” he cried to Ross and the others. “Never let
+them rest!”
+
+“We won't! We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing,” replied the
+redoubtable one as he loaded and fired. “Thar, I got another!”
+
+The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way faster.
+Some sought to dart away to right or left, and bury themselves in the
+forest, but they were caught by the flanking parties of Shif'less Sol
+and Heemskerk, and driven back on the center. They could not retreat
+except straight on the town, and the riflemen followed them step for
+step. The moan of the distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell,
+but the deadly crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note
+that claimed the whole attention of both combatants.
+
+It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help. Twenty or more
+scouts and others abroad in the forest were called by the rifle fire,
+and went at once into the battle. Then Wyatt was helped a second time by
+a band of Senecas and Mohawks, but, despite all the aid, they could not
+withstand the riflemen. Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to
+them and sometimes cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat
+could not be stopped. Men fell fast. Every one of the riflemen was a
+sharpshooter, and few bullets missed.
+
+Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field through
+which Henry had passed. Here the retreat became faster, and, with shouts
+of triumph, the riflemen followed after. Wyatt lost some men in the
+flight through the field, but when he came to the orchard, having the
+advantage of cover, he made another desperate stand.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks, pouring in
+a destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth of his band, all
+that survived, broke into a run for the town.
+
+The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was impossible
+to restrain their pursuit. Henry would have stopped here, knowing the
+danger of following into the town, especially when the army was near at
+band with an irresistible force, but he could not stay them. He decided
+then that if they would charge it must be done with the utmost fire and
+spirit.
+
+“On, men! On!” he cried. “Give them no chance to take cover.”
+
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties, and
+the riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of pursuit. Wyatt
+and his men had no chance to turn and fire, or even to reload. Bullets
+beat upon them as they fled, and here perished nearly all of that savage
+band. Wyatt, Coleman, and only a half dozen made good the town, where
+a portion of the Iroquois who had not yet fled received them. But the
+exultant riflemen did not stop even there. They were hot on the heels of
+Wyatt and the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who came to
+their relief. So fierce was their rush that these new forces were driven
+back at once. Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a dozen more, seeing no other
+escape, fled to a large log house used as a granary, threw themselves
+into it, barred the doors heavily, and began to fire from the upper
+windows, small openings usually closed with boards. Other Indians from
+the covert of house, tepee, or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a
+fresh battle began in the town.
+
+The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation promptly.
+Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into a house some
+forty yards from that of Braxton Wyatt. Others seized another house,
+while the rest remained outside, sheltered by little outhouses, trees,
+or inequalities of the earth, and maintained rapid sharpshooting in
+reply to the Iroquois in the town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the
+house. Now the combat became fiercer than ever. The warriors uttered
+yells, and Wyatt's men in the house sent forth defiant shouts. From
+another part of the town came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on
+their fighting men.
+
+It was now about four o'clock in the morning. The thunder and lightning
+had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling. The Indians had lighted
+fires some distance away. Several carried torches. Helped by these, and,
+used so long to the night, the combatants saw distinctly. The five lay
+behind a low embankment, and they paid their whole attention to the big
+house that sheltered Wyatt and his men. On the sides and behind they
+were protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+
+“Keep low, Paul,” said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. “Those
+fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose you. There,
+didn't I tell you!”
+
+A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's cap, but
+clipped only his hair. Before the flash from the window passed, Long Jim
+fired in return, and something fell back inside. Bullets came from other
+windows. Shif'less Sol fired, and a Seneca fell forward banging half out
+of the window, his naked body a glistening brown in the firelight. But
+he hung only a few seconds. Then he fell to the ground and lay still.
+The five crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity. Behind them, and
+on either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and challenging
+cries.
+
+Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were still
+alive in the strong log house. Two or three were wounded, but they
+scarcely noticed it in the passion of conflict. The house was a
+veritable fortress, and the renegade's hopes rose high as he heard
+the rifle fire from different parts of the town. His own band had been
+annihilated by the riflemen, led by Henry Ware, but he had a sanguine
+hope now that his enemies had rushed into a trap. The Iroquois would
+turn back and destroy them.
+
+Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they crouched in
+the room and fired from the two little windows. His clothes and those
+of the white men had been torn by bushes and briars in their flight, and
+their faces had been raked, too, until they bled, but they had paid
+no attention to such wounds, and the blood was mingled with sweat and
+powder smoke. The Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion,
+and streaked, too, with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the
+muz'zles of their rifles at the windows, seeking something human to
+kill. One and all, red and white, they were now raging savages, There
+was not one among them who did not have some foul murder of woman or
+child to his credit.
+
+Wyatt himself was mad for revenge. Every evil passion in him was up and
+leaping. His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than a human being,
+blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black. By the side of him the
+dark Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses fully as fierce.
+
+“To think of it!” exclaimed Wyatt. “He led us directly into a trap, that
+Ware! And here our band is destroyed! All the good men that we gathered
+together, except these few, are killed!”
+
+“But we may pay them back,” said Coleman. “We were in their trap, but
+now they are in ours! Listen to that firing and the war whoop! There are
+enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill every one of those rebels!”
+
+“I hope so! I believe so!” exclaimed Wyatt. “Look out, Coleman! Ah, he's
+pinked you! That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and he's the best
+sharpshooter of them all except Ware!”
+
+Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a good
+aim at something. He had disclosed only a little of his face, but in an
+instant a bullet had seared his forehead like the flaming stroke of a
+sword, passing on and burying itself in the wall. Fresh blood dripped
+down over his face. He tore a strip from the inside of his coat, bound
+it about his head, and went on with the defense.
+
+A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window. Like a flash
+came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the room, stone dead,
+with a bullet through his bead.
+
+“That was Ware himself,” said Wyatt. “I told you he was the best shot of
+them all. I give him that credit. But they're all good. Look out!
+There goes another of our men! It was Ross who did that! I tell you, be
+careful! Be careful!”
+
+It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head on the
+window sill until another Indian pulled him inside. A minute later a
+Tory, who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a bullet through his
+head, and sank down on the floor. A sort of terror spread among the
+others. What could they do in the face of such terrible sharpshooting?
+It was uncanny, almost superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one
+another. Smoke from their own firing had gathered in the room, and it
+formed a ghastly veil about their faces. They heard the crash of the
+rifles outside from every point, but no help came to them.
+
+“We're bound to do something!” exclaimed Wyatt. “Here you, Jones, stick
+up the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it I'll put a bullet in
+the man who pulls the trigger.”
+
+Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be taken
+in by an old trick. The cap remained unhurt, but when Jones in his
+eagerness thrust it higher until he exposed his arm, his wrist was
+smashed in an instant by a bullet, and he fell back with a howl of pain.
+Wyatt swore and bit his lips savagely. He and all of them began to fear
+that they were in another and tighter trap, one from which there was no
+escape unless the Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that
+they could as yet see no sign. The sharpshooters held their place behind
+the embankment and the little outhouse, and so little as a finger, even,
+at the windows became a sure mark for their terrible bullets. A Seneca,
+seeking a new trial for a shot, received a bullet through the shoulder,
+and a Tory who followed him in the effort was slain outright.
+
+The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was coming.
+Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened into red and
+yellow. The beams reached the room where the beleaguered remains of
+Wyatt's band fought, but, mingling with the smoke, they gave a new and
+more ghastly tint to the desperate faces.
+
+“We've got to fight!” exclaimed Wyatt. “We can't sit here and be taken
+like beasts in a trap! Suppose we unbar the doors below and make a rush
+for it?”
+
+Coleman shook his head. “Every one of us would be killed within twenty
+yards,” he said.
+
+“Then the Iroquois must come back,” cried Wyatt. “Where is Joe Brant?
+Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John Johnson? Will
+they come?”
+
+“They won't come,” said Coleman.
+
+They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which swayed
+hither and thither. The smoke in the room thinned somewhat, and the
+daylight broadened and deepened. As a desperate resort they resumed fire
+from the windows, but three more of their number were slain, and, bitter
+with chagrin, they crouched once more on the floor out of range. Wyatt
+looked at the figures of the living and the dead. Savage despair tore at
+his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this increased.
+It was being served out to him and his band as they had served it out
+to many a defenseless family in the beautiful valleys of the border.
+Despite the sharpshooters, he took another look at the window, but kept
+so far back that there was no chance for a shot.
+
+“Two of them are slipping away,” he exclaimed. “They are Ross and the
+one they call Long Jim! I wish I dared a shot! Now they're gone!”
+
+They lay again in silence for a time. There was still firing in
+the town, and now and then they heard shouts. Wyatt looked at his
+lieutenant, and his lieutenant looked at him.
+
+“Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw,” said Wyatt.
+
+“I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine,” said Coleman.
+
+The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed faces of
+each other, and then laughed wildly. A wounded Seneca sitting with his
+back against the wall began to chant a low, wailing death song.
+
+“Shut up! Stop that infernal noise!” exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+
+The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued his
+chant. Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. He knew
+that everything was lost. The main force of the Iroquois would not
+come back to his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. He sat down on the
+floor, and muttered fierce words under his breath.
+
+“Hark!” suddenly exclaimed Coleman. “What is that?”
+
+A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+instantly. It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood, and of
+that wood was built the house they now held. Even as they listened they
+could hear the flames leap and roar into new and larger life.
+
+“This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!” exclaimed Wyatt.
+“We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in our trap!”
+
+“Not I,” said Coleman, “I'm goin' to make a rush for it.”
+
+“It's the only thing to be done,” said Wyatt. “Come, all of you that are
+left!”
+
+The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca,
+who sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant.
+Wyatt glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed
+down the stairs.
+
+The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were
+roaring. They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower
+of bullets met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up
+his arms, and fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the
+smaller men, and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the
+fire of his foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man
+whom he held was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he
+made the corner. In an instant he put the burning building between him
+and his pursuers, and ran as he had never run before in all his life,
+deadly fear putting wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom
+of a cannon, and he knew that the American army was entering the Seneca
+Castle. Ahead of him he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the
+woods, and behind him the burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping
+flames and sparks in myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO
+
+
+“We didn't get Wyatt,” said Henry, “but we did pretty well,
+nevertheless.”
+
+“That's so,” said Shif'less Sol. “Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
+hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I
+guess we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this
+morning's work.”
+
+“Never a doubt of it,” said Henry, “and here's the army now finishing up
+the task.”
+
+The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
+hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no
+part in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had
+been grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed.
+As they rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by
+so much material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes
+drifted over all the forest beyond the fields.
+
+All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
+British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
+already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for
+two or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its steps
+down the Genesee.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was finished.
+Kentucky was calling to them. They had no doubt that Braxton Wyatt, now
+that his band was destroyed, would return there, and he would surely
+be plotting more danger. It was their part to meet and defeat him. They
+wished, too, to see again the valley, the river, and the village in
+which their people had made their home, and they wished yet more to look
+upon the faces of these people.
+
+They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others of the
+riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant Dutchman and
+his comrades.
+
+“It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends,” said Heemskerk,
+“and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry; to you, Mynheer
+Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom; and to you, Mynheer
+Jim.”
+
+He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away to hide
+his emotion.
+
+The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. When
+they looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his hand to them.
+They waved in return, and then disappeared in the forest. It was a long
+journey to Pittsburgh, but they found it a pleasant one. It was yet
+deep autumn on the Pennsylvania hills, and the forest was glowing with
+scarlet and gold. The air was the very wine of life, and when they
+needed game it was there to be shot. As the cold weather hung off, they
+did not hurry, and they enjoyed the peace of the forest. They realized
+now that after their vast labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed
+a great rest, and they took it. It was singular, and perhaps not so
+singular, how their minds turned from battle, pursuit, and escape, to
+gentle things. A little brook or fountain pleased them. They admired the
+magnificent colors of the foliage, and lingered over the views from the
+low mountains. Doe and fawn fled from them, but without cause. At night
+they built splendid fires, and sat before them, while everyone in his
+turn told tales according to his nature or experience.
+
+They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at the point
+where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set sail down the
+Ohio. It was winter now, but in their stout caravel they did not care.
+They had ample supplies of all kinds, including ammunition, and their
+hearts were light when they swung into the middle of the Ohio and moved
+with its current.
+
+“Now for a great voyage,” said Paul, looking at the clear stream with
+sparkling eyes.
+
+“I wonder what it will bring to us,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“We shall see,” said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, by Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1078 ***
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Scouts of the Valley, by Joseph A. Altsheler
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
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+  </head>
+  <body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1078 ***</div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Joseph A. Altsheler
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE LONE CANOE
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        MYSTERIOUS HAND <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        HUT ON THE ISLET <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        RED CHIEFS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        IROQUOIS TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;CATHARINE
+        MONTOUR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        CHANGE OF TENANTS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;WYOMING
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        BLOODY ROCK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        MELANCHOLY FLIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        SHADES OF DEATH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        FOREST PAGE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        PURSUIT ON THE RIVER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV.
+        </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;"THE ALCOVE&rdquo; <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER
+        XVI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE FIRST BLOW <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017">
+        CHAPTER XVII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE DESERTED CABIN <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;HENRY'S SLIDE <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE SAFE RETURN
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A GLOOMY
+        COUNCIL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;BATTLE
+        OF THE CHEMUNG <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;LITTLE
+        BEARD'S TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        FINAL FIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;DOWN
+        THE OHIO <br /><br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. THE LONE CANOE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly up
+      one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and deep,
+      coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it lapped
+      the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and without
+      noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over
+      the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun,
+      which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft,
+      piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank, fell
+      directly upon the figure in the boat, as a hidden light illuminates a
+      great picture, while the rest is left in shadow. It was no common forest
+      runner who sat in the middle of the red beam. Yet a boy, in nothing but
+      years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that the strongest
+      man in the West might have envied. His rifle, with the stock carved
+      beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of the border, lay by his
+      side. He could bring the paddle into the boat, grasp the rifle, and carry
+      it to his shoulder with a single, continuous movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even would have
+      noticed, was an extraordinary vitality. He created in the minds of those
+      who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely every moment of his life.
+      Born and-bred in the forest, he was essentially its child, a perfect
+      physical being, trained by the utmost hardship and danger, and with every
+      faculty, mental and physical, in complete coordination. It is only by a
+      singular combination of time and place, and only once in millions of
+      chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light, and its
+      occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle, held it steady in
+      the current, while he listened. Every feature stood out in the glow, the
+      firm chin, the straight strong nose, the blue eyes, and the thick yellow
+      hair. The red blue, and yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned
+      deerskin flashed in the brilliant rays. He was the great picture of fact,
+      not of fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into the shadow.
+      His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern shore, where bushes
+      and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. It would have taken a keen eye
+      now to have seen either the canoe or its occupant, and Henry Ware paddled
+      slowly and without noise in the darkest heart of the shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the stream. Then
+      the red changed to pink. The pink, in its turn, faded, and the whole
+      surface of the river was somber gray, flowing between two lines of black
+      forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy. He swung a little farther
+      out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging boughs would not get in
+      his way, and continued his course with some increase of speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length of stroke
+      was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster, and the muscles on
+      his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were the play of a child. Henry
+      was in waters unknown to him. He had nothing more than hearsay upon which
+      to rely, and he used all the wilderness caution that he had acquired
+      through nature and training. He called into use every faculty of his
+      perfect physical being. His trained eyes continually pierced the darkness.
+      At times, he stopped and listened with ears that could hear the footfall
+      of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought report of anything unusual.
+      The river flowed with a soft, sighing sound. Now and then a wild creature
+      stirred in the forest, and once a deer came down to the margin to drink,
+      but this was the ordinary life of the woods, and he passed it by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He went on, hour after hour. The river narrowed. The banks grew higher and
+      rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the moon, flowed in a
+      somewhat swifter current. Henry gave a little stronger sweep to the
+      paddle, and the speed of the canoe was maintained. He still kept within
+      the shadow of the northern bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before the moon.
+      The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind came out of the
+      southwest. The touch of the air on, his face was damp. It was the token of
+      rain, and he felt that it would not be delayed long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the Monongahela.
+      Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might sink his frail canoe,
+      and he looked for a refuge. The river was widening again, and the banks
+      sank down until they were but little above the water. Presently he saw a
+      place that he knew would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and weeds
+      growing into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred yards or
+      more along the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it in
+      shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could scarcely see
+      the main stream of the river. The water where he came to rest was not more
+      than a foot deep, but he remained in the canoe, half reclining and
+      wrapping closely around himself and his rifle a beautiful blanket woven of
+      the tightest fiber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and his
+      shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to him, and he
+      awaited calmly whatever might come. Here and there were little spaces
+      among the leaves overhead, and through them he saw a moon, now almost
+      hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a sky that had grown dark and
+      somber. The last timid star had ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind was
+      wet and cold. He was glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner that
+      he was, he never traveled without it. Henry remained perfectly still. The
+      light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction of an inch. His
+      upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed through the leaves
+      grow darker and darker. The bushes about him were now bending before the
+      wind, which blew steadily from the south, and presently drops of rain
+      began to fall lightly on the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness, surrounded by
+      danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black midnight sky above him,
+      felt neither fear nor awe. Being what nature and circumstance had made
+      him, he was conscious, instead, of a deep sense of peace and comfort. He
+      was at ease, in a nest for the night, and there was only the remotest
+      possibility that the prying eye of an enemy would see him. The leaves
+      directly over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as he
+      heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof, that
+      soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled along the
+      southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a rain, not hard, but
+      cold and persistent, began to fall, coming straight down. Henry saw that
+      it might last all night, but he merely eased himself a little in the
+      canoe, drew the edges of the blanket around his chin, and let his eyelids
+      droop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but he did not
+      care. It could not penetrate the close fiber of the blanket, and the fur
+      cap drawn far down on his head met the blanket. Only his face was
+      uncovered, and when a cold drop fell upon it, it was to him, hardened by
+      forest life, cool and pleasant to the touch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the tendency to
+      sleep. It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with the body completely
+      relaxed, but with the senses alert. The wind ceased to blow, and the rain
+      came down straight with an even beat that was not unmusical. No other
+      sound was heard in the forest, as the ripple of the river at the edges was
+      merged into it. Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by and by, and,
+      laying the paddle across the boat in such a way that it sheltered his
+      face, he closed his eyes. In five minutes he would have been sleeping as
+      soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with a quick motion he
+      suddenly put the paddle aside and raised himself a little in the canoe,
+      while one hand slipped down under the folds of the blanket to the hammer
+      of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the river. He
+      heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a soft sound, long and
+      sighing, but regular. He listened, and then he knew it. It was made by
+      oars, many of them swung in unison, keeping admirable time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full of
+      Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would be abroad
+      upon these waters at such a time. He made no attempt to move. Where he lay
+      it was black as the darkest cave, and his cool judgment told him that
+      there was no need of flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently as he
+      looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a great war canoe
+      came into view. It contained at least twenty warriors, of what tribe he
+      could not tell, but they were wet, and they looked cold and miserable.
+      Soon they were opposite him, and he saw the outline of every figure. Scalp
+      locks drooped in the rain, and he knew that the warriors, hardy as they
+      might be, were suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned toward a
+      shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they beached it there. Then
+      all sprang out, drew it up on the land, and, after turning it over,
+      propped it up at an angle. When this was done they sat under it in a close
+      group, sheltered from the rain. They were using their great canoe as a
+      roof, after the habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little openings in
+      the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as they were all night,
+      but presently he saw a movement among them, and a little flash of light.
+      He understood it. They were trying to kindle a fire-with flint and steel,
+      under the shelter of the boat. He continued to watch them 'lazily and
+      without alarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light upon him
+      in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against the flame, and he
+      could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to tell to what tribe they
+      belonged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered in a
+      close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind, strove with flint
+      and steel. Sparks sprang up and went out, but Henry at last saw a little
+      blaze rise and cling to life. Then, fed with tinder and bark, it grew
+      under the roof made by the boat until it was ruddy and strong. The boat
+      was tilted farther back, and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled
+      cheerfully, while the flames leaped higher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the thick
+      blackness felt the influence of the fire, also. Its warmth was upon his
+      face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow light victorious
+      against the sodden background of the rain and dripping forest. The figures
+      of the warriors passed and repassed before the fire, and the boy in the
+      boat moved suddenly. His body was not shifted more than an inch, but his
+      surprise was great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly against the
+      red light. It was a splendid figure, young, much beyond the average
+      height, the erect and noble head crowned with the defiant scalplock, the
+      strong, slightly curved nose and the massive chin cut as clearly as if
+      they had been carved in copper. The man who had laid aside a wet blanket
+      was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play
+      on chest and shoulders as he moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy knew him. It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+      Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all the Western
+      chiefs. Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight of his old foe and
+      almost friend. As always, he felt admiration at the sight of the young
+      chief. It was not likely that he would ever behold such another
+      magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of significance.
+      The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry and his comrades in the
+      van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. Thence the arms, ammunition, and
+      other supplies were started on the overland journey for the American army,
+      but the five lingered before beginning the return to Kentucky. A rumor
+      came that the Indian alliance was spreading along the entire frontier,
+      both west and north. It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to fiery energy
+      by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the Iroquois, the
+      famous Six Nations. These warlike tribes were friendly with the Wyandots,
+      and the league would be a formidable danger to the Colonies, the full
+      strength of which was absorbed already in the great war.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol, and the
+      others. The return to Kentucky was postponed. They could be of greater
+      service here, and they plunged into the great woods to the north and, east
+      to see what might be stirring among the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry, as he looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had told the
+      truth. The great chief would not be on the fringe of the Iroquois country,
+      if he did not have such a plan, and he had the energy and ability to carry
+      it through. Henry shuddered at the thought of the tomahawk flashing along
+      every mile of a frontier so vast, and defended so thinly. He was glad in
+      every fiber that he and his comrades had remained to hang upon the Indian
+      hordes, and be heralds of their marches. In the forest a warning usually
+      meant the saving of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the trees
+      everywhere. But the big fire made an area of dry earth about it, and the
+      warriors replaced the long boat in the water. Then all but four or five of
+      them lay beside the coals and went to sleep. Timmendiquas was one of those
+      who remained awake, and Henry saw that he was in deep thought. He walked
+      back and forth much like a white man, and now and then he folded his hands
+      behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it. Henry could
+      guess what was in his mind. He would draw forth the full power of the Six
+      Nations, league them with the Indians of the great valley, and hurl them
+      all in one mass upon the frontier. He was planning now the means to the
+      end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the edge of
+      the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable that he would
+      conclude to search among them, but some accident, a chance, might happen,
+      and Henry began to feel a little alarm. Certainly, the coming of the day
+      would make his refuge insecure, and he resolved to slip away while it was
+      yet light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost caution,
+      because the slightest sound out of the common might arouse Timmendiquas to
+      the knowledge of a hostile presence. The canoe must make no plash in the
+      water. Gradually he unwrapped the blanket and tied it in a folded square
+      at his back. Then he took thought a few moments. The forest was so silent
+      now that he did not believe he could push the canoe through the bushes
+      without being heard. He would leave it there for use another day and go on
+      foot through the woods to his comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the bottom, and
+      then he remained still. The chief had paused in his restless walk back and
+      forth. Could it be possible that he had heard so slight a sound as that of
+      a human foot sinking softly into the water? Henry waited with his rifle
+      ready. If necessary he would fire, and then dart away among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his restless
+      pacing. If he had heard, he had passed it by as nothing, and Henry raised
+      the other foot out of the canoe. He was as delicate in his movement as a
+      surgeon mending the human eye, and he had full cause, as not eye alone,
+      but life as well, depended upon his success. Both feet now rested upon the
+      muddy bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher, his
+      features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk back and forth
+      before the flames. Henry took a final look at the lofty features,
+      contracted now into a frown, then began to wade among the bushes, pushing
+      his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of all. The
+      water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes to rustle as
+      he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and his feet were
+      about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged in the mud broke
+      under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the silence of the
+      night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
+      glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
+      which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
+      his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
+      resolved to know its nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the protecting
+      darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing and defiant,
+      a cry of a quality that could come only from a white throat. The warriors
+      would know it, and he intended for them to know it. Then, holding his
+      rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly away through the
+      black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came to his, the Indian
+      yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the night would not check
+      pursuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
+      places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
+      then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
+      grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
+      clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
+      dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
+      and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity of
+      Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness, but
+      the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
+      thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
+      under his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed its
+      regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He thought at
+      first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second thought
+      convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the thicket, he
+      saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking searchingly about
+      him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a different direction,
+      approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were of the party of
+      Timmendiquas. They had followed him in some manner, perhaps by chance, and
+      it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. Henry
+      realized that it was much lighter. Keen eyes under such a starry sky could
+      see much, and they might strike his trail. The fear quickly became fact.
+      One of the warriors, uttering a short cry, raised his head and beckoned to
+      the others. He had seen broken twigs or trampled grass, and Henry, knowing
+      that it was no time to hesitate, sprang from his covert. Two of the
+      warriors caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the bullets
+      cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that he was
+      lost to view in an instant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements of danger.
+      He was about to have another example of the tenacity and resource of the
+      great young chief of the Wyandots, and he felt a certain anger. He, did
+      not wish to be disturbed in his plans, he wished to rejoin his comrades
+      and move farther east toward the chosen lands of the Six Nations; instead,
+      he must spend precious moments running for his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends. He was too wise,
+      too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he curved away in a
+      course that would take him to the south of them. He glanced up and saw
+      that the heavens were lightening yet more. A thin gray color like a mist
+      was appearing in the east. It was the herald of day, and now the Indians
+      would be able to find his trail. But Henry was not afraid. His anger over
+      the loss of time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of his
+      moccasins making scarcely any noise as he passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no unusual incident. Thousands of such pursuits occurred in the
+      border life of our country, and were lost to the chronicler. For
+      generations they were almost a part of the daily life of the frontier, but
+      the present, while not out of the common in itself, had, uncommon phases.
+      It was the most splendid type of white life in all the wilderness that
+      fled, and the finest type of red life that followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward Timmendiquas. In
+      his place he would have done what he was doing. It was hard to give up
+      these great woods and beautiful lakes and rivers, and the wild life that
+      wild men lived and loved. There was so much chivalry in the boy's nature
+      that he could think of all these things while he fled to escape the
+      tomahawk or the stake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up came the sun. The gray light turned to silver, and then to red and
+      blazing gold. A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry of the pursuing
+      warriors, rose behind him. Henry turned his head for one look. He saw a
+      group of them poised for a moment on the crest of a low hill and outlined
+      against the broad flame in the east. He saw their scalp locks, the rifles
+      in their hands, and their bare chests shining bronze in the glow. Once
+      more he sent back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs, and then,
+      calling upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with a speed
+      that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to evade the
+      pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs, and wading in
+      brooks. He did not see the warriors again, but instinct warned him that
+      they were yet following. At long intervals he would rest for a quarter of
+      an hour or so among the bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the venison
+      that he always carried. Three hours later he came to the river again, and
+      swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern side. When
+      the twilight was falling once more he sat still in dense covert for a long
+      time. He neither saw nor heard a sign of human presence, and he was sure
+      now that the pursuit had failed. Without an effort he dismissed it from
+      his mind, ate a little more of the venison, and made his bed for the
+      night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the forest
+      was dry once more. As far as Henry could see it circled away on every
+      side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and beech, maple and elm
+      making a soft, sighing sound as they waved gently in the wind. It told
+      Henry of nothing but peace. He had eluded the pursuit, hence it was no
+      more. This was a great, friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe
+      him, and to receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year lay deep
+      upon the ground. He drew up enough of them for a soft bed, because now and
+      for the moment he was a forest sybarite. He was wise enough to take his
+      ease when he found it, knowing that it would pay his body to relax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and spread the
+      blanket over himself and the weapon. The twilight was gone, and the night,
+      dark and without stars, as he wished to see it, rolled up, fold after
+      fold, covering and hiding everything. He looked a little while at a
+      breadth of inky sky showing through the leaves, and then, free from
+      trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves, fell upon
+      his face. Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once more upon his back,
+      and looked about him. Nothing had come in the night to disturb him, no
+      enemy was near, and the morning sun was bright and beautiful. The venison
+      was exhausted, but he bathed his face in the brook and resumed his
+      journey, traveling with a long, swift stride that carried him at great
+      speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well, although
+      nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to him. The country
+      here was rougher than it usually is in the great valley to the west, and
+      as he advanced it became yet more broken, range after range of steep,
+      stony hills, with fertile but narrow little valleys between. He went on
+      without hesitation for at least two hours, and then stopping under a great
+      oak he uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating, carrying far
+      through the forest. A sound like an echo came back, but Henry knew that
+      instead of an echo it was a reply to his own signal. Then he advanced
+      boldly and swiftly and came to the edge of a snug little valley set deep
+      among rocks and trees like a bowl. He stopped behind the great trunk of a
+      beech, and looked into the valley with a smile of approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals that gave
+      forth no smoke. They appeared to be absorbed in some very pleasant task,
+      and a faint odor that came to Henry's nostrils filled him with agreeable
+      anticipations. He stepped forward boldly and called:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim, save that piece for me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that he had
+      toasted on a stick. Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his feet, Silent Tom
+      Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded him
+      keenly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot race,&rdquo; he
+      drawled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why do you think that?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. Reckon
+      that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Now, Jim, you've been holding that venison in
+      the air long enough. Give it to me, and after I've eaten it I'll tell you
+      all that I've been doing, and all that's been done to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in the circle
+      before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a powerful human
+      creature whose food had been more than scanty for at least two days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take another piece,&rdquo; said Long Jim, observing him with approval. &ldquo;Take
+      two pieces, take three, take the whole deer. I always like to see a hungry
+      man eat. It gives him sech satisfaction that I git a kind uv taste uv it
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
+      Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Boys, I've got a lot to tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has,&rdquo; continued Henry with emphasis, &ldquo;and I want to say to you boys
+      that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Timmendiquas!&rdquo; exclaimed the others together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No less a man than he,&rdquo; resumed Henry. &ldquo;I've looked upon his very face,
+      I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
+      pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you see
+      those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to continued
+      war,&rdquo; said Paul Cotter, &ldquo;and he will succeed. He is a mighty chief, and
+      his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet. I'm glad that
+      we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees and the Miamis;
+      I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some people out of the
+      way before the blow falls.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?&rdquo;
+       asked Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their name is as big as it sounds,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They are the
+      Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
+      used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south and
+      fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the league, as
+      a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard, formed the league
+      a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the grand sachem or high
+      priest of them all, but the head chief of the Mohawks is the leading war
+      chief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all these
+      tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
+      friendliness to Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to me,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
+      job ahead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we must make a most tremendous big effort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; agreed all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
+      remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on the
+      leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have something
+      worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but they always
+      came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of a famous
+      Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to the Americans
+      as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense animosity against
+      the white people, who encroached, every year, more and more upon the
+      Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of Timmendiquas,
+      and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater endeavor for the
+      undoing of the white man. What more likely than that they intended to
+      meet?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him. I remember
+      hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred miles to the east
+      of this point was a Long House or Council House of the Six Nations.
+      Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we must go, too. We must find out
+      where they intend to strike. What do you say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We go there!&rdquo; exclaimed four voices together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and the others rose with him. Saying
+      no more, he led toward the east, and the others followed him, also saying
+      no more. Separately every one of them was strong, brave, and resourceful,
+      but when the five were together they felt that they had the skill and
+      strength of twenty. The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored them after
+      the dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New Orleans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and bullet, and
+      they did not fear any task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy forest,
+      but often without undergrowth. They avoided the open spaces, preferring to
+      be seen of men, who were sure to be red men, as little as possible. Their
+      caution was well taken. They saw Indian signs, once a feather that had
+      fallen from a scalp lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a deer
+      recently thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it. The country
+      seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky. Small settlements, so they had
+      heard, were scattered at great distances through the forest, but they saw
+      none. There was no cabin smoke, no trail of the plow, just the woods and
+      the hills and the clear streams. Buffalo had never reached this region,
+      but deer were abundant, and they risked a shot to replenish their
+      supplies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula at the
+      confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. Henry judged
+      that they were well within the western range of the Six Nations, and they
+      cooked their deer meat over a smothered fire, nothing more than a few
+      coals among the leaves. When supper was over they arranged soft places for
+      themselves and their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose turn it was to
+      scout among the woods for a possible foe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be gone long, Jim,&rdquo; said Henry as he composed himself in a
+      comfortable position. &ldquo;A circle of a half mile about us will do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll not be gone more'n an hour,&rdquo; said Long Jim, picking up his rifle
+      confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not likely he'll see anything,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but I'd shorely like
+      to know what White Lightning is about. He must be terrible stirred up by
+      them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an' they say that Mohawk,
+      Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. They'll shorely make a heap of
+      trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But both of them are far from here just now,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we won't
+      bother about either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm under his
+      head and his blanket over his body. He had a remarkable capacity for
+      dismissing trouble or apprehension, and just then he was enjoying great
+      physical and mental peace. He looked through half closed eyes at his
+      comrades, who also were enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce
+      Long Jim in the forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and
+      finding no menace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;I like a clean,
+      bold country like this. No more plowin' around in swamps for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry sleepily, &ldquo;it's a good country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Time for Long Jim to be back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim don't do things by halves,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;Guess he's
+      beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes. He'll be here soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half hour, and
+      no sign of him. Henry cast off the blanket and stood up. The night was not
+      very dark and he could see some distance, but he did not see their
+      comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder why he's so slow,&rdquo; he said with a faint trace of anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll be 'long directly,&rdquo; said Tom Ross with confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim. Henry sent forth the low
+      penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a signal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He cannot fail to hear that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and he'll answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer came. The four looked at one another in alarm. Long Jim had been
+      gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue. His failure to reply to
+      the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened or that&mdash;he
+      had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think it means?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be all right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Mebbe Jim has lost the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Jim is too good a woodsman for such a mistake.
+      I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think something has
+      happened to Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suppose you an' me go an' look for him,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;while Paul
+      and Tom stay here an' keep house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd better do it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Come, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the darkness,
+      while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of the trees and
+      waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about the camp
+      in a great circle and then in another yet greater. They did not find Jim,
+      and the dusk was so great that they saw no evidences of his trail. Long
+      Jim had disappeared as completely as if he had left the earth for another
+      planet. When they felt that they must abandon the search for the time,
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a dismay that the dusk
+      could not hide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it,&rdquo; said the
+      shiftless one hopefully. &ldquo;If anything looked mysterious an' troublesome,
+      Jim would want to hunt it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we've got to go back to the camp now and
+      report failure. Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I don't like it, Sol,
+      I don't like it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No more do I,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;'Tain't like Jim not to come back, ef
+      he could. Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out of the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ain't seen him?&rdquo; said Tom, noting that but two figures had returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a trace,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;It's a singular thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The four talked together a little while, and they were far from cheerful.
+      Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch, sitting with his
+      back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. All the peace and content
+      that he had felt earlier in the evening were gone. He was oppressed by a
+      sense of danger, mysterious and powerful. It did not seem possible that
+      Long Jim could have gone away in such a noiseless manner, leaving no trace
+      behind. But it was true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an enemy. He
+      was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin figure coming among the
+      bushes, and then hear the old pleasant drawl. But he did not see the
+      figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches. Paul, Sol, and Tom
+      were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his life. He tried to put
+      away the feeling of mystery and danger. He assured himself that Long Jim
+      would soon come, delayed by some trail that he had sought to solve.
+      Nothing could have happened to a man so brave and skillful. His nerves
+      must be growing weak when he allowed himself to be troubled so much by a
+      delayed return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none of them.
+      The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but the light that it
+      threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. Henry's feeling of mystery and
+      danger deepened. Once he thought he heard a rustling in the thicket and,
+      finger on the trigger of his rifle, he stole among the bushes to discover
+      what caused it. He found nothing and, returning to his lonely watch, saw
+      that Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly. But Henry was annoyed
+      greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to trace its origin.
+      After an hour's watching he looked a second time. The result was once more
+      in vain, and he resumed his seat upon the leaves, with his back reclining
+      against an oak. Here, despite the fact that the night was growing darker,
+      nothing within range of a rifle shot could escape his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing stirred. The noise did not come a second time from the thicket.
+      The very silence was oppressive. There was no wind, not even a stray puff,
+      and the bushes never rustled. Henry longed for a noise of some kind to
+      break that terrible, oppressive silence. What he really wished to hear was
+      the soft crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. Long Jim
+      was still missing and their alarm was justified. Whatever trail lie might
+      have struck, he would have returned in the night unless something had
+      happened to him. Henry had vague theories, but nothing definite, and he
+      kept them to himself. Yet they must make a change in their plans. To go on
+      and leave Long Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable. No task
+      could interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian countries,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;We are on the fringe of the region over which the Six Nations
+      roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a band of the Wyandots are here
+      also. Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees have come, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to find Long Jim,&rdquo; said Silent Tom briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went about their task in five minutes. Breakfast consisted of cold
+      venison and a drink from a brook. Then they began to search the forest.
+      They felt sure that such woodsmen as they, with the daylight to help them,
+      would find some trace of Long Jim, but they saw none at all, although they
+      constantly widened their circle, and again tried all their signals. Half
+      the forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held a council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'd better scatter,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' meet here again
+      when the sun marks noon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little hill
+      crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy to remember.
+      Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was so dense that in two
+      minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. He went several miles, and
+      his search was most rigid. He was amazed to find that the sense of mystery
+      and danger that he attributed to the darkness of the night did not
+      disappear wholly in the bright daylight. His spirit, usually so
+      optimistic, was oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would find
+      Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the black
+      oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw Shif'less Sol coming
+      from another. The shiftless one walked despondently. His gait was loose
+      and shambling-a rare thing with him, and Henry knew that he, too, had
+      failed. He realized now that he had not expected anything else. Shif'less
+      Sol shook his head, sat down on a root and said nothing. Henry sat down,
+      also, and the two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The others will be here directly,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and perhaps Long Jim will
+      be with one of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the shiftless one
+      knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If not,&rdquo; said Henry, resolved to see the better side, &ldquo;we'll stay anyhow
+      until we find him. We can't spare good old Long Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie saw the
+      bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There comes Tom,&rdquo; he said, after a single comprehensive glance, &ldquo;and he's
+      alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross was also a dejected figure. He looked at the two on the hill,
+      and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was not with them,
+      became more dejected than before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul's our last chance,&rdquo; he said, as he joined them. &ldquo;He's gen'rally a
+      lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry fervently. &ldquo;He ought to be along in a few
+      minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that Paul would
+      bring in the missing man, but Paul was late. The noon hour was well past.
+      Henry took a glance at the sun. Noon was gone at least a half hour, and he
+      stirred uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;he couldn't get lost!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry noticed his emphasis on the word &ldquo;lost,&rdquo; and a sudden fear sprang up
+      in his heart. Some power had taken away Long Jim; could the same power
+      have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and he paled under his brown,
+      turning away lest the others see his face. All three now examined the
+      whole circle of the horizon for a sight of moving bushes that would tell
+      of the boy's coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over everything, and
+      Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an hour past due, and the three,
+      oppressed already by Long jim's disappearance, were convinced that he
+      would not return. But they gave him a half hour longer. Then Henry said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever happens we three
+      must stay together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself,&rdquo; said the
+      shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw trace of
+      footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly, lost
+      on hard ground, and after that there was nothing. They stopped shortly
+      before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what to think,&rdquo; replied the youth, &ldquo;but it seems to me that
+      whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Looks like it,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;an' I guess it follers that we're in the same
+      kind o' danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We three of us could put up a good fight,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and I propose
+      that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, an' watch good,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the low
+      boughs of a tree. Their supper was a little venison, and then they watched
+      the coming of the darkness. It was a heavy hour for the three. Long Jim
+      was gone, and then Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the pet of the
+      little band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ef we could only know how it happened,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;then we
+      might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim back. But you
+      can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. In all them fights o'
+      ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed what wuz ag'inst us, but here
+      we don't know nothin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true, Sol,&rdquo; sighed Henry. &ldquo;We were making such big plans, too, and
+      before we can even start our force is cut nearly in half. To-morrow we'll
+      begin the hunt again. We'll never desert Paul and Jim, so long as we don't
+      know they're dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's my watch,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;You two sleep. We've got to keep our
+      strength.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest spots
+      under the tree sat down. Tom Ross took his place about ten feet in front
+      of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands clasped around his knees,
+      and his rifle resting on his arm. Henry watched him idly for a little
+      while, thinking all the time of his lost comrades. The night promised to
+      be dark, a good thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away, knew by
+      his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was still wide-eyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping slowly, and
+      the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small circle. Within this area
+      the distinctive object was the figure of Tom Ross, sitting with his rifle
+      across his knees. Tom had an infinite capacity for immobility. Henry had
+      never seen another man, not even an Indian, who could remain so long in
+      one position contented and happy. He believed that the silent one could
+      sit as he was all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for him. Would
+      he remain absolutely still? He would certainly shift an arm or a leg.
+      Henry's interest in the question kept him awake. He turned silently on the
+      other side, but, no matter how intently he studied the sitting figure of
+      his comrade, he could not see it stir. He did not know how long he had
+      been awake, trying thus to decide a question that should be of no
+      importance at such a time. Although unable to sleep, he fell into a dreamy
+      condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent sentinel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. The
+      exciting question was solved at last. The man would not sit all night
+      absolutely immovable. There could be no doubt of the fact that he had
+      raised an arm, and that his figure had straightened. Then he stood up,
+      full height, remained motionless for perhaps ten seconds, and then
+      suddenly glided away among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew what this meant. Tom had heard something moving in the
+      thickets, and, like a good sentinel, he had gone to investigate. A rabbit,
+      doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. Henry rose to a sitting
+      position, and drew his own rifle across his knees. He would watch while
+      Tom was gone, and then lie would sink quietly back, not letting his
+      comrade know that lie had taken his place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets. Light clouds
+      drifted before the moon. Henry, sitting with his rifle across his knees,
+      and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were invisible, but Henry saw
+      beyond the circle of darkness that enveloped them into the grayish light
+      that fell over the bushes. He marked the particular point at which he
+      expected Tom Ross to appear, a slight opening that held out invitation for
+      the passage of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the sentinel
+      did not return. Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy state. He felt with
+      all the terrible thrill of certainty that what happened to Long Jim and
+      Paul had happened also to Silent Tom Ross. He stood erect, a tense, tall
+      figure, alarmed, but not afraid. His eyes searched the thickets, but saw
+      nothing. The slight movement of the bushes was made by the wind, and no
+      other sound reached his ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions were
+      sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank down in a
+      crouching position, where he would offer the least target for the eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
+      of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
+      that he had seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him,&rdquo; whispered the shiftless one at
+      once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' we're bound to look for him right now,&rdquo; continued Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
+      Sol, we must follow 'em together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be safer,&rdquo; said Sol. &ldquo;I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an' I
+      want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
+      the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
+      same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
+      But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too, had
+      vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
+      strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
+      to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
+      stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost like
+      walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be daylight soon,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' I think we'd better
+      lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything, so
+      we'd better wait an' see what will find us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like the best plan to me,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I think we might
+      first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
+      over there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but the water is at least seven feet
+      deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose you go
+      up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin give a
+      signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four hundred
+      yards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
+      stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
+      soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred yards
+      lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he uttered the
+      low cry that was their signal, and went back to meet Shif'less Sol. He
+      reached the exact point at which they had parted, and waited. The
+      shiftless one did not come. The last of his comrades was gone, and he was
+      alone in the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the exact
+      spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had parted,
+      but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming. The same
+      powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had taken him, the
+      wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and with all the
+      five senses developed to the highest pitch. Yet his powers had availed him
+      nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running down his spine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his
+      instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the
+      forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly
+      hidden that no one could see him ten feet away. There he lay down and
+      rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four
+      disappearances. They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his
+      duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the
+      greater. Such a thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own life
+      never entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would
+      penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and method. To
+      approach an arduous task right one must possess freshness and vigor, and
+      one could have neither without sleep. His present place of hiding seemed
+      to be as secure as any that could be found. So composing himself he took
+      all chances and sought slumber. Yet it needed a great effort of the will
+      to calm his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any of
+      the soothing effect that precedes sleep. But fall asleep he did at last,
+      and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not awake to a bright day. The sun had risen, but it was
+      obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. A cold wind
+      began to blow, and with it came drops of rain. He shivered despite the
+      enfolding blanket. The coming of the morning had invariably brought
+      cheerfulness and increase of spirits, but now he felt depression. He
+      foresaw heavy rain again, and it would destroy any but the deepest trail.
+      Moreover, his supplies of food were exhausted and he must replenish them
+      in some manner before proceeding further.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have despaired. He
+      had found his comrades, only to lose them again, and the danger that had
+      threatened them, and the elements as well, now threatened him, too. An
+      acute judge of sky and air, he knew that the rain, cold, insistent,
+      penetrating, would fall all day, and that he must seek shelter if he would
+      keep his strength. The Indians themselves always took to cover at such
+      times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well from neck to
+      ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but with his hand upon it,
+      ready for instant use if it should be needed. Then he started, walking
+      straight ahead until he came to the crown of a little hill. The clouds
+      meanwhile thickened, and the rain, of the kind that he had foreseen and as
+      cold as ice, was blown against him. The grass and bushes were reeking, and
+      his moccasins became sodden. Despite the vigorous walking, lie felt the
+      wet cold entering his system. There come times when the hardiest must
+      yield, and he saw the increasing need of refuge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill. All around was a
+      dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped everywhere. There was no
+      open country. All was forest, and the heavy rolling masses of foliage
+      dripped with icy water, too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised that in a
+      valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that he craved. He
+      needed it badly. As he stood there he shivered again and again from head
+      to foot, despite the folds of the blanket. So he started at once, walking
+      fast, and feeling little fear of a foe. It was not likely that any would
+      be seeking him at such a time. The rain struck him squarely in the face
+      now. Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was pressed against
+      the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds of the blanket,
+      little streams of it, like ice to the touch, flowed down his neck and made
+      their way under his clothing. He could not remember a time when he had
+      felt more miserable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised, was the
+      edge of a considerable valley. He ran down the slope, and looked all about
+      for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak in the lee of a hill, or an
+      outcropping of stone, but he saw neither, and, as he continued the search,
+      he came to marshy ground. He saw ahead among the weeds and bushes the
+      gleam of standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when he noticed
+      three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one another,
+      projecting slightly above the black muck. It struck him that the stones
+      would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity aroused, he
+      stepped lightly from one stone to another. When he came to the last stone
+      that he had seen from the hard ground he beheld several more that had been
+      hidden from him by the bushes. Sure now that he had happened upon
+      something not created by nature alone, he followed these stones, leading
+      like steps into the very depths of the swamp, which was now deep and dark
+      with ooze all about him. He no longer doubted that the stones, the
+      artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest eye and most
+      logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he was resolved to know
+      its nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and the last
+      thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. Then he came to a bit
+      of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire, upon which he could stand
+      without sinking at all. He looked back from there, and he could not see
+      his point of departure. Bushes, weeds, and saplings grew out of the swamp
+      to a height of a dozen or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed completely.
+      All the vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place was one of the
+      most dismal that he had ever seen. But he had no thought of turning back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he inferred from
+      the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from the fact that an odd
+      one here and there had sunk completely out of sight-that they had not been
+      used in a long time, perhaps for years. He found on the other side of the
+      islet a second line of stones, and they led across a marsh, that was
+      almost like a black liquid, to another and larger island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of large trees.
+      It seemed to Henry that this island might be seventy or eighty yards
+      across, and he began at once to explore it. In the center, surrounded so
+      closely by swamp oaks that they almost formed a living wall, he found what
+      he had hoped to find, and his relief was so great that, despite his
+      natural and trained stoicism, he gave a little cry of pleasure when he saw
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois fashion,
+      stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost the whole of the
+      space. It was apparently abandoned long ago, and time and weather had done
+      it much damage. But the bark walls, although they leaned in places at
+      dangerous angles, still stood. The bark roof was pierced by holes on one
+      side, but on the other it was still solid, and shed all the rain from its
+      slope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark cunningly
+      joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw that he could make
+      use of it. He stepped inside. The hut had a bark floor which was dry on
+      one side, where the roof was solid, but dripping on the other. Several old
+      articles of Indian use lay about. In one corner was a basket woven of
+      split willow and still fit for service. There were pieces of thread made
+      of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm. There were also a piece of
+      pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon such as every
+      Iroquois carried. In the corner farthest from the door was a rude
+      fireplace made of large flat stones, although there was no opening for the
+      smoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion that it
+      was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an inquiring mind who had
+      found this secret place, and who had recognized its possibilities. Here
+      after an expedition for game he could lie hidden from enemies and take his
+      comfort without fear. Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy days like
+      the present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm of which the
+      Indian is capable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and carved
+      beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf. Henry picked it tip and examined
+      the bowl. It was as dry as a bone, and not a particle of tobacco was left
+      there. He believed that it had not been used for at least a year.
+      Doubtless the Indian who had built this hunting lodge had fallen in some
+      foray, and the secret of it had been lost until Henry Ware, seeking
+      through the cold and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark, all
+      a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry was strong and
+      skillful. He covered the holes in the roof with fallen pieces of bark,
+      laying heavy pieces of wood across them to hold them in place. Then he
+      lifted the bark shutter into position and closed the door. Some drops of
+      rain still came in through the roof, but they were not many, and he would
+      not mind them for the present. Then he opened the door and began his
+      hardest task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing fallen wood,
+      he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the inside. It was slow
+      work and he was very cold, his wet feet sending chills through him, but he
+      persevered, and the little heap of dry splinters grew to a respectable
+      size. Then he cut larger pieces, laying them on one side while he worked
+      with his flint and steel on the splinters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful, and
+      Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it finally took
+      hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. He watched it as it ran
+      along the little piece of wood and ignited another and then another, the
+      beautiful little red and yellow flames leaping up half a foot in height.
+      Already he felt the grateful warmth and glow, but he would not let himself
+      indulge in premature joy. He fed it with larger and larger pieces until
+      the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and yellow, rose at least two
+      feet, and big coals began to form. He left the door open a while in order
+      that the smoke might go out, but when the fire had become mostly coals he
+      closed it again, all except a crack of about six inches, which would serve
+      at once to let any stray smoke out, and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected, proceeded to
+      luxuriate. He spread the soaked blanket out on the bark floor, took off
+      the sodden moccasins and placed them at one angle of the fire, while he
+      sat with his bare feet in front. What a glorious warmth it was! It seemed
+      to enter at his toes and proceed upward through his body, seeking out
+      every little nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full of new
+      glow and life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat there a long time, his being radiating with physical comfort. The
+      moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the other. Finally they dried
+      all over and all through, and he put them on again. Then he hung the
+      blanket on the bark wall near the fire, and it, too, would be dry in
+      another hour or so. He foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and
+      sleep. Now if one only had food! But he must do without that for the
+      present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose and tested all his bones and muscles. No stiffness or soreness had
+      come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. He was fit for any
+      physical emergency. He looked out through the crevice. Night was coming,
+      and on the little island in the swamp it looked inexpressibly black and
+      gloomy. His stomach complained, but he shrugged his shoulders,
+      acknowledging primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire. There
+      he sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the last hour or two Henry did not move. He remained before the fire,
+      crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed the flame of life
+      in him. A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice at the door, fell on the
+      earth outside, but it did not pass beyond the close group of circling
+      trees. The rain still fell with uncommon steadiness and persistence, but
+      at times hail was mingled with it. Henry could not remember in his
+      experience a more desolate night. It seemed that the whole world dwelt in
+      perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it. Yet
+      within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm and bright, and
+      he was not unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the dry
+      blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first raked ashes
+      over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of his life. All night
+      long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it, at intervals, came gusts of
+      hail that rattled like bird shot on the bark walls of the hut. Some of the
+      white pellets blew in at the door, and lay for a moment or two on the
+      floor, then melted in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry. He was as safe, for the time,
+      in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at Pittsburgh or behind
+      the palisades at Wareville. Dawn came, the sky still heavy and dark with
+      clouds, and the rain still falling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became conscious
+      of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now keep quiet. His
+      was a powerful system, needing much nourishment, and he must eat. That
+      hunger became so great that it was acute physical pain. He was assailed by
+      it at all points, and it could be repelled by only one thing, food. He
+      must go forth, taking all risks, and seek it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it might not
+      blaze too high, and left the islet. The stepping stones were slippery with
+      water, and his moccasins soon became soaked again, but he forgot the cold
+      and wet in that ferocious hunger, the attacks of which became more violent
+      every minute. He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or even a squirrel,
+      but the animals themselves were likely to keep under cover in such a rain.
+      He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended also by much danger&mdash;these
+      woods must be full of Indians&mdash;but he thought little of the risk. His
+      hunger was taking complete possession of his mind. He was realizing now
+      that one might want a thing so much that it would drive away all other
+      thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
+      through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce as a
+      famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to anything.
+      The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his hollow tree,
+      and the deer did not leave his covert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so fearfully
+      long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that it must be
+      about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished panther to
+      which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the circle of the
+      dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and he knew that he
+      could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he had no idea of
+      returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else could resist was
+      pushing him on his search.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a thin and
+      darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with certainty,
+      that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation, turned his
+      course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and containing the
+      deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived beside himself in
+      this wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
+      Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
+      warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
+      bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
+      roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
+      bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils. But
+      it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible pang of
+      hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels, and
+      they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they wanted.
+      Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them as they
+      ate strip after strip of the delicate, tender meat with the wonderful
+      appetite that the Indian has after long fasting. A fierce, unreasoning
+      anger and jealousy laid hold of him. He was starving, and they rejoiced in
+      plenty only fifty yards away. He began to form plans for a piratical
+      incursion upon them. Half the body of a deer lay near the edge of the
+      opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away. It might be
+      possible to escape with such spoil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he recalled his prudence. Such a thing was impossible. The whole band
+      of warriors would be upon him in an instant. The best thing that he could
+      do was to shut out the sight of so much luxury in which he could not
+      share, and he crept away among the bushes wondering what he could do to
+      drive away those terrible pains. His vigorous system was crying louder
+      than ever for the food that would sustain it. His eyes were burning a
+      little too brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the feasting
+      Indians under the bark shelters. He saw a warrior raise a bone, grasping
+      it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender flesh that clothed it. The
+      sight inflamed him into an anger almost uncontrollable. He clenched his
+      fist and shook it at the warrior, who little suspected the proximity of a
+      hatred so intense. Then he bent his head down and rushed away among the
+      wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him across the
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. The aspect
+      of air and sky had not changed. The heavens still dripped icy water, and
+      there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. The game remained well hidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing weak he
+      made no haste. He came to dense clumps of bushes, and plowing his way
+      through them, he saw a dark opening under some trees thrown down by an old
+      hurricane. Having some vague idea that it might be the lair of a wild
+      animal, he thrust the muzzle of his rifle into the darkness. It touched a
+      soft substance. There was a growl, and a black form shot out almost into
+      his face. Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his powers and
+      faculties returned. He had stirred up a black bear, and before the animal,
+      frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far the boy, careless how
+      many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle and fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His aim was good. The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was dead.
+      Henry, transformed, ran up to him. Bear life had been given up to sustain
+      man's. Here was food for many days, and he rejoiced with a great joy. He
+      did not now envy those warriors back there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear, although small, was very fat. Evidently he had fed well on
+      acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks which, to one with
+      Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare. He calculated that it was more
+      than a mile to the swamp, and, after a few preliminaries, he flung the
+      body of the bear over his shoulder. Through some power of the mind over
+      the body his full strength had returned to him miraculously, and when he
+      reached the stepping stones he crossed from one to another lightly and
+      firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. The night
+      had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the ashes, and there
+      was plenty of dry wood. He did everything decently and in order. He took
+      the pelt from the bear, carved the body properly, and then, just as the
+      Indians had done, he broiled strips over the coals. He ate them one after
+      another, slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as was the mere
+      physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness. Not only was
+      the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain the strength to
+      seek his comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in several
+      portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which evidently had been
+      placed there by the former owner of the hut for this very purpose. Then,
+      sure that the savor of the food would draw other wild animals, he brought
+      one of the stepping stones and placed it on the inside of the door. The
+      door could not be pushed aside without arousing him, and, secure in the
+      knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THE RED CHIEFS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between midnight and
+      morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even in sleep, warned him
+      that something was at the door. He rose cautiously upon his arm, saw a
+      dark muzzle at the crevice, and behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming eyes.
+      He knew at once that it was a panther, probably living in the swamp and
+      drawn by the food. It must be very hungry to dare thus the smell of man.
+      Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the other end of which
+      was a glowing coal. Then he seized it and hurled it directly at the
+      inquisitive head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. There
+      was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the big cat's feet
+      as it fled into the swamp. Then he turned over on his side, and laughed in
+      genuine pleasure at what was to him a true forest joke. He knew the
+      panther would not come, at least not while he was in the hut, and he
+      calmly closed his eyes once more. The old Henry was himself again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still falling. It
+      seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever, but he was resolved,
+      nevertheless, now that he had food and the strength that food brings, to
+      begin the search for his comrades. The islet in the swamp would serve as
+      his base-nothing could be better-and he would never cease until he found
+      them or discovered what had become of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet to lose
+      itself quickly in the swamp. Henry drank there after his breakfast, and
+      then felt as strong and active as ever. As he knew, the mind may triumph
+      over the body, but the mind cannot save the body without food. Then he
+      made his precious bear meat secure against the prowling panther or others
+      of his kind, tying it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and too
+      slender to support the weight of a large animal. This task finished
+      quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie had seen
+      the Mohawks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as the
+      whole forest was enveloped in a sort of gloom, and he was less likely to
+      be seen. But when he had gone about half the distance he heard Indians
+      signaling to one another, and, burying himself as usual in the wet bushes,
+      he saw two small groups of warriors meet and talk. Presently they
+      separated, one party going toward the east and the other toward the west.
+      Henry thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took little
+      care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no matter how
+      great the supply might be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these were
+      traveling directly south. He was quite sure now that his theory was
+      correct. They were sending out hunters in every direction, in order that
+      they might beat up the woods thoroughly for game, and his own position
+      anywhere except on the islet was becoming exceedingly precarious.
+      Nevertheless, using all his wonderful skill, he continued the hunt. He had
+      an abiding faith that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant to
+      prove it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain decreased,
+      though it did not cease. The Indian signs multiplied, and Henry felt sure
+      that the forest within a radius of twenty miles of his islet contained
+      more than one camp. Some great gathering must be in progress and the
+      hunters were out to supply it with food. Four times he heard the sound of
+      shots, and thrice more he saw warriors passing through the forest. Once a
+      wounded deer darted past him, and, lying down in the bushes, he saw the
+      Indians following the fleeing animal. As the day grew older the trails
+      multiplied. Certainly a formidable gathering of bands was in progress,
+      and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in a net, he returned to
+      the islet, which had now become a veritable fort for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had been
+      except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which he had
+      fastened the big pieces of bear meat. Henry felt a malicious satisfaction
+      at the disappointment of the panthers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come again, and have the same bad luck,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey in the
+      night. He examined his powder carefully to see that no particle of it was
+      wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and then examined the skies. There
+      was a little moon, not too much, enough to show him the way, but not
+      enough to disclose him to an enemy unless very near. Then he left the
+      islet and went swiftly through the forest, laying his course a third time
+      toward the Indian camp. He was sure now that all the hunters had returned,
+      and he did not expect the necessity of making any stops for the purpose of
+      hiding. His hopes were justified, and as he drew near the camp he became
+      aware that its population had increased greatly. It was proved by many
+      signs. New trails converged upon it, and some of them were very broad,
+      indicating that many warriors had passed. They had passed, too, in perfect
+      confidence, as there was no effort at concealment, and Henry surmised that
+      no white force of any size could be within many days' march of this place.
+      But the very security of the Indians helped his own design. They would not
+      dream that any one of the hated race was daring to come almost within the
+      light of their fires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs. If the Indians had any
+      of their mongrel curs with them, they would quickly scent him out and give
+      the alarm with their barking. But he believed that the probabilities were
+      against it. This, so he thought then, was a war or hunting camp, and it
+      was likely that the Indians would leave the dogs at their permanent
+      villages. At any rate he would take the risk, and he drew slowly toward
+      the oak opening, where some Indians stood about. Beyond them, in another
+      dip of the valley, was a wider opening which he had not seen on his first
+      trip, and this contained not only bark shelters, but buildings that
+      indicated a permanent village. The second and larger opening was filled
+      with a great concourse of warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many trees and
+      thickets everywhere. Henry crept to the very rim, where, lying in the
+      blackest of the shadows, and well hidden himself, he could yet see nearly
+      everything in the camp. The men were not eating now, although it was
+      obvious that the hunters had done well. The dressed bodies of deer and
+      bear hung in the bark shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the fires,
+      and it seemed to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At least two
+      hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint, although there
+      were several styles of paint. There was a difference in appearance, too,
+      in the warriors, and Henry surmised that representatives of all the tribes
+      of the Iroquois were there, coming to the extreme western boundary or
+      fringe of their country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing and
+      manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him and talked
+      together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward the forest, and he was
+      quite sure that they were expecting somebody, a person of importance. He
+      became deeply interested. He was lying in a dense clump of hazel bushes,
+      flat upon his stomach, his face raised but little above the ground. He
+      would have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet away, but the
+      faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight were so clearly
+      visible to him that he could see every change of expression. They were
+      fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall, lean, their noses hooked,
+      features cut clean and strong, and their heads shaved, all except the
+      defiant scalp lock, into which the feather of an eagle was twisted. Their
+      bodies were draped in fine red or blue blankets, and they wore leggins and
+      moccasins of beautifully tanned deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing note from
+      the west. Some one in the camp replied with a cry in kind, and then a
+      silence fell upon them all. The chiefs stood erect, looking toward the
+      west. Henry knew that he whom they expected was at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into the
+      opening, in the full blaze of the firelight. He was entirely naked save
+      for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild and savage figure. He
+      stood for a moment or two, then faced the chiefs, and, bowing before them,
+      spoke a few words in the Wyandot tongue-Henry knew already by his paint
+      that he was a Wyandot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning, leaped
+      back into the forest. In two or three minutes six men, including the
+      herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a little when he saw the
+      first of the six, all of whom were Wyandots. It was Timmendiquas, head
+      chief of the Wyandots, and Henry had never seen him more splendid in
+      manner and bearing than he was as he thus met the representatives of the
+      famous Six Nations. Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was
+      its valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only as an
+      equal, in his heart a superior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment, burrowing
+      in the earth that he might not lose his life at the hands of either, was
+      an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas. It was the young Wyandot chief whom he
+      wished to be first, to make the greatest impression, and he was pleased
+      when he heard the low hum of admiration go round the circle of two hundred
+      savage warriors. It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that the Iroquois
+      had looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the chiefs, and the
+      Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois. Henry could tell by the manner of the
+      chiefs that the reputation of the famous White Lightning had preceded him,
+      and that they had already found fact equal to report.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the fire, and
+      all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance, where they stood and
+      watched in silence. The oldest chief took his long pipe, beautifully
+      carved and shaped like a trumpet, and filled it with tobacco which he
+      lighted with a coal from the fire. Then he took two or three whiffs and
+      passed the pipe to Timmendiquas, who did the same. Every chief smoked the
+      pipe, and then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a spectacle
+      and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and that he was an enemy.
+      He wondered now at their silence. If this was a council surely they would
+      discuss whatever question had brought them there! But he was soon
+      enlightened. That low far cry came again, but from the east. It was
+      answered, as before, from the camp, and in three or four minutes a warrior
+      sprang from the forest into the opening. Like the first, he was naked
+      except for the breech cloth and moccasins. The chiefs rose at his coming,
+      received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. Then he returned
+      to the forest, and all waited in the splendid calm of the Indian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle. Who was coming now? It must be some
+      man of great importance, or they would not wait so silently. There was the
+      same air of expectancy that had preceded the arrival of Timmendiquas. All
+      the warriors looked toward the eastern wall of the forest, and Henry
+      looked the same way. Presently the black foliage parted, and a man stepped
+      forth, followed at a little distance by seven or eight others. The
+      stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to Timmendiquas, but he,
+      too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it was evident to anyone
+      versed at all in forest lore that here was a great chief. He was lean but
+      sinewy, and he moved with great ease and grace. He reminded Henry of a
+      powerful panther. He was dressed, after the manner of famous chiefs, with
+      the utmost care. His short military coat of fine blue cloth bore a silver
+      epaulet on either shoulder. His head was not bare, disclosing the scalp
+      lock, like those of the other Indians; it was covered instead with a small
+      hat of felt, round and laced. Hanging carelessly over one shoulder was a
+      blanket of blue cloth with a red border. At his side, from a belt of blue
+      leather swung a silver-mounted small sword. His leggins were of superfine
+      blue cloth and his moccasins of deerskin. Both were trimmed with small
+      beads of many colors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence that still
+      held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet him. These two held the
+      gaze of everyone, and what they and they alone did had become of
+      surpassing interest. Each was haughty, fully aware of his own dignity and
+      importance, but they met half way, looked intently for a moment or two
+      into the eyes of each other, and then saluted gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All at once Henry knew the stranger. He had never seen him before, but his
+      impressive reception, and the mixture of military and savage attire
+      revealed him. This could be none other than the great Mohawk war chief,
+      Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white men, terrible name on the border.
+      Henry gazed at him eagerly from his covert, etching his features forever
+      on his memory. His face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of
+      Timmendiquas, and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the fire, and
+      once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. The two young chiefs
+      received the seats of favor, and others sat about them. But they were not
+      the only great chiefs present, though all yielded first place to them
+      because of their character and exploits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important council,
+      although its extent exceeded even his surmise. Delegates and head chiefs
+      of all the Six Nations were present to confer with the warlike Wyandots of
+      the west who had come so far east to meet them. Thayendanegea was the
+      great war chief of the Mohawks, but not their titular chief. The latter
+      was an older man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.
+      The other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled); the
+      Oneida, O-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver); the Cayuga, Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He
+      Who Looks Both Ways); the Seneca, Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake); and the
+      Tuscarora, Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a Tree). The
+      names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had formed the great
+      confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council, and were also the
+      high priests and titular head of the Six Nations. But the Mohawks were
+      first on-the war path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan, camping in
+      its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their wonderful
+      league, and their wonderful history. He knew that according to the legend
+      the league had been formed by Hiawatha, an Onondaga. He was opposed in
+      this plan by Tododaho, then head chief of the Onondagas, but he went to
+      the Mohawks and gained the support of their great chief, Dekanawidah. With
+      his aid the league was formed, and the solemn agreement, never broken, was
+      made at the Onondaga Lake. Now they were a perfect little state, with
+      fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs, fifty-six.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn many
+      of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he little
+      dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the meeting of the
+      fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike power of the Six
+      Nations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
+      listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the trope,
+      allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the unseen
+      deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic dreams. He
+      spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which to the
+      Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit, which was
+      Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in the Iroquois
+      belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was so mighty that
+      he did not need body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
+      brave Wyandots,&rdquo; he said to Timmendiquas. &ldquo;Once there was no land, only
+      the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam. Then
+      he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls grew the
+      Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined us and other
+      tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker at
+      this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other tribes.
+      A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished to unite
+      the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio valley. The
+      coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense heat.
+      Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back, revealing a
+      bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of the Mohawks, a
+      flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca head
+      chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest of the
+      Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great pipe, and
+      the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said
+      Thayendanegea, &ldquo;and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
+      Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
+      Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
+      all our brethren of the Six Nations. All the land from the salt water to
+      the setting sun was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not
+      defend it we cannot keep it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time. &ldquo;We have
+      fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come with their
+      rifles and axes. The whole might of the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the
+      Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the Ottawas has gone forth
+      against them. We have slain many of them, but we have failed to drive them
+      back. Now we have come to ask the Six Nations to press down upon them in
+      the east with all your power, while we do the same in the west. Surely
+      then your Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not refuse us
+      success.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak well, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the red men must unite to
+      fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised above the sea, and
+      we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to lead them to battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes. He had forgotten about the dogs
+      that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his surmise that the camp
+      contained none. Nothing disturbed him while he stared at what was passing
+      by the firelight. There could be no doubt that the meeting of Timmendiquas
+      and Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not be stirred from
+      his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse. Others-older men,
+      chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them. But these two, proud,
+      dominating, both singularly handsome men of the Indian type, were always
+      there. Henry was almost ready to steal away when he saw a new figure
+      approaching the two chiefs. The walk and bearing of the stranger were
+      familiar, and HENRY knew him even before his face was lighted tip by the
+      fire. It was Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great
+      battles on both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+      Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. Henry
+      felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could inspire in him.
+      They fought for their own land and their own people, but Braxton Wyatt had
+      violated everything that an honest man should hold sacred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him. Such a chance was sure
+      to draw Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, the war, so far as it pertained to the
+      border, seemed to be sweeping toward the northeast, and it bore many
+      stormy petrels upon its crest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires. There the renegade
+      sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the best of terms. He
+      was presently joined by two more renegades, whom Henry recognized as
+      Blackstaffe and Quarles. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea rose after a
+      while, and walked toward the center of the camp, where several of the bark
+      shelters had been enclosed entirely. Henry judged that one had been set
+      apart for each, but they were lost from his view when they passed within
+      the circling ring of warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a fortified camp
+      here, a place from which they would make sudden and terrible forays upon
+      the settlements. He based his opinion upon the good location and the great
+      number of saplings that had been cut down already. They would build strong
+      lodges and then a palisade around them with the saplings. He was speedily
+      confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to the forest with
+      hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings. He knew then that it was
+      time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him at any time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. His limbs
+      were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position, but that soon wore
+      away, and he was comparatively fresh when he came once more to the islet
+      in the swamp. A good moon was now shining, tipping the forest with a fine
+      silvery gray, and Henry purveyed with the greatest satisfaction the simple
+      little shelter that he had found so opportunely. It was a good house, too,
+      good to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry. It was made of
+      nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all that long, penetrating
+      rain of the last three or four days, and when he lifted the big stone
+      aside and opened the door it seemed as snug a place as he could have
+      wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat stones,
+      having no fear that it would be seen through the dense curtain that shut
+      him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the coals. When he had eaten and
+      the fire had died he went out and sat beside the hut. He was well
+      satisfied with the day's work, and he wished now to think with all the
+      concentration that one must put upon a great task if he expects to achieve
+      it. He intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well that it
+      was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted. Yet scouts
+      and hunters had done such things and had escaped with their lives. He must
+      not shrink from the path that others had trodden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of operations.
+      Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament that he began to
+      regard the deed itself as almost achieved. Decision is always soothing
+      after doubt, and he fell into a pleasant dreamy state. A gentle wind was
+      blowing, the forest was dry and the leaves rustled with the low note that
+      is like the softest chord of a violin. It became penetrating, thrillingly
+      sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew. It was the same
+      voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling him to be of
+      heart and courage. He would triumph over hardships and dangers, and he
+      would see his friends again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry started up from his vision. The song was gone, and he heard only the
+      wind softly moving the leaves. It had been vague and shadowy as gossamer,
+      light as the substance of a dream, but it was real to him, nevertheless,
+      and the deep glow of certain triumph permeated his being, body and mind.
+      It was not strange that he had in his nature something of the Indian
+      mysticism that personified the winds and the trees and everything about
+      him. The Manitou of the red man and the ancient Aieroski of the Iroquois
+      were the same as his own God. He could not doubt that he had a message.
+      Down on the Ohio he had had the same message more than once, and it had
+      always come true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting perfectly still,
+      he saw a black bear emerge into the open. It had gained the islet in some
+      manner, probably floundering through the black mire, and the thought
+      occurred to him that it was the mate of the one he had slain, drawn
+      perhaps by instinct on the trail of a lost comrade. He could have shot the
+      bear as he sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food soon-but he did
+      not have the heart to do it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the human odor
+      away from him, and sat back on his haunches. Henry did not believe that
+      the animal had seen him or was yet aware of his presence, although he
+      might suspect. There was something humorous and also pathetic in the
+      visitor, who cocked his head on one side and looked about him. He made a
+      distinct appeal to Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that the
+      little bear could not be sure at first that he was a human being. A minute
+      passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy. Henry felt
+      pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain friendly relations
+      only by remaining quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I have eaten your comrade, my friend,&rdquo; he said to himself, &ldquo;it is only
+      because of hard necessity.&rdquo; The bear, little, comic, and yet with that
+      touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little further over on one
+      side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell upon him Henry could see one
+      red eye gleaming. It was a singular fact, but the boy, alone in the
+      wilderness, and the loser of his comrades, felt for the moment a sense of
+      comradeship with the bear, which was also alone, and doubtless the loser
+      of a comrade, also. He uttered a soft growling sound like the satisfied
+      purr of a bear eating its food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and looked in
+      astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered sounds so familiar. Yet
+      the figure was not familiar. He had never seen a human being before, and
+      the shape and outline were very strange to him. It might be some new kind
+      of animal, and he was disposed to be inquiring, because there was nothing
+      in these forests which the black bear was afraid of until man came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced a step or two and growled gently. Then he reared up again on
+      his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his amusing manner.
+      Henry, still motionless, smiled at him. Here, for an instant at least, was
+      a cheery visitor and companionship. He at least would not break the spell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow,&rdquo; he said to himself,
+      &ldquo;and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. It
+      certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or twenty yards
+      before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to solve the mystery of
+      this creature. But caution held him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze. It shifted about and brought
+      the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest black bear. It was
+      something entirely new to him, but it contained the quality of fear. That
+      still strange figure was his deadliest foe. Dropping down upon his four
+      paws, he fled among the trees, and then scrambled somehow through the
+      swamp to the mainland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sighed. Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned by
+      instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
+      himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into the
+      hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left the islet
+      once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he found it a
+      most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting. As he had
+      judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking in several
+      directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the thickets,
+      willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was advisable,
+      moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was going to
+      succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there through the
+      forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed so numerous
+      in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
+      distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
+      cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
+      would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected. He
+      waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer. He knew
+      that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first opinion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
+      hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its discovery.
+      Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness came, hiding
+      his trail, to double back and regain the hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
+      It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as possible,
+      annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along, stopping at
+      intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had drawn near,
+      but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the sky, willing
+      that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was setting.
+      The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the east the
+      forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and went back
+      toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much closer to
+      the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over the curve of
+      the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs melted into a
+      solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and with it its
+      petty annoyances. He directed his course boldly now for the stepping
+      stones, and traveled fast. Soon the first of them would be less than a
+      hundred yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the incident was not over. Wary and skillful though the young forest
+      runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and it led to great
+      consequences. As he skirted the edge of the swamp in the darkness, now
+      fully come, a dusky figure suddenly appeared. It was a stray warrior from
+      some small band, wandering about at will. The meeting was probably as
+      little expected by him as it was by Henry, and they were so close together
+      when they saw each other that neither had time to raise his rifle. The
+      warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching out a knife,
+      sprang at once upon his enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an immense
+      effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of the Indian's knife
+      hand, exerted all his great strength. The warrior wished to change the
+      weapon from his right band, but he dared not let go with the other lest he
+      be thrown down at once, and with great violence. His first rush having
+      failed, he was now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not generally a
+      wrestler. Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter and tighter
+      around the red wrist. He wished to tear the knife from it, but he, too,
+      was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two remained locked
+      fast. Neither uttered a cry after the first contact, and the only sounds
+      in the dark were their hard breathing, which turned to a gasp now and
+      then, and the shuffle of their feet over the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt that it must end soon. One or the other must give way. Their
+      sinews were already strained to the cracking point, and making a supreme
+      effort he bore all his weight upon the warrior, who, unable to sustain
+      himself, went down with the youth upon him. The Indian uttered a groan,
+      and Henry, leaping instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen
+      antagonist, who did not stir. He knew the cause. As they fell the point of
+      the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the slain man
+      in a sort of pity. He had not wished to take anyone's life, and, in
+      reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. But it was a stern time
+      and the feeling soon passed. The Wyandot, for such he was by his paint,
+      would never have felt a particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully at the
+      still face. Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up in his brain,
+      with such an impulse that it carried conviction. He would take this
+      warrior's place and go to the Indian camp. So eager was he, and so full of
+      his plan, that he did not feel any repulsion as he opened the warrior's
+      deerskin shirt and took his totem from a place near his heart. It was a
+      little deerskin bag containing a bunch of red feathers. This was his
+      charm, his magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had failed him so
+      woefully this time. Henry, not without a touch of the forest belief, put
+      it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although he laughed at himself,
+      that if the red man's medicine had any potency it should be on his own
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his war
+      paint and the feather brush with which he put it on. The next hour
+      witnessed a singular transformation. A white youth was turned into a red
+      warrior. He cut his own hair closely, all except a tuft in the center,
+      with his sharp hunting knife. The tuft and the close crop he stained black
+      with the Indian's paint. It was a poor black, but he hoped that it would
+      pass in the night. He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and intertwined it
+      with a feather from the Indian's own tuft. Then he stained his face, neck,
+      hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood forth a powerful young
+      warrior of a western nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the brush.
+      Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge of the swamp and
+      dropped it in. His object was not alone concealment, but burial as well.
+      He still felt sorry for the unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him until
+      he sank completely from sight in the mire. Then he turned away and
+      traveled a straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the bright
+      moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection. By night, at least,
+      it was certainly that of an Indian, and, summoning all his confidence, he
+      continued upon his chosen and desperate task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his disguise, but
+      he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was prepared to incur all
+      risks and to endure all penalties. He even felt a certain lightness of
+      heart as he hurried on his way, and at length saw through the forest the
+      flare of light from the Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a good look
+      into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In a single day the
+      village had been enlarged much more. It seemed to him that it contained at
+      least twice as many warriors. Women and children, too, had come, and he
+      heard a stray dog barking here and there. Many more fires than usual were
+      burning, and there was a great murmur of voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about to plunge
+      into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a time, too, when
+      something of extreme importance was going on, but a little reflection
+      showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many people, and so much ferment it
+      was not at all likely that he would be noticed closely. It was his
+      intention, if the necessity came, to pass himself off as a warrior of the
+      Shawnee tribe who had wandered far eastward, but he meant to avoid
+      sedulously the eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size and
+      stature, divine his identity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether to wait a
+      little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he became aware that
+      all sounds in the village-for such it was instead of a camp-had ceased
+      suddenly, except the light tread of feet and the sound of many people
+      talking low. He saw through the bushes that all the Iroquois, and with
+      them the detachment of Wyandots under White Lightning, were going toward a
+      large structure in the center, which he surmised to be the Council House.
+      He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west that the
+      Iroquois built such structures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest importance was
+      about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he left the bushes and entered
+      the village, going with the crowd toward the great pole building, which
+      was, indeed, the Council House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But little attention was paid to Henry. He would have drawn none at all,
+      had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two glanced at him
+      he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he had wandered far, and was
+      glad to come to the hospitable Iroquois. One who could speak a little
+      Shawnee bade him welcome, and they went on, satisfied, their minds more
+      intent upon the ceremony than upon a visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles and thatch,
+      was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet wide, with a large door
+      on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other sides. As
+      Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois were
+      entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and women,
+      and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and, knowing
+      the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the ceremony,
+      whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He himself drew
+      to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow, but he was using
+      to its utmost power every faculty of observation that Nature had given
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with great
+      brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and investing
+      with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive this ceremony,
+      held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the primeval forest.
+      Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which was at once a
+      mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east with his own
+      people and the election and welcome of their successors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was more
+      generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
+      Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient and
+      undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of the Six
+      Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were: Atotarho
+      (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons (Looking Both
+      Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The Scattered). They were
+      men of stature and fine countenance, proud of the titular primacy that
+      belonged to them because it was the Onondaga, Hiawatha, who had formed the
+      great confederacy more than four hundred years before our day, or just
+      about the time Columbus was landing on the shores of the New World.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
+      nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
+      were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
+      should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
+      was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
+      (Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih (The
+      Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed the three
+      senior nations. After them, in order of precedence, came the chiefs of the
+      three junior nations, the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. All of the
+      great chiefs had assistant chiefs, usually relatives, who, in case of
+      death, often succeeded to their places. But these assistants now remained
+      in the crowd with other minor chiefs and the mass of the warriors. A
+      little apart stood Timmendiquas and his Wyandots. He, too, was absorbed in
+      the ceremony so sacred to him, an Indian, and he did not notice the tall
+      figure of the strange Shawnee lingering in the deepest of the shadows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched across the
+      clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where two young warriors
+      had kindled a little fire of sticks as a signal of welcome. The chiefs
+      gathered around the fire and spoke together in low tones. This was
+      Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means &ldquo;The Reception at the Edge of the Wood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see, and his
+      interest increased. He shared the spiritual feeling which was impressed
+      upon the red faces about him. The bright moonlight, too, added to the
+      effect, giving it the tinge of an old Druidical ceremony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. Then rose
+      the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a procession of young and
+      inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas, appeared, slowly approaching the fire.
+      Behind them were warriors, and behind the warriors were many women and
+      children. All the women were in their brightest attire, gay with feather
+      headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the British posts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from the
+      chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon, formed the men
+      in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women and children grouped in
+      an irregular mass behind them. The singing meanwhile had stopped. The two
+      groups stood facing each other, attentive and listening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth in the
+      space between the two groups, chanting a welcome. Like all Indian songs it
+      was monotonous. Every line he uttered with emphasis and a rising
+      inflection, the phrase &ldquo;Haih-haih&rdquo; which may be translated &ldquo;Hail to thee!&rdquo;
+       or better, &ldquo;All hail!&rdquo; Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the wilderness
+      and with rapt faces about him, it was deeply impressive. Henry found it
+      so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the fire.
+      Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his hands beautifully
+      beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward and made a speech of
+      condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. Then the head chiefs and the
+      minor chiefs smoked pipes together, after which the head chiefs, followed
+      by the minor chiefs, and these in turn by the crowd, led the way back to
+      the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still very
+      grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by the sacred nature of this
+      ancient rite. The chief entered the great door of the Long House, and all
+      who could find places not reserved followed. Henry went in with the
+      others, and sat in a corner, making himself as small as possible. Many
+      women, the place of whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in the
+      Long House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great room. In
+      front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of the three older
+      nations on the left, and of the three younger nations on the right. In
+      front of these, but sitting on the bark floor, was a group of warriors. At
+      the east end, on both high and low seats, were warriors, and facing them
+      on the western side were women, also on both high and low seats. The
+      southern side facing the chiefs was divided into sections, each with high
+      and low seats. The one on the left was occupied by men, and the one on the
+      right by women. Two small fires burned in the center of the Long House
+      about fifteen feet apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes that Henry
+      had ever beheld. When all had found their seats there was a deep silence.
+      Henry could hear the slight crackling made by the two fires as they
+      burned, and the light fell faintly across the multitude of dark, eager
+      faces. Not less than five hundred people were in the Long House, and here
+      was the red man at his best, the first of the wild, not the second or
+      third of the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins brings to the
+      white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it does when that
+      blood belongs to some other races.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect upon Henry was singular. He almost forgot that he was a foe
+      among them on a mission. For the moment he shared in their feelings, and
+      he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great chiefs.
+      The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho, the Onondaga, but
+      the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion to Thayendanegea, and there
+      was no objection. Thayendanegea was an educated man, he had been in
+      England, he was a member of a Christian church, and he had translated a
+      part of the Bible from English into his own tongue, but now he was all a
+      Mohawk, a son of the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six Nations, how
+      Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired Hiawatha to form the
+      Great Confederacy of the Five Nations, afterwards the Six; how they had
+      held their hunting grounds for nearly two centuries against both English
+      and French; and how they would hold them against the Americans. He stopped
+      at moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long House. The
+      eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator spoke of their glory and
+      greatness. Timmendiquas, in a place of honor, nodded approval. If he could
+      he would form such another league in the west.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. It seemed
+      to have in it a touch of fire. The orator's words burned. Swift and deep
+      impressions were left upon the excited brain. The tall figure of the
+      Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the half light, and the spell that he threw
+      over all was complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit down.
+      Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long House that
+      something more was coming from Thayendanegea. Suddenly the red chief began
+      to sing in a deep, vibrant voice, and this was the song that he sung:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      There was the same incessant repetition of &ldquo;Haih haih!&rdquo; that Henry had
+      noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it seemed to give a
+      cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and at every slight pause
+      that deep breath of approval ran through the crowd in the Long House. The
+      effect of the song was indescribable. Fire ran in the veins of all, men,
+      women, and children. The great pulses in their throats leaped up. They
+      were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+      Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the English
+      since first a white man was seen in the land, and that would keep back the
+      Americans now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry glanced at Timmendiquas. The nostrils of the great White Lightning
+      were twitching. The song reached to the very roots of his being, and
+      aroused all his powers. Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he saw
+      that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than English or
+      French had ever been. The Americans were upon the ground, and incessantly
+      pressed upon the red man, eye to eye. Only powerful leagues like those of
+      the Iroquois could withstand them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period
+      lasting about two minutes. These silences seemed to be a necessary part of
+      all Iroquois rites. When it closed two young warriors stretched an elm
+      bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling, but
+      between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs. Then they hung dressed skins
+      all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the view of
+      each other. This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a silence.
+      The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little was to be
+      seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. Then a slender man of
+      middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation, arose and sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song was
+      sad. At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd in the
+      Long House. Grief for the dead held them all. When he finished,
+      Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum,
+      uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to which
+      they listened patiently. The chant over, he handed the belts to an
+      attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few moments
+      and looked at them gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was
+      purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace. They
+      were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a lake
+      supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man tiny
+      black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the shore he
+      found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred to him to
+      use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He strung them
+      on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league was formed,
+      the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For four hundred
+      years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
+      returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once more,
+      and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now he did
+      not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and the time became
+      faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow to exultation and
+      menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and victory. The song sung
+      as it was now became a genuine battle song, rousing and thrilling. The
+      Long House trembled with the mighty chorus, and its volume poured forth
+      into the encircling dark woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
+      holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
+      attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now went
+      to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires, asked who
+      were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among their
+      own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and Henry
+      was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of the brave
+      Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as a great sign of
+      friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the Mohawks, Keepers of
+      the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the Iroquois tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
+      than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long House,
+      and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons of the
+      Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among the
+      Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+      Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened in grave
+      silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was concluded.
+      Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside&mdash;although that was
+      much&mdash;and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the
+      Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest
+      two red chiefs on all the American continent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping somewhat
+      and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. But there was little
+      danger now that any one would notice him, as long as he behaved with
+      prudence, because all grief and solemnity were thrown aside, and a
+      thousand red souls intended to rejoice. A vast banquet was arranged. Great
+      fires leaped up all through the village. At every fire the Indian women,
+      both young and old, were already far forward with the cooking. Deer, bear,
+      squirrel, rabbit, fish, and every other variety of game with which the
+      woods and rivers of western New York and Pennsylvania swarmed were frying
+      or roasting over the coals, and the air was permeated with savory odors.
+      There was a great hum of voices and an incessant chattering. Here in the
+      forest, among themselves, and in complete security, the Indian stoicism
+      was relaxed. According to their customs everybody fell to eating at a
+      prodigious rate, as if they had not tasted anything for a month, and as if
+      they intended to eat enough now to last another month.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a long time,
+      but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting crowd, and the flames of
+      the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped and danced. This was an oasis of
+      light and life. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together before the
+      largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the others. Even at
+      the banquet they would not relax their dignity as great chiefs. Old
+      Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too, Satekariwate, the
+      Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs though they were of
+      the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as the rich Romans of the
+      Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all kinds of meat, and
+      drinking a sort of cider that the women made. Several warriors ate and
+      drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires. The same warriors on
+      the hunt or the war path would go for days without food, enduring every
+      manner of hardship. Now and then a warrior would leap up and begin a chant
+      telling of some glorious deed of his. Those at his own fire would listen,
+      but elsewhere they took no notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face suddenly
+      uttered a sharp cry: &ldquo;Hehmio!&rdquo; which he rapidly repeated twice. Two score
+      voices instantly replied, &ldquo;Heh!&rdquo; and a rush was made for him. At least a
+      hundred gathered around him, but they stood in a respectful circle, no one
+      nearer than ten feet. He waved his hand, and all sat down on the ground.
+      Then, he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and with expectancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and honored among
+      the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than Hiawatha. He began at
+      once the story of the warrior who learned to talk with the deer and the
+      bear, carrying it on through many chapters. Now and then a delighted
+      listener would cry &ldquo;Hah!&rdquo; but if anyone became bored and fell asleep it
+      was considered an omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he was chased
+      ignominiously to his tepee. The Iroquois romancer was better protected
+      than the white one is. He could finish some of his stories in one evening,
+      but others were serials. When he arrived at the end of the night's
+      installment he would cry, &ldquo;Si-ga!&rdquo; which was equivalent to our &ldquo;To be
+      continued in our next.&rdquo; Then all would rise, and if tired would seek
+      sleep, but if not they would catch the closing part of some other
+      story-teller's romance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden flute of
+      their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not without a certain
+      sweetness. In a corner a half dozen warriors hurt in battle were bathing
+      their wounds with a soothing lotion made from the sap of the bass wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the feasting,
+      hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a space to the
+      story-tellers and the enthusiastic &ldquo;Hahs!&rdquo; They were so full of feasting
+      and merrymaking now that one could almost do as he pleased, and he stole
+      toward the southern end of the village, where he had noticed several huts,
+      much more strongly built than the others. Despite all his natural skill
+      and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the first. He was
+      about to achieve the great exploration upon which he had ventured so much.
+      Whether he would find anything at the end of the risk he ran, he was soon
+      to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was built
+      strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a clapboard door
+      fastened stoutly on the outside with withes. The hut was well in the
+      shadow of tepees, and all were still at the feasting and merrymaking. He
+      cut the withes with two sweeps of his sharp hunting knife, opened the
+      door, bent his head, stepped in and then closed the door behind him, in
+      order that no Iroquois might see what had happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between the poles,
+      and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of bark. They revealed
+      also a figure lying full length on one side of the hut. A great pulse of
+      joy leaped up in Henry's throat, and with it was a deep pity, also. The
+      figure was that of Shif'less Sol, but he was pale and thin, and his arms
+      and legs were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he did not
+      stir. Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually so sensitive to
+      the lightest movement, he perceived nothing now, and, had he not found him
+      bound, Henry would have been afraid that he was looking upon his dead
+      comrade. The hands of the shiftless one, when the hands were cut, had
+      fallen limply by his side, and his face looked all the more pallid by
+      contrast with the yellow hair which fell in length about it. But it was
+      his old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the five to
+      vanish so mysteriously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder. The captive yawned,
+      stretched himself a little, and lay still again with closed eyes. Henry
+      shook him a second time and more violently. Shif'less Sol sat up quickly,
+      and Henry knew that indignation prompted the movement. Sol held his arms
+      and legs stiffly and seemed to be totally unconscious that they were
+      unbound. He cast one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the tall
+      warrior bending over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever name you
+      like better!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;I won't show you how to surprise the white
+      settlements. You can burn me at the stake or tear me in pieces first. Now
+      go away and let me sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. It was then
+      that he noticed for the first time that his hands were unbound. He held
+      them up before his face, as if they were strange objects wholly unattached
+      to himself, and gazed at them in amazement. He moved his legs and saw that
+      they, too, were unbound. Then he turned his startled gaze upward at the
+      face of the tall warrior who was looking down at him. Shif'less Sol was
+      wholly awake now. Every faculty in him was alive, and he pierced through
+      the Shawnee disguise. He knew who it was. He knew who had come to save
+      him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the one word:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which only many
+      dangers endured together can give.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did you get here?&rdquo; asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met an Indian in the forest,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;and well I am now he.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but how did you get through the camp? It's a big one,
+      and the Iroquois are watchful. Timmendiquas is here, too, with his
+      Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are having a great feast,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;and I could go about
+      almost unnoticed. Where are the others, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the cabins close by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we'll get out of this place. Quick! Tie up your hair! In the
+      darkness you can easily pass for an Indian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two slipped
+      from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly retying the
+      thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape might occur as late as
+      possible. Then they stood a few moments in the shadow of the hut and
+      listened to the sounds of revelry, the monotone of the story-tellers, and
+      the chant of the singers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't know which huts they are in, do you?&rdquo; asked Henry, anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't,&rdquo; replied the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get back!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry softly. &ldquo;Don't you see who's passing out
+      there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Sol. &ldquo;I'd like to get my hands on that scoundrel.
+      I've had to stand a lot from him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The score must wait. But first we'll provide you with weapons. See, the
+      Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while they're at the
+      feast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by, and
+      Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best, with its
+      ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his semi-civilized attire,
+      still remained in the shadow of the other hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not take four?&rdquo; whispered the shiftless one. &ldquo;We'll need them for the
+      other boys.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily slipped
+      back to the other side of the hut. A Wyandot and a Mohawk were passing,
+      and they had eyes of hawks. Henry and Sol waited until the formidable pair
+      were gone, and then began to examine the huts, trying to surmise in which
+      their comrades lay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;but I reckon from the talk
+      that they are here. I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. A half dozen reds
+      jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to draw a weepin. Timmendiquas
+      was at the head uv 'em an' he just grinned. Well, he is a great chief, if
+      he did truss me up like a fowl. I reckon the same thing happened to the
+      others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come closer, Sol! Come closer!&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;More warriors are
+      walking this way. The feast is breaking up, and they'll spread all through
+      the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A terrible problem was presented to the two. They could no longer search
+      among the strong huts, for their comrades. The opportunity to save had
+      lasted long enough for one only. But border training is stern, and these
+      two had uncommon courage and decision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must go now, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we'll come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;we'll come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the forest
+      before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence of an enemy.
+      Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not pause. Henry led the way,
+      and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair degree of speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry,&rdquo; said Sol in
+      a tone of humility. &ldquo;When I wuz layin' thar in the lodge with my hands an'
+      feet tied I wuz about eighty years old, jest ez stiff ez could be from the
+      long tyin'. When I reached the edge o' the woods the blood wuz flowin'
+      lively enough to make me 'bout sixty. Now I reckon I'm fifty, an' ef
+      things go well I'll be back to my own nateral age in two or three hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall have rest before morning,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it will be in a
+      good place, too. I can promise that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say anything. Like
+      the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most implicit confidence in
+      their bold young leader. He had every reason to feel good. That painful
+      soreness was disappearing from his ankles. As they advanced through the
+      woods, weeks dropped from him one by one. Then the months began to roll
+      away, and at last time fell year by year. As they approached the deeps of
+      the forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde, the so called shiftless one,
+      and wholly undeserving of the name, was young again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got a fine little home for us, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Best we've had
+      since that time we spent a winter on the island in the lake. This is
+      littler, but it's harder to find. It'll be a fine thing to know you're
+      sleeping safe and sound with five hundred Iroquois warriors only a few
+      miles away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it'll suit me mighty well,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, grinning broadly.
+      &ldquo;That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble servant, which is
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Jest you jump
+      on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me only one jump behind
+      you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and behind
+      him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one. It was now past midnight,
+      and the moon was obscured. The keenest eyes twenty yards away could not
+      have seen the two dusky figures as they went by leaps into the very heart
+      of the great, black swamp. They reached the solid ground, and then the
+      hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;is my house, and yours, also, and soon, I hope,
+      to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;I'm shorely glad to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall, and soon
+      were sound asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. They had
+      eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily. Many times had they told the
+      glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League, and many times had they
+      gladly acknowledged the valor and worth of Timmendiquas and the brave
+      little Wyandot nation. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side by side
+      throughout the feast, but often other great chiefs were with
+      them-Skanawati, Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the
+      Mohawk; Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges, and soon
+      the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on the ground, wrapped in
+      their blankets. The fires were allowed to sink low, and at last the older
+      chiefs withdrew, leaving only Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+      &ldquo;We can bring many more warriors than are here into the field, and we will
+      strike the white settlements with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great League,&rdquo; said
+      Timmendiquas proudly, &ldquo;but no one has ever been before them in battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak truth, as I have often heard it,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea
+      thoughtfully. Then he showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor, the finest
+      in the village, and retired to his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous decision.
+      Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they would make a new and
+      formidable attack upon the white settlements, and Timmendiquas and his
+      fierce Wyandots would help them. All of them, from the oldest to the
+      youngest, rejoiced in the decision, and, not least, the famous
+      Thayendanegea. He hated the Americans most because they were upon the
+      soil, and were always pressing forward against the Indian. The Englishmen
+      were far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the march of the
+      American would be less rapid. He would strike once more with the
+      Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on the American
+      rearguard. He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the Western Gate, would
+      lead in the onset. Thayendanegea considered it a good night's work, and he
+      slept peacefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great camp relapsed into silence. The warriors on the ground breathed
+      perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the fires were
+      permitted to smolder down to coals. Wolves and panthers drawn by the scent
+      of food crept through the thickets toward the faint firelight, but they
+      were afraid to draw near. Morning came, and food and drink were taken to
+      the lodges in which four prisoners were held, prisoners of great value,
+      taken by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his urgent insistence
+      as hostages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were loosened
+      they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty. The one who spoke in a
+      slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to be the most dangerous of
+      them all, was gone. Henry and Sol had taken the severed thongs with them,
+      and there was nothing to show how the prisoner had disappeared, except
+      that the withes fastening the door had been cut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The news spread through the village, and there was much excitement.
+      Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at the empty hut.
+      Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol had gone, but he said
+      nothing. Others believed that it was the work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The
+      Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh (The Spirit of the Winds) had taken him
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is well to keep a good watch on the others,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, and
+      Thayendanegea nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a great war
+      council. A string of white wampum about a foot in length was passed to
+      every chief, who held it a moment or two before handing it to his
+      neighbors. It was then laid on a table in the center of the room, the ends
+      touching. This signified harmony among the Six Nations. All the chiefs had
+      been summoned to this place by belts of wampum sent to the different
+      tribes by runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this honor belonged.
+      All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of belts, and now this was
+      done by the assembled chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the real head of
+      a brave and allied nation, was present throughout the council. His advice
+      was asked often, and when he gave it the others listened with gravity and
+      deference. The next day the village played a great game of lacrosse, which
+      was invented by the Indians, and which had been played by them for
+      centuries before the arrival of the white man. In this case the match was
+      on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas and Senecas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great natural meadow
+      surrounded by forest. The rival sides assembled opposite each other and
+      bet heavily. All the stakes, under the law of the game, were laid upon the
+      ground in heaps here, and they consisted of the articles most precious to
+      the Iroquois. In these heaps were rifles, tomahawks, scalping knives,
+      wampum, strips of colored beads, blankets, swords, belts, moccasins,
+      leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in forays on the white
+      settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of various kinds, boots,
+      shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast assortment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older chiefs
+      sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five hundred on
+      each side, and already they began to show an excitement approaching that
+      which animated them when they would go into battle. Their eyes glowed, and
+      the muscles on their naked backs and chests were tense for the spring. In
+      order to leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they wore no clothing
+      at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist to the knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of &ldquo;byes&rdquo; like
+      those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart. But the goals of
+      each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants arranged
+      themselves in two parallel lines facing each other, inside the area and
+      about ten rods apart. Every man was armed with a strong stick three and a
+      half to four feet in length, and curving toward the end. Upon this curved
+      end was tightly fastened a network of thongs of untanned deerskin, drawn
+      until they were rigid and taut. The ball with which they were to play was
+      made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about the size of an
+      ordinary apple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the chiefs,
+      who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also score keepers. They
+      kept tally of the game by cutting notches upon sticks. Every time one side
+      put the ball through the other's goal it counted one, but there was an
+      unusual power exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to the games of
+      white men. If one side got too far ahead, its score was cut down at the
+      discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more even, and also to
+      protract it sometimes over three or four days. The warriors of the leading
+      side might grumble among one another at the amount of cutting the chiefs
+      did, but they would not dare to make any protest. However, the chiefs
+      would never cut the leading side down to an absolute parity with the
+      other. It was always allowed to retain a margin of the superiority it had
+      won.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became intense. Even
+      the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness, while the brown bodies
+      of the warriors shone in the sun, and the taut muscles leaped up under the
+      skin. Fifty players on each side, sticks in hand, advanced to the center
+      of the ground, and arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion of
+      football players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their goals.
+      Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+      beautiful of these appeared. She was not more than sixteen or seventeen
+      years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer, and she was dressed
+      in the finest and most richly embroidered deerskin. Her head was crowned
+      with a red coronet, crested with plumes, made of the feathers of the eagle
+      and heron. She wore silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very center of the
+      arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors, she placed it upon the
+      ground. Then she sprang back and joined the throng of spectators. Two of
+      the players, one from each side, chosen for strength and dexterity,
+      advanced. They hooked the ball together in their united bats and thus
+      raised it aloft, until the bats were absolutely perpendicular. Then with a
+      quick, jerking motion they shot it upward. Much might be gained by this
+      first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two players were equal, and
+      it shot almost absolutely straight into the air. The nearest groups made a
+      rush for it, and the fray began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually twenty or
+      thirty on each side struck for the ball, and when they became exhausted or
+      disabled were relieved by similar groups. All eventually came into action.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity, assuming
+      sometimes the aspect of a battle. Blows with the formidable sticks were
+      given and received. Brown skins were streaked with blood, heads were
+      cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. Such killings were not unusual in these
+      games, and it was always considered the fault of the man who fell, due to
+      his own awkwardness or unwariness. The body of the dead Cayuga was taken
+      away in disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and zeal,
+      party relieving party. The meadow and the surrounding forest resounded
+      with the shouts and yells of combatants and spectators. The old squaws
+      were in a perfect frenzy of excitement, and their shrill screams of
+      applause or condemnation rose above every other sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one day, the
+      chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. The game closed at
+      sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas triumphant, and richer by far than
+      they were in the morning. The Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped of
+      their goods and crestfallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the game closely
+      to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton Wyatt and Blackstaffe.
+      They and Quarles had wandered eastward with some Delawares, and had
+      afterward joined the band of Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave them no
+      very warm welcome. Quarles had left on some errand a few days before. They
+      had rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by one, in the deep
+      bush. But they had felt anger and disappointment when the fifth was not
+      taken, also. Now both were concerned and alarmed over the escape of
+      Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew apart from the Indians to
+      discuss it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; said Wyatt, &ldquo;that Hyde did not manage it himself, all alone.
+      How could he? He was bound both hand and foot; and I've learned, too,
+      Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles have been taken. That
+      means one apiece for Hyde and the three prisoners that are left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away,&rdquo; said
+      Blackstaffe, &ldquo;and their taking of the rifles means that he and Hyde expect
+      to rescue the other three in the same way. You think so, too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; replied Wyatt. &ldquo;What makes the Indians, who are so
+      wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so careless when
+      they have a great feast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is their way,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;You cannot change it. Ware must have
+      noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of it. But I don't
+      think any of the others will go that way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boy Cotter is in here,&rdquo; said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the side of a
+      small hut. &ldquo;Let's go in and see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good enough,&rdquo; said Blackstaffe. &ldquo;But we mustn't let him know that Hyde
+      has escaped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. He, too, was
+      pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon him heavily-but Paul's
+      spirit could never be daunted. He looked at the two renegades with hatred
+      and contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you're in a fine fix,&rdquo; said Wyatt sneeringly. &ldquo;We just came in to
+      tell you that we took Henry Ware last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that the
+      renegade was lying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know better,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we will get him,&rdquo; said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, &ldquo;and all of you
+      will die at the stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, will not get him,&rdquo; said Paul defiantly, &ldquo;and as for the rest of us
+      dying at the stake, that's to be seen. I know this: Timmendiquas considers
+      us of value, to be traded or exchanged, and he's too smart a man to
+      destroy what he regards as his own property. Besides, we may escape. I
+      don't want to boast, Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're hard to hold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if he were
+      through with them. They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said sulkily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing to be got out of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Blackstaffe, &ldquo;but we must urge that the strictest kind of guard
+      be kept over the others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all their
+      forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had in mind. The
+      Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum belts of purple shells,
+      sign of war, to distant villages of the tribes, and parties of warriors
+      were still coming in. A band of Cayugas arrived that night, and with them
+      they brought a half starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had picked
+      up near the camp. The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might have been
+      when in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had reached him
+      through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the Iroquois on the
+      white settlements, and the spirits would not let him rest unless he bore
+      his part in it. He prayed therefore to be accepted among them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to a lodge
+      to rest. To-morrow he would be well, and he would be welcomed to the ranks
+      of the Cayugas, a Younger nation. But when the morning came, the lodge was
+      empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was gone, and with him the boy, Paul, the
+      youngest of the prisoners. Guards bad been posted all around the camp, but
+      evidently the two had slipped between. Brave and advanced as were the
+      Iroquois, superstition seized upon them. Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work
+      among them, coming in the form of the famished Lenni-Lenape. He had
+      steeped them in a deep sleep, and then he had vanished with the prisoner
+      in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had taken away the boy, who was one of a
+      hated race, for some sacrifice or mystery of his own. The fears of the
+      Iroquois rose. If the Spirit of Evil was among them, greater harm could be
+      expected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did not believe
+      in the interference of either good spirits or bad spirits, and just now
+      their special hatred was a famished Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why on earth didn't I think of it?&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;I'm sure now by his
+      size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he slipped to the lodge, let
+      Cotter out, and they dodged about in the darkness until they escaped in
+      the forest. I'll complain to Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both Iroquois and
+      Wyandots. The great White Lightning regarded him with an icy stare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do,&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did you not prevent it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since when,&rdquo; continued Timmendiquas, &ldquo;have you, a deserter front your own
+      people, had the right to hold to account the head chief of the Wyandots?&rdquo;
+       Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly was, trembled yet more. He knew
+      that Timmendiquas did not like him, and that the Wyandot chieftain could
+      make his position among the Indians precarious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in particular,&rdquo; he
+      exclaimed hastily, &ldquo;but I've been hearing so much talk about the Spirit of
+      Evil having a hand in this that I couldn't keep front saying something. Of
+      course, it was Henry Ware and Hyde who did it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas icily, &ldquo;but neither the Manitou of the
+      Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me the eyes to see
+      everything that happens in the dark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more. He and Blackstaffe
+      held many conferences through the day, and they longed for the presence of
+      Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest villages of
+      the Mohawks, far east toward Albany. He had been sent from a farther
+      village, and was not known personally to the warriors in the great camp,
+      but he bore a wampum belt of purple shells, the sign of war, and he
+      reported directly to Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and
+      satisfactory words. After ample feasting, as became one who had come so
+      far, he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep. His evil spirit warned
+      him to rise and go to the huts, where the two remaining prisoners were
+      kept. It was then about one o'clock in the morning, and as he passed he
+      saw the Onondaga runner at the door of one of the prison lodges. He was
+      about to cry out, but the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent
+      blow with the butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic,
+      that he fell senseless. When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him an
+      hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the prisoners,
+      the one called Ross, was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil was among
+      them. When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were deceived,
+      how could a common warrior hope to escape its wicked influence!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a bed of
+      skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him no comfort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous storm of
+      thunder and lightning, wind and rain. Many of the lodges were thrown down,
+      and when the storm finally whirled itself away, it was found that the last
+      of the prisoners, he of the long arms and long legs, had gone on the edge
+      of the blast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. CATHARINE MONTOUR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of content.
+      The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his comrades, had
+      disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward. The lightning was flaring
+      its last on the distant horizon, but the rain still pattered in the great
+      woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it. They were dry, warm,
+      and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and the wilderness. The
+      four after their imprisonment and privations were recovering their weight
+      and color. Paul, who had suffered the most, had, on the other hand, made
+      the quickest recovery, and their present situation, so fortunate in
+      contrast with their threatened fate a few days before, made a great appeal
+      to his imagination. The door was allowed to stand open six inches, and
+      through the crevice he watched the rain pattering on the dark earth. He
+      felt an immense sense of security and comfort. Paul was hopeful by nature
+      and full of courage, but when he lay bound and alone in a hut in the
+      Iroquois camp it seemed to him that no chance was left. The comrades had
+      been kept separate, and he had supposed the others to be dead. But here he
+      was snatched from the very pit of death, and all the others had been saved
+      from a like fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I'd
+      never have given up hope. It was a wonderful thing you did to start the
+      chain that drew us all away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might have tried it,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;but I ain't sure that we'd
+      have done it. Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me my scalp would be
+      dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a Mohawk village. Say, Sol, how
+      wuz it that you talked Onondaga when you played the part uv that Onondaga
+      runner. Didn't know you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a thoughtful hand
+      once or twice across his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the instincts uv
+      the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty strong hold on me. Ef I'd
+      had the chance, I might be a purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin' poetry. I
+      ain't told you about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I moved with
+      the settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk Iroquois a
+      heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been now. Ain't it
+      funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an' it gits all covered
+      with rust and mold, the time comes when that same forgot little thing is
+      the most vallyble article in the world to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weren't you scared, Sol,&rdquo; persisted Paul, &ldquo;to face a man like Brant, an'
+      pass yourself off as an Onondaga?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I wuzn't,&rdquo; replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, &ldquo;I've been wuss
+      scared over little things. I guess that when your life depends on jest a
+      motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word, Natur' somehow comes to your
+      help an' holds you up. I didn't get good an' skeered till it wuz all over,
+      an' then I had one fit right after another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin',&rdquo; said Tom Ross; &ldquo;jest
+      beginnin' to git over it. I tell you, Henry, it wuz pow'ful lucky fur us
+      you found them steppin' stones, an' this solid little place in the middle
+      uv all that black mud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island in the
+      lake,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;That waz shorely a nice place an' pow'ful
+      comf'table we wuz thar. But we're a long way from it now. That island uv
+      ours must be seven or eight hundred miles from here, an' I reckon it's
+      nigh to fifteen hundred to New Orleans, whar we wuz once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shet up,&rdquo; said Tom Ross suddenly. &ldquo;Time fur all uv you to go to sleep,
+      an' I'm goin' to watch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll watch,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time,&rdquo; said Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Needn't quarrel with me about it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;A lazy man like
+      me is always willin' to go to sleep. You kin hev my watch, Tom, every
+      night fur the next five years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was sound asleep.
+      Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they, too, soon slept. Tom sat
+      at the door, one of the captured rifles across his knees, and watched the
+      forest and the swamp. He saw the last flare of the distant lightning, and
+      he listened to the falling of the rain drops until they vanished with the
+      vanishing wind, leaving the forest still and without noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although powerful
+      in action, he was singularly chary of speech. Henry was the leader, but
+      somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other four, a sort
+      of elder brother. As the moon came out a little in the wake of the
+      retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, two, three, four, five,&rdquo; he murmured to himself. &ldquo;We're all here,
+      an' Henry come fur us. That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez ever
+      seed. Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal that Paul talks about couldn't
+      hev been knee high to Henry. Besides, ef them old Greeks an' Romans hed
+      hed to fight Wyandots an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've done, whar'd they
+      hev been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of that
+      sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. Then he went
+      outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for the tenth time what a
+      wonderful little refuge it was. He was about to return to the hut when he
+      saw a dozen dark blots along the high bough of a tree. He knew them. They
+      were welcome blots. They were wild turkeys that had found what had seemed
+      to be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted, and here
+      was more food come to their hand. &ldquo;We're five pow'ful feeders, an' we'll
+      need you,&rdquo; he murmured, looking up at the turkeys, &ldquo;but you kin rest thar
+      till nearly mornin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the hut to
+      resume his watch. Just before the first dawn he awoke Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest on the
+      limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv ourn. 'Pears to
+      me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers like us to eat. Kin we
+      risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too dangerous?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we can risk the shots,&rdquo; said Henry, rising and taking his rifle.
+      &ldquo;We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely that Indians are
+      anywhere near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound asleep,
+      and stepped noiselessly among the trees. The first pale gray bar that
+      heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thar they are,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots on the
+      high bough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull trigger,&rdquo;
+       said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but he noticed when he
+      drew the bead that a second turkey just behind the first was directly in
+      his line of fire. The fact aroused his ambition to kill both with one
+      bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display marksmanship,
+      but they needed the extra turkey for food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you ready, Tom?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Then fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
+      under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
+      turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
+      and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!&rdquo; he cried in tense
+      tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, what's the matter?&rdquo; asked the boy in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot? An
+      Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv them
+      turkeys at the same time we did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's no Indian about,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I killed two turkeys with one shot,
+      and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the line
+      of the bullet, and it went through both.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now when I saw that
+      third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe more
+      had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that we'd hev
+      to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind just
+      natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I want to
+      eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight, 'though I
+      'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the woods?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found them
+      large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to their
+      relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life of the
+      frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
+      westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures, all
+      three with leveled rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right, boys,&rdquo; sang out Henry. &ldquo;It's nobody but Tom and myself,
+      bringing in our breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three dropped their rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's good,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;When them shots roused us out o' our
+      beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot, artillery
+      an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned we'd better go
+      out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I
+      reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down
+      with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and
+      Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.
+      But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+      &ldquo;Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you
+      back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued on
+      the turkeys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin',&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I'm goin' to
+      help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The quicker
+      they are cooked the better it'll suit me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the
+      sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and
+      scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence, and,
+      relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a contented five
+      that worked on one of the turkeys&mdash;the other two being saved for
+      further needs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?&rdquo; asked
+      Long Jim as they ate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us,&rdquo; replied the boy.
+      &ldquo;It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that
+      they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has
+      told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, and
+      from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a big
+      army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named the
+      Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river, and
+      they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by British
+      from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but shall we go
+      and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said the four together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference,&rdquo; said Shif'less
+      Sol. &ldquo;We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we sent word back
+      from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while here in the east
+      on mighty important business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to a
+      place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv
+      'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our
+      Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our
+      people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole
+      ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John Butler
+      is to command 'em.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul shuddered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard of him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They called him 'Indian' Butler at
+      Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the
+      Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is as
+      bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the
+      Johnsons and Claus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears ez ef we would be needed,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we ought to hurry,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;The more we know about the
+      Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a safe
+      and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the Indian
+      movements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suits me,&rdquo; drawled Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;My legs an' arms are still stiff from
+      them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I guess
+      I'll take a rest from travelin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself,&rdquo; rejoined Long Jim; &ldquo;an' I'm
+      afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal
+      better than you deserve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch on the
+      Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting parties,
+      as the region was far from any settled portion of the country, and the
+      Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence. But the
+      hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy jerking
+      meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great campaign,
+      but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting was done by
+      Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick brushwood and
+      watched, by the light of the fires, what was passing in the Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and Shif'less Sol
+      lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned in
+      the Indian camp, warriors were polishing their weapons, and the women were
+      cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard from a
+      point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a kind of
+      chant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another war party comin',&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' singin' about
+      the victories that they're goin' to win.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But did you notice that voice?&rdquo; Henry whispered back. &ldquo;It's not a man's,
+      it's a woman's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now that you speak of it, you're right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;It's funny
+      to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into camp.
+      That's the business o' warriors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then this is no ordinary woman,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and
+      we want to see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So we do,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;but I ain't breathin' while they pass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could
+      not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing louder,
+      and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman. The trail
+      was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The fierce Indian
+      chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that either had ever
+      seen came into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most of
+      her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a
+      strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and
+      moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European cloth
+      with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright feathers,
+      thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her back. She held
+      in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung fiercely in time to
+      her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression of one who had taken
+      some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked neither to right nor to left
+      as she strode on, chanting a song of blood, and swinging the keen blade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human
+      figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength of a
+      man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and awful in
+      the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian chant.
+      Brave as they were, Henry and the shiftless one felt fear, as perhaps they
+      had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might! They were
+      destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the most awful of
+      which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery almost
+      unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know it, but they
+      were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French Governor General
+      of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the Iroquois, and of a
+      memory infamous forever on the border, where she was known as &ldquo;Queen
+      Esther.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and their
+      manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every sense. She
+      was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great Thayendanegea himself
+      wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois. In her youth she had been
+      treated as a white woman, educated and dressed as a white woman, and she
+      had played a part in colonial society at Albany, New York, and
+      Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned toward the savage half
+      of herself, had become wholly a savage, had married a savage chief, bad
+      been the mother of savage children, and here she was, at midnight,
+      striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness, her head aflame with
+      visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
+      still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol was
+      so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to see
+      her entry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
+      and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
+      welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
+      stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he received
+      her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest, though an
+      ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the Six
+      Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame the
+      Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village died
+      down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they had
+      been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
+      formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
+      be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
+      their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+      shivered slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
+      comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
+      afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think she
+      is a witch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
+      Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to happen is right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the islet. Tom
+      Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered peacefully on. They told Tom
+      what they had seen, and he told them the identity of the terrible woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about her
+      afore I went to Kentucky to live. She's got a tre-men-jeous power over the
+      Iroquois. They think she ken throw spells, an' all that sort of thing-an'
+      mebbe she kin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets, and then
+      they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. Now they were white
+      men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens,
+      as Henry afterward learned; and with them was the infamous John Butler, or
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, as he was generally known on the New York and
+      Pennsylvania frontier, middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant of
+      appearance, but energetic, savage and cruel in nature. He was a descendant
+      of the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the terrible
+      battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council around
+      one of the fires. In this group were Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea, Queen
+      Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations, and the white men, John
+      Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy, Braxton Wyatt. It seemed to Henry
+      that Timmendiquas, King of the Wyandots, was superior to all the other
+      chiefs present, even to Thayendanegea. His expression was nobler than that
+      of the great Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they felt sure
+      the Iroquois were about to break up their village and march on the great
+      campaign they had planned. The two and their comrades could render no
+      greater service than to watch their march, and then warn those upon whom
+      the blow was to fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well equipped
+      with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois dismantle their
+      village, all except the Long House and two or three other of the more
+      solid structures, and begin the march. Henry and his comrades went
+      parallel with them, watching their movements as closely as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to keep with
+      the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to observe what was
+      going on, and to divine what was intended from what they observed.
+      Fortunately it, was early summer, and the weather being very beautiful
+      they could sleep without shelter. Hence they found it convenient to sleep
+      sometimes by daylight, posting a watch always, and to spy upon the Indian
+      camp at night. They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian army,
+      particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war chiefs of
+      theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of Tories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga, preparatory to
+      their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. About four hundred white men,
+      English Canadians and Tories, were present, and eight hundred picked
+      warriors of the Six Nations under Thayendanegea, besides the little band
+      of Wyandots led by the resolute Timmendiquas. &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler was in
+      general command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the high priestess of
+      the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and chanting songs that
+      made the warriors see red. Upon the rear of this extraordinary army hung a
+      band of fierce old squaws, from whom every remnant of mercy and Gentleness
+      had departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler's force
+      start for its final march upon Wyoming. It was composed of many diverse
+      elements, and perhaps none more bloodthirsty ever trod the soil of
+      America. In some preliminary skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been
+      slain, and now her fury knew no limits. She took her place at the very
+      head of the army, whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and neither
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in anything
+      great or small.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened toward the
+      valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into contact with the
+      great war itself. They had looked upon a uniformed enemy for the first
+      time, and they might soon see the colonial buff and blue of the eastern
+      army. Their hearts thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of the four in
+      the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the Wyoming Valley and
+      the direction in which it lay, and, taking one last look at the savage
+      army, they sped toward it. The time was the close, of June, and the
+      foliage was still dark green. It was a land of low mountain, hill, rich
+      valley, and clear stream, and it was beautiful to every one of the five.
+      Much of their course lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they saw signs of
+      a more extended cultivation than any that was yet to be witnessed in
+      Kentucky. From the brow of a little hill they beheld a field of green, and
+      in another field a man plowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's wheat,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we can't leave the man to plow,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;or he'll never harvest
+      that wheat. We'll warn him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into his field.
+      He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay across the plow
+      handles. Neither Henry nor his companions realized that their forest garb
+      and long life in the wilderness made them look more like Indians than
+      white men. But Henry threw up a hand as a sign of peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're white like yourselves,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;and we've come to warn you! The
+      Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little wood,
+      where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising. He could not doubt on a
+      near view that these were white like himself, and the words rang true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My house is strong,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I can beat them off. Maybe you will
+      help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd help you willingly enough,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;if this were any ordinary
+      raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen Esther are coming at
+      the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. How could we hold a house, no
+      matter how thick its walls, against such an army as that? Don't hesitate a
+      moment! Get up what you can and gallop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his plow in the
+      furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted his wife and children
+      on other horses, and, taking only food and clothing, fled to Stroudsburg,
+      where there was a strong fort. At a later day he gave Henry heartfelt
+      thanks for his warning, as six hours afterward the vanguard of the horde
+      burned his home and raged because its owner and his family were gone with
+      their scalps on their own heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the Lenni-Lenape,
+      until they were pushed westward by other tribes, had had their village
+      Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language Wyoming. It was a beautiful
+      valley running twenty miles or more along the Susquehanna, and about three
+      miles broad. On either side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in height,
+      and further away were peaks with mists and vapors around their crests. The
+      valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river sparkled, now
+      in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs, appeared,
+      and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery beacon. Simon Jennings
+      was not the only man who lived to thank them for the warning. Others were
+      incredulous, and soon paid the terrible price of unbelief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them with
+      wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated fields, and
+      so many signs of a numerous population. They had emerged almost for the
+      first time from the wilderness, excepting their memorable visit to New
+      Orleans, although this was a very different region. Long Jim spoke of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We found
+      some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the ground feels firmer
+      under my feet here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The ground feels firmer,&rdquo; said Paul, who had some of the prescience of
+      the seer, &ldquo;but the skies are no brighter. They look red to me sometimes,
+      Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously. A woodsman, he had
+      his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon his mind. He began to
+      fear a great disaster, and his experienced eye perceived at once the
+      defenseless state of the valley. He remembered the council of the great
+      Indian force in the deep woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther was
+      again before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It
+      ain't no time to be plowin' land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley. It was a fine river,
+      beautiful with changing colors. The soil on either side was as deep and
+      fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the mountains cut the sky
+      sharp and clear. Hills and slopes were dark green with foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and scouts
+      came in, confirming it. Panic seized the settlers, and they began to crowd
+      toward Forty Fort on the west side of the river. Henry and his comrades
+      themselves arrived there toward the close of evening, just as the sun had
+      set, blood red, behind the mountains. Some report of them had preceded
+      their coming, and as soon as they had eaten they were summoned to the
+      presence of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the military force in
+      the valley. Singularly enough, he was a cousin of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, who led
+      the invading army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and moccasins, and
+      everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife, entered a large low room,
+      dimly lighted by some wicks burning in tallow. A man of middle years, with
+      a keen New England face, sat at a little table, and several others of
+      varying ages stood near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five knew instinctively that the man at the table was Colonel Butler,
+      and they bowed, but they did not show the faintest trace of subservience.
+      They had caught suspicious glances from some of the officers who stood
+      about the commander, and they stiffened at once. Colonel Butler looked
+      involuntarily at Henry-everybody always took him, without the telling, for
+      leader of the group.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had report of you,&rdquo; he said in cool noncommittal tones, &ldquo;and you
+      have been telling of great Indian councils that you have seen in the
+      woods. May I ask your name and where you belong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name,&rdquo; replied Henry with dignity, &ldquo;is Henry Ware, and I come from
+      Kentucky. My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim
+      Hart. They, too, come from Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances. Certainly they were
+      wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. It would seem
+      strange that new settlers in that far land should be here in Pennsylvania.
+      Henry saw clearly that his story was doubted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kentucky, you tell me?&rdquo; said Colonel Butler. &ldquo;Do you mean to say you have
+      come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an attack by Indians and
+      Tories?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a little, but
+      he saw that the commander was not unreasonable. It was a time when men
+      might well question the words of strangers. Remembering this, he replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you. In fact, we came from
+      a point much farther than that. We came from New Orleans to Pittsburgh
+      with a fleet loaded with supplies for the Continental armies, and
+      commanded by Adam Colfax of New Hampshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;you were on that expedition? It seems to me that I
+      recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some independent
+      scouts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we reached Pittsburgh,&rdquo; continued Henry, &ldquo;it was our first intention
+      to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war movement was in
+      progress to the eastward, and we thought that we would see what was going
+      on. Four of us have been captives among the Iroquois. We know much of
+      their plans, and we know, too, that Timmendiquas, the great chief of the
+      Wyandots, whom we fought along the Ohio, has joined them with a hand of
+      his best warriors. We have also seen Thayendanegea, every one of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Brant?&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the great Mohawk
+      by his white name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We have seen him, and we have also seen the woman
+      they call Queen Esther. She is continually urging the Indians on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. He also
+      introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John Durkee, Colonel
+      Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garrett,
+      Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler
+      courteously. &ldquo;You will pardon so many questions, but we must be careful.
+      You will see that yourselves. But I am a New England man myself, from
+      Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. I recall now that we have heard
+      of you, also, and we are grateful for your coming. Will you and your
+      comrades tell us all that you have seen and heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere. They were no longer
+      possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one point when it
+      should be dreaded at another. The men drew closely around them, and
+      listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the dim room. Henry spoke first,
+      and the others in their turn. Every one of them spoke tersely but vividly
+      in the language of the forest. They felt deeply what they had seen, and
+      they drew the same picture for their listeners. Gradually the faces of the
+      Wyoming men became shadowed. This was a formidable tale that they were
+      hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is worse than I thought it could be,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler at last.
+      &ldquo;How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Close to fifteen hundred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All trained warriors and soldiers. And at the best we cannot raise more
+      than three hundreds including old men and boys, and our men, too, are
+      farmers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we can beat them. Only give us a chance, Colonel!&rdquo; exclaimed Captain
+      Ransom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid the chance will come too soon,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler, and then
+      turning to the five: &ldquo;Help us all you can. We need scouts and riflemen.
+      Come to the fort for any food and ammunition you may need.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay, and do
+      all in their power. In fact, they had come for that very purpose.
+      Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had implicit faith in
+      them they went forth to find that, despite the night and the darkness,
+      fugitives were already crossing the river to seek refuge in Forty Fort,
+      bringing with them tales of death and devastation, some of which were
+      exaggerated, but too many true in all their hideous details. Men had been
+      shot and scalped in the fields, houses were burning, women and children
+      were captives for a fate that no one could foretell. Red ruin was already
+      stalking down the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and dugouts
+      across the river. Here and there a torch light flickered on the surface of
+      the stream, showing the pale faces of the women and children, too
+      frightened to cry. They had fled in haste, bringing with them only the
+      clothes they wore and maybe a blanket or two. The borderers knew too well
+      what Indian war was, with all its accompaniments of fire and the stake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night. They secured a large
+      boat and crossed the river again and again, guarding the fugitives with
+      their rifles, and bringing comfort to many a timid heart. Indian bands had
+      penetrated far into the Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure that none were
+      yet in the neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the fugitives
+      who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors of the five, had
+      they so chosen, were over for the time. But their nerves were tuned to so
+      high a pitch, and they felt so powerfully the presence of danger, that
+      they could not rest, nor did they have any desire for sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of oars. It had
+      been detailed for their service, and they decided to pull up the river.
+      They thought it possible that they might see the advance of the enemy and
+      bring news worth the telling. Long Jim and Tom Ross took the oars, and
+      their powerful arms sent the boat swiftly along in the shadow of the
+      western bank. Henry and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at the fort
+      and a few on either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall, and
+      everything else were merged in obscurity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger, not for
+      themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs, yet so new, few
+      people lived beyond the palisades, but here were rich and scattered
+      settlements; and men, even in the face of great peril, are always loth to
+      abandon the homes that they have built with so much toil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long strokes
+      that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and houses sank out of
+      sight. Before them lay the somber surface of the rippling river, the
+      shadowy hills, and silence. The world seemed given over to the night save
+      for themselves, but they knew too well to trust to such apparent
+      desertion. At such hours the Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt
+      that they were already near, gathering news of their victims for the
+      Indian and Tory horde. Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+      himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks and
+      bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross drawing their oars
+      so carefully through the water that there was never a plash to tell of
+      their passing. Henry was in the prow of the boat, bent forward a little,
+      eyes searching the surface of the river, and ears intent upon any sound
+      that might pass on the bank. Suddenly he gave a little signal to the
+      rowers and they let their oars rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bring the boat in closer to the bank,&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;Push it gently
+      among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jim obeyed. The boat slid softly among tall bushes that shadowed
+      the water, and was hidden completely. Then Henry stepped out, crept
+      cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here very low, and lay pressed
+      closely against the earth, but supported by the exposed root of a tree. He
+      had heard voices, those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to see.
+      Peering through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+      warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great oak. The
+      face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his element, with a better
+      prospect of success than any that he had ever known before. Henry
+      shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life
+      when he might have taken it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might be
+      saying, not to slay. Two of the warriors, as he saw by their paint, were
+      Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. Moreover, his slight
+      knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and gradually he gathered the
+      drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
+      the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed that
+      his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with his
+      wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid the
+      place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He slid
+      back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pull back down the river as gently as you can,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;and then
+      I'll tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
+      yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish plan
+      that he had heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that man,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;His name is Standish. I was there
+      nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his family an'
+      run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't afraid, an' now
+      he's got to pay the price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he mustn't do that,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;It's too much to pay for just being
+      foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet save that
+      man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, course,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;Like ez not Standish will shoot at us when
+      we knock on his door, but let's try it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others nodded assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
+      Jim give Sol and me the oars now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
+      down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
+      ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house that
+      they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come, but as
+      they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The shiftless
+      one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hated to do it, but I had to,&rdquo; he murmured. The next moment Henry was
+      knocking at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up! Up!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
+      lives!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
+      then they heard him at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Why are you beating on my door at such a time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are friends, Mr. Standish,&rdquo; cried Henry, &ldquo;and if you would save your
+      wife and children you must go at once! Open the door! Open, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man inside was in a terrible quandary. It was thus that renegades or
+      Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes bade a door to be
+      opened, in order that they might find an easy path to slaughter. But the
+      voice outside was powerfully insistent, it had the note of truth; his wife
+      and children, roused, too, were crying out, in alarm. Henry knocked again
+      on the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+      earnestness, to open and flee. Standish could resist no longer. He took
+      down the bar and flung open the door, springing back, startled at the five
+      figures that stood before him. In the dusk he did not remember Shif'less
+      Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Standish,&rdquo; Henry said, speaking rapidly, &ldquo;we are, as you can see,
+      white. You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades within half an
+      hour. We know that, because we heard them talking from the bushes. We have
+      a boat in the river; you can reach it in five minutes. Take your wife and
+      children, and pull for Forty Fort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Standish was bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we had been that you'd be a dead man already,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish recognized the
+      fact. His wife had felt the truth in the tones of the strangers, and was
+      begging him to go. Their children were crying at visions of the tomahawk
+      and scalping knife now so near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll go,&rdquo; said Standish. &ldquo;At any rate, it can't do any harm. We'll get a
+      few things together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not wait for anything!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry. &ldquo;You haven't a minute to
+      spare! Here are more blankets! Take them and run for the boat! Sol and
+      Jim, see them on board, and then come back!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his family ran for
+      the boat. Jim and the shiftless one almost threw them on board, thrust a
+      pair of oars into the bands of Standish, another into the hands of his
+      wife, and then told them to pull with all their might for the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you,&rdquo; cried Standish, &ldquo;what becomes of you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed Henry's
+      plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you trouble about us,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;We will come later.
+      Now pull! pull!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the boat and
+      its occupants were lost in the darkness. Tom Ross and Sol did not pause to
+      watch them, but ran swiftly back to the house. Henry was at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; he said briefly, and they entered. Then he closed the door and
+      dropped the bar into place. Shif'less Sol and Paul were already inside,
+      one sitting on the chair and the other on the edge of the bed. Some coals,
+      almost hidden under ashes, smoldered and cast a faint light in the room,
+      the only one that the house had, although it was divided into two parts by
+      a rough homespun curtain. Henry opened one of the window shutters a little
+      and looked out. The dawn had not yet come, but it was not a dark night,
+      and he looked over across the little clearing to the trees beyond. On that
+      side was a tiny garden, and near the wall of the house some roses were
+      blooming. He could see the glow of pink and red. But no enemy bad yet
+      approached. Searching the clearing carefully with those eyes of his,
+      almost preternaturally keen, he was confident that the Indians were still
+      in the woods. He felt an intense thrill of satisfaction at the success of
+      his plan so far.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the borderer alone
+      knew what the border suffered, and only those who never saw or felt the
+      torture could turn the other cheek to be smitten. The Standish house had
+      made a sudden and ominous change of tenants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will soon be day,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and farmers are early risers. Kindle
+      up that fire a little, will you, Sol? I want some smoke to come out of the
+      chimney.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three pieces of
+      wood that lay on the hearth. Little flames and smoke arose. Henry looked
+      curiously about the house. It was the usual cabin of the frontier,
+      although somewhat larger. The bed on which Shif'less Sol sat was evidently
+      that of the father and mother, while two large ones behind the curtain
+      were used by the children. On the shelf stood a pail half full of drinking
+      water, and by the side of it a tin cup. Dried herbs hung over the
+      fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners. The clothing of
+      the children was scattered about. Unprepared food for breakfast stood on a
+      table. Everything told of a hasty flight and its terrible need. Henry was
+      already resolved, but his heart hardened within him as he saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for the door
+      bar nearly in two. The others said not a word. They had no need to speak.
+      They understood everything that he did. He opened the window again and
+      looked out. Nothing yet appeared. &ldquo;The dawn will come in three quarters of
+      an hour,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we shall not have to wait long for what we want to
+      do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat down facing the door. All the others were sitting, and they, too,
+      faced the door. Everyone had his rifle across his knees, with one hand
+      upon the hammer. The wood on the hearth sputtered as the fire spread, and
+      the flames grew. Beyond a doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising from the
+      chimney, and a watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful and
+      unsuspecting mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn't be sorry,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. He hoped
+      the waiting would be very short. The light was sufficient for him to see
+      the faces of his comrades, and he noticed that they were all very tense.
+      This was no common watch that they kept. Shif'less Sol remained on the
+      bed, Henry sat on another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the chests
+      with his back to the wall. Long Jim was near the curtain. Close by Paul
+      was a home-made cradle. He put down his hand and touched it. He was glad
+      that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his heart anew for the
+      task that lay before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. He did not
+      open it, but there was a crack through which he could see. The others said
+      nothing, but watched his face. When he turned away they knew that the
+      moment was at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've just come from the woods,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and in a minute they'll be
+      at the door. Now, boys, take one last look at your rifles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no answer
+      came from within. The knock was repeated, sharper and louder, and Henry,
+      altering his voice as much as possible, exclaimed like one suddenly
+      awakened from sleep:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is it? What do you want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've come from farther up the valley. We're scouts, we've been up to the
+      Indian country. We're half starved. Open and give us food!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe you,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;Honest people don't come to my door
+      at this time in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his vivid fancy,
+      thought he heard whispering on the other side of the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Open!&rdquo; cried Wyatt, &ldquo;or we'll break your door down!&rdquo; Henry said nothing,
+      nor did any of the others. They did not stir. The fire crackled a little,
+      but there was no other sound in the Standish house. Presently they heard a
+      slight noise outside, that of light feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are going for a log with which to break the door in,&rdquo; whispered
+      Henry. &ldquo;They won't have to look far. The wood pile isn't fifty feet away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' then,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;they won't have much left to do but to
+      take the scalps of women an' little children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless one's
+      significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. Henry went to
+      the door, put his ear to the line where it joined the wall, and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've got their log,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and in half a minute they'll rush it
+      against the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came back to his old position. Paul's heart began to thump, and his
+      thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. Then they heard
+      rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew open. A half dozen
+      Iroquois and a log that they held between them were hurled into the middle
+      of the room. The door had given away so easily and unexpectedly that the
+      warriors could not check themselves, and two or three fell with the log.
+      But they sprang like cats to their feet, and with their comrades uttered a
+      cry that filled the whole cabin with its terrible sound and import.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at once. The
+      five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, all waiting silent
+      and motionless were far different from what they expected. Here could be
+      no scalps, with the long, silky hair of women and children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their foes.
+      Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five muzzles, and in an
+      instant the cabin was filled with smoke and war shouts, but the warriors
+      never had a chance. They could only strike blindly with their tomahawks,
+      and in a half minute three of them, two wounded, rushed through the door
+      and fled to the woods. They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt,
+      who had hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. WYOMING
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five made no attempt to pursue. In fact, they did not leave the cabin,
+      but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen, hideous with war
+      paint, but now at the end of their last trail. Their tomahawks lay upon
+      the floor, and glittered when the light from the fire fell upon them.
+      Smoke, heavy with the odor of burned gunpowder, drifted about the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of air
+      poured into the room. Over the mountains in the east came the first shaft
+      of day. The surface of the river was lightening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do with them?&rdquo; asked Paul, pointing to the silent forms on
+      the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave them,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Butler's army is burning everything before it,
+      and this house and all in it is bound to go. You notice, however, that
+      Braxton Wyatt is not here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trust him to escape every time,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Of course he stood
+      back while the Indians rushed the house. But ez shore ez we live somebody
+      will get him some day. People like that can't escape always.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and not long
+      after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort again, where they found
+      Standish and his family. Henry replied briefly to the man's questions, but
+      two hours later a scout came in and reported the grim sight that he had
+      seen in the Standish home. No one could ask for further proof of the
+      fealty of the five, who sought a little sleep, but before noon were off
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go farther up the
+      valley. But not willing to turn back, they ascended the mountains that hem
+      it in, and from the loftiest point that they could find sought a sight of
+      the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer. The blue of the heavens
+      showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and the hills and
+      mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark green. The river, a
+      beautiful river at any time, seemed from this height a great current of
+      quicksilver. Henry pointed to a place far up the stream where black dots
+      appeared on its surface. These dots were moving, and they came on in four
+      lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Boys,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you know what those lines of black dots are?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;it's Butler's army of Indians, Tories,
+      Canadians, an' English. They've come from Tioga Point on the river, an'
+      our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the distance,
+      with startling clearness. The five, watching from their peak, saw them
+      turn in toward the land, where they poured forth a motley stream of red
+      men and white, a stream that was quickly swallowed up in the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they're coming fast,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;It's for us to carry the warning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they passed,
+      and once more they were in the council room with Colonel Zebulon Butler
+      and his officers around him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So they are at hand, and you have seen them?&rdquo; said the colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Henry, the spokesman, &ldquo;they came down from Tioga Point in
+      boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through the woods. They will
+      be here today.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a little silence in the room. The older men understood the
+      danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should we stay here and wait for them?&rdquo; exclaimed one of the younger
+      captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. &ldquo;Why not go out,
+      meet them, and beat them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They outnumber us about five to one,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Brant, if he is still
+      with them, though he may have gone to some other place from Tioga Point,
+      is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, and they say that the
+      Tory leader is energetic and capable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all true!&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Butler. &ldquo;We must stay in the fort! We
+      must not go out to meet them! We are not strong enough!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger officers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be scalped,
+      while we stay behind log walls!&rdquo; said one of them boldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely militia,
+      farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It hurts
+      me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we sit quiet here. But
+      I know that we have no chance against so large a force, and if we fall
+      what is to become of the hundreds whom we now protect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were indignant. They
+      would not seek shelter for themselves while others were suffering. A young
+      lieutenant saw from a window two fires spring up and burn like torch
+      lights against the sky. They were houses blazing before the Indian brand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at that!&rdquo; he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, &ldquo;and we are
+      here, under cover, doing nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler, although the
+      flush remained on his face, still shook his head. He glanced at Tom Ross,
+      the oldest of the five.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know about the Indian force,&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;What should we do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was his wont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a hard thing to set here,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;but it will be harder to
+      go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four or five to one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must not go out,&rdquo; repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family has been
+      killed and scalped,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep, angry cry went up. Colonel Butler and the few who stood with him
+      were overborne. Such things as these could not be endured, and reluctantly
+      the commander gave his consent. They would go out and fight. The fort and
+      its enclosures were soon filled with the sounds of preparation, and the
+      little army was formed rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will fight by your side, of course,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we wish to serve
+      on the flank as an independent band. We can be of more service in that
+      manner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Act as you think best,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force formed in
+      ranks. Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon going into battle.
+      They had seen the strength of that army of Indians, renegades, Tories,
+      Canadians, and English advancing under the banner of England, and they
+      knew the power and fanaticism of the Indian leaders. They believed that
+      the terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had continually chanted to
+      them her songs of blood as they came down the river. It was now the third
+      of July, and valley and river were beautiful in the golden sunlight. The
+      foliage showed vivid and deep green on either line of high hills. The
+      summer sun had never shown more kindly over the lovely valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The time was now three o'clock. The gates of the fort were thrown open,
+      and the little army marched out, only three hundred, of whom seventy were
+      old men, or boys so young that in our day they would be called children.
+      Yet they marched bravely against the picked warriors of the Iroquois,
+      trained from infancy to the forest and war, and a formidable body of white
+      rovers who wished to destroy the little colony of &ldquo;rebels,&rdquo; as they called
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Small though it might be, it was a gallant army. Young and old held their
+      heads high. A banner was flying, and a boy beat a steady insistent roll
+      upon a drum. Henry and his comrades were on the left flank, the river was
+      on the right. The great gates had closed behind them, shutting in the
+      women and the children. The sun blazed down, throwing everything into
+      relief with its intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces of the
+      borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes. Colonel Butler and two
+      or three of his officers were on horseback, leading the van. Now that the
+      decision was to fight, the older officers, who had opposed it, were in the
+      very front. Forward they went, and spread out a little, but with the right
+      flank still resting on the river, and the left extended on the plain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from the others,
+      searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was already so near.
+      Their gloom did not decrease. Neither the rolling of the drum nor the
+      flaunting of the banner had any effect. Brave though the men might be,
+      this was not the way in which they should meet an Indian foe who
+      outnumbered them four or five to one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't like it,&rdquo; muttered Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor do I,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but remember that whatever happens we all stand
+      together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We remember!&rdquo; said the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the main force
+      some hundred yards. They swung in a little toward the river. The banks
+      here were highland off to the left was a large swamp. The five now checked
+      speed and moved with great wariness. They saw nothing, and they heard
+      nothing, either, until they went forty or fifty yards farther. Then a low
+      droning sound came to their ears. It was the voice of one yet far away,
+      but they knew it. It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther, in this
+      moment the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+      continuously for the combat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a little. The
+      chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they saw the ominous
+      figure approaching. She was much as she had been on that night when they
+      first beheld her. She wore the same dress of barbaric colors, she swung
+      the same great tomahawk about her head, and sang all the time of fire and
+      blood and death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech cloth for
+      battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war paint, and bright
+      feathers gleaming in their hair. Henry recognized the tall form of
+      Timmendiquas, notable by his height, and around him his little band of
+      Wyandots, ready to prove themselves mighty warriors to their eastern
+      friends the Iroquois. Back of these was a long line of Indians and their
+      white allies, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers in the
+      center, bearing the flag of England. The warriors, of whom the Senecas
+      were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on their right
+      flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. Sangerachte and Hiokatoo,
+      who had taken two English prisoners at Braddock's defeat, and who had
+      afterwards burned them both alive with his own hand, were the principal
+      leaders of the Senecas. Henry caught a glimpse of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler in the
+      center, with a great blood-red handkerchief tied around his head, and,
+      despite the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of the heart how far
+      the hostile line extended. It could wrap itself like a python around the
+      defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a tale that will soon be told,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy was at
+      band. Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing chant of Queen
+      Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from a thousand throats,
+      swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a wounded beast. The farmers,
+      the boys, and the old men, most of whom had never been in battle, might
+      well tremble at this ominous sound, so great in volume and extending so
+      far into the forest. But they stood firm, drawing themselves into a
+      somewhat more compact body, and still advancing with their banners flying,
+      and the boy beating out that steady roll on the drum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed his force
+      in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank of the river and his
+      left against the swamp. Forward pressed the motley army of the other
+      Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame, and the bulk of his force came
+      into view, the sun shining down on the green uniforms of the English and
+      the naked brown bodies of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The American commander gave the order to fire. Eager fingers were already
+      on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the entire rank. The Royal
+      Greens and Rangers, although replying with their own fire, gave back
+      before the storm of bullets, and the Wyoming men, with a shout of triumph,
+      sprang forward. It was always a characteristic of the border settler,
+      despite many disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and cunning, to
+      rush straight at his foe whenever he saw him. His, unless a trained forest
+      warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this gallant little force
+      asked for nothing but to come to close grips with the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men in the center with &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler gave back still more. With
+      cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing rapidly, and
+      continuing to drive the mongrel white force. The rifles were cracking
+      rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. The wind caught wisps of it
+      and carried them off down the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It goes better than I thought,&rdquo; said Paul as he reloaded his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we are fighting the white men only. Where are all
+      the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than two to one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here they come,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of the swamp,
+      which was supposed to protect the left flank of the Wyoming force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of dark
+      figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth, armed with rifle
+      and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the unprotected side of their foe. The
+      swamp had been but little obstacle to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once. As many as possible were
+      called off immediately from the main body, but they were not numerous
+      enough to have any effect. The Indians came through the swamp in hundreds
+      and hundreds, and, as they uttered their triumphant yell, poured a
+      terrible fire into the Wyoming left flank. The defenders were forced to
+      give ground, and the English and Tories came on again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fire was now deadly and of great volume. The air was filled with the
+      flashing of the rifles. The cloud of smoke grew heavier, and faces, either
+      from heat or excitement, showed red through it. The air was filled with
+      bullets, and the Wyoming force was being cut down fast, as the fire of
+      more than a thousand rifles converged upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as they could
+      at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping closer and closer,
+      and that the hail of bullets it sent in was cutting away the whole left
+      flank of the defenders. They saw the tall figure of Timmendiquas, a very
+      god of war, leading on the Indians, with his fearless Wyandots in a close
+      cluster around him. Colonel John Durkee, gathering up a force of fifty or
+      sixty, charged straight at the warriors, but he was killed by a withering
+      volley, which drove his men back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which often decide
+      the fate of a battle. The company of Captain Whittlesey, on the extreme
+      left, which was suffering most severely, was ordered to fall back. The
+      entire little army, which was being pressed hard now, seeing the movement
+      of Whittlesey, began to retreat. Even without the mistake it is likely
+      they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and renegades,
+      uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward. Colonel Zebulon Butler, seeing
+      the crisis, rode up and down in front of his men, shouting: &ldquo;Don't leave
+      me, my children! the victory is ours!&rdquo; Bravely his officers strove to stop
+      the retreat. Every captain who led a company into action was killed. Some
+      of these captains were but boys. The men were falling by dozens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading force,
+      were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their unloaded rifles, threw
+      themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the defense. Not more than two hundred
+      of the Wyoming men were left standing, and the impact of seven or eight
+      hundred savage warriors was so great that they were hurled back in
+      confusion. A wail of grief and terror came from the other side of the
+      river, where a great body of women and children were watching the
+      fighting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The battle's lost,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond hope of saving it,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but, boys, we five are alive yet,
+      and we'll do our best to help the others protect the retreat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such a
+      terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more than one
+      soldier ere the tomahawk fell. Shif'less Sol took a shot at &ldquo;Indian&rdquo;
+       Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet missed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,&rdquo; exclaimed
+      the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the invading force came in between and he did not get another shot.
+      There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the crashing fire of
+      hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians, and the cries of the
+      wounded. Over them all hovered smoke and dust, and the air was heavy, too,
+      with the odor of burnt gunpowder. The division of old men and very young
+      boys stood next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand, but in
+      the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy of the
+      best of soldiers. Three fourths of them died that day, before they were
+      driven back on the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp, which had
+      been some protection to the left, and they were now assailed from all
+      sides except that of the river. &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler raged at the head of his
+      men, who had been driven back at first, and who had been saved by the
+      Indians. Timmendiquas, in the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon this
+      field, became by valor and power of intellect the leader of all the
+      Indians for this moment. The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+      I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them, unconsciously
+      obeyed him. Nor did the fierce woman, Queen Esther, shirk the battle.
+      Waving her great tomahawk, she was continually among the warriors, singing
+      her song of war and death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little band
+      crumbled away beneath the deadly fire. Soon none would be left unless they
+      ran for their lives. The five drew away toward the forest. They saw that
+      the fort itself could not hold out against such a numerous and victorious
+      foe, and they had no mind to be trapped. But their retreat was slow, and
+      as they went they sent bullet after bullet into the Indian flank. Only a
+      small percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now broke. Colonel
+      Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached the fort. Some of
+      the men jumped into the river, swam to the other shore and escaped. Some
+      swam to a little island called Monocacy, and hid, but the Tories and
+      Indians hunted them out and slew them. One Tory found his brother there,
+      and killed him with his own hand, a deed of unspeakable horror that is yet
+      mentioned by the people of that region. A few fled into the forest and
+      entered the fort at night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE BLOODY ROCK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the woods. They
+      were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite the tan. They had
+      never before looked upon so terrible a scene. The Indians, wild with the
+      excitement of a great triumph and thirsting for blood, were running over
+      the field scalping the dead, killing some of the wounded, and saving
+      others for the worst of tortures. Nor were their white allies one whit
+      behind them. They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+      conquered. Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to show
+      nobility. Several of the wounded he saved from immediate death, and he
+      tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws who rushed forward and
+      began to practice cruelties at which even the most veteran warrior might
+      shudder. But Queen Esther urged them on, and &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler himself and
+      the chiefs were afraid of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+      self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from the
+      lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The sun
+      was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the field
+      as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors rushed
+      about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous trophies
+      about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping to the far
+      bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the fugitives in
+      their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending in
+      a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
+      seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then a
+      massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they had
+      known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be full of
+      the scalps of white men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
+      impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
+      but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
+      good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he saw
+      the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror of
+      those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss from
+      his mind as long as he lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;look at that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
+      might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought in
+      the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when everything
+      else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the friendly
+      shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of Iroquois,
+      four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians were gaining
+      fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon we ought to save them,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt of it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Paul, you and Sol move off to the right a
+      little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
+      four.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol having
+      the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four Indians at
+      closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and, turning at an
+      angle, they ran forward to intercept the three Indians. It would have
+      seemed to anyone who was not aware of the presence of friends in the
+      forest that the old man and the boy would surely be overtaken and be
+      tomahawked, but three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage. Two of
+      the warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell of
+      pain. Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group of three.
+      One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but Paul only grazed
+      his man. Nevertheless, the whole pursuit stopped, and the boy and the old
+      man escaped to the forest, and subsequently to safety at the Moravian
+      towns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say something
+      to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon him, and he was
+      thrown to the ground. His comrade was served in the same way, but the
+      shiftless one was uncommonly strong and agile. He managed to writhe half
+      way to his knees, and he shouted in a tremendous voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Run, Henry, run! You can't do anything for us now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth. The blood came, but
+      the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked curiously at the
+      renegade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've often wondered about you, Braxton,&rdquo; he said calmly. &ldquo;I used to think
+      that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in him, but I reckon you
+      ain't got none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the others. But
+      Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished. A powerful party of warriors
+      had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and Paul, while they were absorbed in the
+      chase of the old man and the boy, and now they were prisoners, bound
+      securely. Braxton Wyatt came back from the fruitless search for the three,
+      but his face was full of savage joy as he looked down at the captured two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could have killed you just as easily,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we didn't want to
+      do that. Our friends here are going to have their fun with you first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but Shif'less
+      Sol faced them boldly. Several white men in uniform had come up, and among
+      them was an elderly one, short and squat, and with a great flame colored
+      handkerchief tied around his bead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to us, all
+      under the English flag,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but I'm thinkin' that a lot
+      o' people in England will be ashamed uv it when they hear the news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving Shif'less
+      Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the Iroquois. The two
+      prisoners were jerked to their feet and told to march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on, Paul,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;'Tain't wuth while fur us to resist.
+      But don't you quit hopin', Paul. We've escaped from many a tight corner,
+      an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut up!&rdquo; said Braxton Wyatt savagely. &ldquo;If you say another word I'll gag
+      you in a way that will make you squirm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye. Solomon Hyde, who was not
+      shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not afraid now in the
+      face of death preceded by long torture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;an' I reckon he wuz the
+      meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived. He liked to live on dirt, the
+      dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather steal his food
+      than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he wuz afeard o' a rabbit,
+      but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd nip you in the ankle. But bad ez
+      that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a gentleman 'longside o' you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it. He snatched a
+      pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with the butt of it, but
+      a tall figure suddenly appeared before him, and made a commanding gesture.
+      The gesture said plainly: &ldquo;Do not strike; put that pistol back!&rdquo; Braxton
+      Wyatt, whose soul was afraid within him, did not strike, and he put the
+      pistol back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots, who with
+      his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the Wyandot warriors
+      were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks, the Keepers of the Western
+      Gate. He was bare to the waist. One shoulder was streaked with blood from
+      a slight wound, but his countenance was not on fire with passion for
+      torture and slaughter like those of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no need to strike prisoners,&rdquo; he said in English. &ldquo;Their fate
+      will be decided later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the great
+      Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you didn't
+      capture me yourself. I'm glad to say that you're a great warrior.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak out,
+      although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and casual ally,
+      and had little authority in that army. Yet he was overawed, and so were
+      the Indians with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That is
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell. But he and the
+      Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas looked after them
+      until they were out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured,&rdquo; whispered
+      Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, too,&rdquo; Paul whispered back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven rapidly
+      now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to the fort, and
+      here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy company, fellow captives,
+      all bound tightly, and many wounded. No help, no treatment of any kind was
+      offered for hurts. The Indians and renegades stood about and yelled with
+      delight when the agony of some man's wound wrung from him a groan. The
+      scene was hideous in every respect. The setting sun shone blood red over
+      forest, field, and river. Far off burning houses still smoked like
+      torches. But the mountain wall in the east, was growing dusky with the
+      coming twilight. From the island, where they were massacring the fugitives
+      in their vain hiding places, came the sound of shots and cries, but
+      elsewhere the firing had ceased. All who could escape had done so already,
+      and of the others, those who were dead were fortunate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness swept down
+      over the earth. Fires began to blaze up here and there, some for terrible
+      purpose. The victorious Iroquois; stripped to the waist and painted in
+      glaring colors, joined in a savage dance that would remain forever
+      photographed on the eye of Paul Cotter. As they jumped to and fro,
+      hundreds of them, waving aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both of
+      which dripped red, they sang their wild chant of war and triumph. White
+      men, too, as savage as they, joined them. Paul shuddered again and again
+      from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of mankind
+      escapes, even in dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder. It was like a carnival of
+      demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch. A singular figure,
+      one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the midst of
+      the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose above all the
+      others. The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some monstrous creature
+      out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with blood, her eyes
+      bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders. Paul would have covered his eyes
+      had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his head away. He could not
+      bear to see more. But the horrible chant came to his ears, nevertheless,
+      and it was reinforced presently by other sounds still more terrible. Fires
+      sprang up in the forest, and cries came from these fires. The victorious
+      army of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler was beginning to burn the prisoners alive. But at
+      this point we must stop. The details of what happened around those fires
+      that night are not for the ordinary reader. It suffices to say that the
+      darkest deed ever done on the soil of what is now the United States was
+      being enacted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken. He could not
+      close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came from the fires, but he
+      shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. Nevertheless, he opened them
+      again in a moment. The horrible fascination was too great. He saw Queen
+      Esther still shaking her tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly darted
+      through the circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and
+      disappeared in the darkness. The scalp dance went on, but it had lost some
+      of its fire and vigor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's gone,&rdquo; he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his
+      eyes. The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors, was
+      becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there on
+      the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt thrust a
+      violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up! You're wanted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of
+      resistance. The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton
+      Wyatt led. The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them,
+      tomahawks in their hands. Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the
+      impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure that
+      they were marching to their fate. Death he did not fear so greatly,
+      although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one of
+      the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.
+      Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that he
+      might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.
+      Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder
+      gently against Paul's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways, I
+      still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but
+      oncet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll remember, Sol,&rdquo; Paul whispered back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence, there!&rdquo; exclaimed Braxton Wyatt. But the two had said all they
+      wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled. They had
+      passed through so much that they were like those who are under the
+      influence of opiates. The path was now dark, although both torches and
+      fires burned in the distance. Presently they heard that chant with which
+      they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and they
+      knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose they
+      could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one. As they
+      approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of frenzy, and
+      Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up there!&rdquo; exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both a
+      push. Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space seized
+      them and threw them forward with much violence. When they struggled into a
+      sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a broad flat rock
+      and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something Oriental. She
+      still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be in her hand.
+      Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red dress gleamed
+      in the dusk. Surely no more terrible image ever appeared in the American
+      wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were twenty bound
+      Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a sprinkling of
+      their white allies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor
+      Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois, and
+      so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came the
+      refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six Nations,
+      greatest of men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What under the sun is she about?&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a fearful face,&rdquo; was Paul's only reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to the
+      warriors. Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners, dragged
+      him to his feet, and held him up before her. She uttered a shout, whirled
+      the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering in the moonlight,
+      and struck with all her might. The skull of the prisoner was cleft to the
+      chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of the woman who had killed
+      him. Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it was lost in the joyful yells
+      of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the woman, offered a second
+      victim. Again the tomahawk descended, and again a man fell dead without a
+      sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move
+      them. Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud. It was strange to see how fast one with
+      a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before him. Now
+      he was as cruel as the Indians themselves. Wilder and shriller grew the
+      chant of the savage queen. She was intoxicated with blood. She saw it
+      everywhere. Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth,
+      a seventh, and eighth. As fast as they fell the warriors at her command
+      brought up new victims for her weapon. Paul shut his eyes, but he knew by
+      the sounds what was passing. Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold, woman! Enough of this! Will your tomahawk never be satisfied?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul understood it, the meaning, but not the words. He opened his eyes and
+      saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding forward, his hand upraised
+      in protest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. &ldquo;Timmendiquas,&rdquo; she
+      said, &ldquo;we are the Iroquois, and we are the masters. You are far from your
+      own land, a guest in our lodges, and you cannot tell those who have won
+      the victory how they shall use it. Stand back!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A loud laugh came from the Iroquois. The fierce old chiefs, Hiokatoo and
+      Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves before Timmendiquas.
+      The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred throats pealed out with her the
+      chorus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six Nations,
+      greatest of men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gave the signal anew. The ninth victim stood before her, and then
+      fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
+      twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
+      the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
+      minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
+      straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken them,
+      and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
+      impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
+      Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two, Joseph
+      Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men, feeling that
+      life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful as that scene at
+      &ldquo;The Bloody Rock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the Indians
+      pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for the
+      fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would come
+      under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did not see a
+      form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended once, then
+      twice, and the bands of both fell free.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Run! run!&rdquo; exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. &ldquo;I
+      would save you from this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not seen
+      by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look of
+      gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a course
+      that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being noticed,
+      had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were first in
+      cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing fingers of
+      the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At the same time
+      several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hate to hit a woman,&rdquo; breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, &ldquo;but I'm goin' to
+      do it now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
+      hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although she
+      clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side. Shots
+      were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a look
+      backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit, silent and
+      deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly, were only a few
+      hundred yards away. They carried rifle, tomahawk, and knife, and Paul and
+      Shif'less Sol were unarmed. Moreover, they were coming fast, spreading out
+      slightly, and the shiftless one, able even at such a time to weigh the
+      case coolly, saw that the odds were against them. Yet he would not
+      despair. Anything might happen. It was night. There was little
+      organization in the army of the Indians and of their white allies, which
+      was giving itself up to the enjoyment of scalps and torture. Moreover, he
+      and Paul were, animated by the love of life, which is always stronger than
+      the desire to give death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. Only once
+      did the pursuers give tongue. Paul tripped over a root, and a triumphant
+      yell came from the Mohawks. But it merely gave him new life. He recovered
+      himself in an instant and ran faster. But it was terribly hard work. He
+      could hear Shif'less Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he was sure
+      that his own must have the same sound for his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate one uv 'em is beat,&rdquo; gasped Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Only four are
+      ban-in' on now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground rose a little and became rougher. The lights from the Indian
+      fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a dense thicket lay
+      before them. Something stirred in the thicket, and the eyes of Shif'less
+      Sol caught a glimpse of a human shoulder. His heart sank like a plummet in
+      a pool. The Indians were ahead of them. They would be caught, and would be
+      carried back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a rifle was
+      projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell. They heard a cry
+      behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance backward he saw
+      one of the Mohawks fall. The three who were left hesitated and stopped.
+      When a second shot was fired from the bushes and another Mohawk went down,
+      the remaining two fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes, dragging Paul
+      after him. Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to receive them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you wuz watchin' over us!&rdquo; exclaimed the shiftless one joyously. &ldquo;It
+      wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we didn't even notice the
+      shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God, you were here!&rdquo; exclaimed Paul. &ldquo;You don't know what Sol and I
+      have seen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul revived in a few minutes. They were still lying in the bushes, and
+      when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an angle several hundred
+      yards before they stopped. One pistol was thrust into Paul's hand and
+      another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep those until we can get rifles for you,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;You may need
+      'em to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the Indian camp.
+      The warriors whom they had repulsed were not returning with help, and, for
+      the moment, they seemed to have no enemy to fear, yet they could still see
+      through the woods the faint lights of the Indian camps, and to Paul, at
+      least, came the echoes of distant cries that told of things not to be
+      written.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;There
+      was nothing to do but run. Then we hid and waited a chance for rescue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Timmendiquas!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Paul, and then he told the story of &ldquo;The Bloody
+      Rock,&rdquo; and how, in the turmoil and excitement attending the flight of the
+      last four, Timmendiquas had cut the bonds of Shif'less Sol and himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol,
+      &ldquo;jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter an' torture o' prisoners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure you're right,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears strange to me,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;that Timmendiquas was made an
+      Injun. He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be white, an' he'd be
+      pow'ful useful, too. I don't jest eggzactly understan' it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I
+      hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he's the only one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that he had
+      seen that night. &ldquo;The Iroquois an' the white men that's allied with 'em
+      won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em happen to come under my
+      thumb. I don't think the like o' this day an' night wuz ever done on this
+      continent afore. I'm for revenge, I am, like that place where the Bible
+      says, 'an eye for an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin' to stay
+      in this part o' the country till we git it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and energy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're all going to stay with you, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We're needed here. I
+      think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in if we can, and fight with
+      the defense.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we'll do that,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but the Wyoming fort can't ever
+      hold out. Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to fight, an' thar are
+      more than than a thousand howlin' devils outside ready to attack it. Thar
+      may be worse to come than anything we've yet seen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, we'll go in an' help,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Sol, when you an' Paul have
+      rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in the woods, and come
+      up to the fort on the other side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where they lay
+      completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy, they undertook to
+      reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the palisades. Paul was still weak
+      from shock, but Shif'less Sol had fully recovered. Neither bad weapons,
+      but they were sure that the want could be supplied soon. They curved
+      around toward the west, intending to approach the fort from the other
+      side, but they did not wholly lose sight of the fires, and they heard now
+      and then the triumphant war whoop. The victors were still engaged in the
+      pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death. Little did the five,
+      seeing and feeling only their part of it there in the dark woods, dream
+      that the deeds of this day and night would soon shock the whole civilized
+      world, and remain, for generations, a crowning act of infamy. But they
+      certainly felt it deeply enough, and in each heart burned a fierce desire
+      for revenge upon the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort, which was
+      filled with grief and wailing. That afternoon more than one hundred and
+      fifty women within those walls had been made widows, and six hundred
+      children had been made orphans. But few men fit to bear arms were left for
+      its defense, and it was certain that the allied British and Indian army
+      would easily take it on the morrow. A demand for its surrender in the name
+      of King George III of England had already been made, and, sitting at a
+      little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the room lighted only
+      by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison were writing
+      an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next day, with what it
+      should contain. But Colonel Butler put his wife on a horse and escaped
+      with her over the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in, only to
+      be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in a stream,
+      seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest, preferring any
+      dangers that might be found there to the mercies of the victors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to beg 'em
+      to take us back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are bein'
+      surrendered,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands an' feet
+      tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Of
+      course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be captured again.
+      Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the women and children that are
+      going.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort. It was far better to let
+      Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. They were able
+      to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern, long and slender
+      barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and also excellent
+      double-barreled pistols. The other three now had double-barreled pistols,
+      too. In addition they resupplied themselves with as much ammunition as
+      scouts and hunters could conveniently carry, and toward morning left the
+      fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the flank of
+      a frightened crowd of fugitives. It was composed of one hundred women and
+      children and a single man, James Carpenter, who was doing his best to
+      guide and protect them. They were intending to flee through the wilderness
+      to the Delaware and Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn, built by Jacob
+      Stroud, where Stroudsburg now is.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like Indians
+      themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and raised his rifle. A
+      cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line, a cry so intensely bitter
+      that it cut Henry to the very heart. He threw up his hand, and exclaimed
+      in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are friends, not Indians or Tories! We fought with you yesterday, and
+      we are ready to fight for you now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle. He had fought in the battle,
+      too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades who had been there
+      with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you want of us?&rdquo; asked he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;except to help you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't belong here in Wyoming,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and there's nothing to make
+      you stick to us. What are you meaning to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will go with you wherever you intend to go,&rdquo; replied Henry; &ldquo;do
+      fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which you are
+      certain to need.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought God had clean deserted us,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I'm ready to take it
+      back. I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with all these women
+      and little ones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for this very
+      purpose, but he replied simply:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to watch for the
+      Indians. Draw into the woods, where we'll be hidden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on toward the
+      woods. The long line of women and children followed. Some of the women
+      carried in their arms children too small to walk. Yet they were more
+      hopeful now when they saw that the five were friends. These lithe, active
+      frontiersmen, so quick, so skillful, and so helpful, raised their courage.
+      Yet it was a most doleful flight. Most of these women had been made widows
+      the day before, some of them had been made widows and childless at the
+      same time, and wondered why they should seek to live longer. But the very
+      mental stupor of many of them was an aid. They ceased to cry out, and some
+      even ceased to be afraid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear. Paul and Long Jim were
+      on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears to me,&rdquo; said Tom, &ldquo;that the thing fur us to do is to hurry 'em up
+      ez much ez possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We
+      couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would merely be a
+      massacre. We must persuade them to walk faster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis. He could talk forever in
+      his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement, mild sarcasm, and
+      anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had known, he soon had them
+      moving faster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear. They could see ahead of them
+      the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but they could also
+      see to right and left towers of smoke rising in the clear morning
+      sunlight. These, they knew, came from burning houses, and they knew, also,
+      that the valley would be ravaged from end to end and from side to side.
+      After the surrender of the fort the Indians would divide into small bands,
+      going everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if the black
+      tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen recognized their greatest
+      danger in this brilliant morning. Objects could be seen at a great
+      distance, and they could be seen vividly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry, Sol, and
+      Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. They caught a
+      distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot among some trees, and
+      they saw the sunlight glancing off the opposite mountains, but for the
+      present they saw nothing that seemed hostile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to grow
+      until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have let it grow
+      farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay down in the grass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see 'em, don't you!&rdquo; the youth whispered to his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol; &ldquo;two
+      o' em, an' Senecas, I take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've seen that crowd of women and children,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was obvious that the flying column was discovered. The two Indians
+      stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands. It was too far away
+      for the three to see their faces, but they knew the joy that would be
+      shown there. The two could return with a few warriors and massacre them
+      all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,&rdquo; whispered
+      Henry. &ldquo;I hate to shoot men from ambush, but it's got to be done. Wait,
+      they're coming a little closer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry,&rdquo; said Tom, &ldquo;an' me an'
+      Sol will take the one to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They wasted no time, but pulled trigger. The one at whom Henry had aimed
+      fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded, but evidently with
+      plenty of strength left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We mustn't let him escape! We mustn't let him carry a warning!&rdquo; cried
+      Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the
+      ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran. Under ordinary
+      circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for
+      his life, but here the necessity was vital. If he lived, carrying the tale
+      that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish. Henry followed
+      his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed behind. The
+      Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others were compelled
+      to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and bullets in their
+      rifles. But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and Silent Tom to hear
+      them exchange a few words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far away is that savage?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hundred and eighty yards,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from
+      the muzzles. The Indian fell forward and lay still. They went up to him,
+      and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may miss once, but we don't twice,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three
+      felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian. It was
+      but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,&rdquo; said Sol.
+      &ldquo;They may be needed, an' some o' the women in that crowd kin shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see
+      whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was no
+      indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the
+      fugitives. Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he
+      saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't give no alarm, did they?&rdquo; he asked in a tone so low that none
+      of the fugitives could hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't have any chance,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We've brought away all
+      their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found them
+      in an abandoned house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most stalwart
+      of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came. Meanwhile
+      the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it became. Children
+      became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so tired that they could
+      scarcely walk themselves. There was nobody in the line who had not lost
+      some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed in battle, or tortured
+      to death. As they slowly ascended the green slope of the mountain that
+      inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back upon ruin and desolation.
+      The whole black tragedy was being consummated. They could see the houses
+      in flames, and they knew that the Indian war parties were killing and
+      scalping everywhere. They knew, too, that other bodies of fugitives, as
+      stricken as their own, were fleeing into the mountains, they scarcely knew
+      whither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from the
+      weakest of the women and children. Then it became a sad and terrible wail,
+      and it was a long time before it ceased. It was an awful sound, so
+      compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that
+      Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes. But neither the five nor
+      Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing. They thought it best for
+      them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as they could,
+      often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. Paul and Long Jim
+      were the best as comforters. The two knew how, each in his own way, to
+      soothe and encourage. Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort Penn, led
+      doggedly on, scarcely saying a word. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom were
+      the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest danger and
+      responsibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July, the
+      second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the foliage
+      was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain. In this mass of
+      greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any observer
+      in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives would be
+      hidden in the same manner. He felt sure that no living human being would
+      be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to end and then
+      left to desolation, until new people, protected by American bayonets,
+      should come in and settle it again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley,
+      those emblems of destruction, were hidden. Between them and Fort Penn,
+      sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.
+      But the five welcomed the forest. A foe might lie there in ambush, but
+      they could not see the fugitives at a distance. What the latter needed now
+      was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them. Carpenter led
+      on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in single file now,
+      while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and at the rear. Henry
+      and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they fully realized the
+      overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as small as ten or a dozen
+      warriors, appear. Should the latter scatter, it would be impossible to
+      protect all the women and children from their tomahawks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.
+      Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end of
+      the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness. The
+      shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His words came true all too soon. Before the afternoon closed, two women,
+      ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were buried in
+      shallow graves under the trees. Before dark a halt was made at the
+      suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in a
+      close, drooping group. Many of the children cried, though the women had
+      all ceased to weep. They had some food with them, taken in the hurried
+      flight, and now the men asked them to eat. Few could do it, and others
+      insisted on saving what little they had for the children. Long Jim found a
+      spring near by, and all drank at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it would be
+      best to remain there until the morning. Evidently the fugitives were in no
+      condition, either mental or physical, to go farther that day, and the rest
+      was worth more than the risk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took it
+      apathetically. Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was to be had;
+      otherwise, on leaves and branches. Again Henry thanked God that it was
+      summer, and that these were people of the frontier, who could sleep in the
+      open. No fire was needed, and, outside of human enemies, only rain was to
+      be dreaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate than some
+      of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley. It had now to protect it
+      six men Henry and Paul, though boys in years, were men in strength and
+      ability&mdash;five of whom were the equals of any frontiersmen on the
+      whole border. Another crowd of women was escorted by a single man
+      throughout its entire flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about the group.
+      At times they helped gather whortleberries as food for the others, but
+      they looked for Indians or game, intending to shoot in either case. When
+      Paul and Henry were together they once heard a light sound in a thicket,
+      which at first they were afraid was made by an Indian scout, but it was a
+      deer, and it bounded away too soon for either to get a shot. They could
+      not find other game of any kind, and they came back toward the camp-if a
+      mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any kind, could be called a
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun was now setting, blood red. It tinged the forest with a fiery
+      mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had seen. But the mist
+      was gone in a few moments, and then the blackness of night came with a
+      weird moaning wind that told of desolation. Most of the children, having
+      passed through every phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen asleep.
+      Some of the women slept, also, and others wept. But the terrible wailing
+      note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Men,&rdquo; he said simply, &ldquo;don't know much about you, though I know you
+      fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what you're doin' now
+      nobody can ever repay you. I knew that I never could get across the
+      mountains with all these weak ones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at such a time.
+      Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle about the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some women did not sleep at all that night. It is not easy to conceive
+      what the frontier women of America endured so many thousands of times.
+      They had seen their husbands, brothers, and sons killed in the battle, and
+      they knew that the worst of torture had been practiced in the Indian camp.
+      Many of them really did not want to live any longer. They merely struggled
+      automatically for life. The darkness settled down thicker and thicker; the
+      blackness in the forest was intense, and they could see the faces of one
+      another only at a little distance. The desolate moan of the wind came
+      through the leaves, and, although it was July, the night grew cold. The
+      women crept closer together, trying to cover up and protect the children.
+      The wind, with its inexpressibly mournful note, was exactly fitted to
+      their feelings. Many of them wondered why a Supreme Being had permitted
+      such things. But they ceased to talk. No sound at all came from the group,
+      and any one fifty yards away, not forewarned, could not have told that
+      they were there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a little
+      hillock. Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on the most dangerous
+      of frontiers, but they had never been stirred as they were tonight. Even
+      Paul, the mildest of the five, felt something burning within him, a fire
+      that only one thing could quench.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn, and we
+      may get some of them there, but I don't think our work will be ended them.
+      I don't think I could ever be happy again if we went straight from Fort
+      Penn to Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry understood him perfectly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Paul,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I don't want to go, either, and I know the others
+      don't. Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to stay, but it is
+      vengeance. I know it's Christian to forgive your enemies, but I can't see
+      what I have seen, and hear what I have heard, and do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the news of these things spreads,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;they'll send an army
+      from the east. Sooner or later they'll just have to do it to punish the
+      Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got to be here to join that
+      army.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel that way, too, Paul,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little while, and
+      they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they began their circles about the camp again, always looking and
+      always listening. About two o'clock in the morning they heard a scream,
+      but it was only the cry of a panther. Before day there were clouds, a low
+      rumble of distant thunder, and faint far flashes of lightning. Henry was
+      in dread of rain, but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the clouds
+      went away. Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three rose from
+      the earth. The three-one woman and two children-had died in silence in the
+      night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow graves in the
+      woods. But there was little weeping or external mourning over them. All
+      were now heavy and apathetic, capable of but little more emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which now moved
+      slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted with vines and
+      bushes and without a path. The march was now so painful and difficult that
+      they did not make more than two miles an hour. The stronger of them helped
+      the men to gather more whortleberries, as it was easy to see that the food
+      they had with them would never last until they reached Fort Penn, should
+      they ever reach it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily grew
+      worse. They were well into the mountains, a region exceedingly wild and
+      rough, but little known to the settlers, who had gone around it to build
+      homes in the fertile and beautiful valley of Wyoming. The heavy forest was
+      made all the more difficult by the presence everywhere of almost
+      impassable undergrowth. Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes,
+      and in two cases they died there because the power to live was no longer
+      in them. They grew weaker and weaker. The food that they had brought from
+      the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the wild whortleberries were
+      far from sustaining. Fortunately there was plenty of water flowing tinder
+      the dark woods and along the mountainside. But they were compelled to stop
+      at intervals of an hour or two to rest, and the more timid continually
+      expected Indian ambush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+      situation. They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian pursuit,
+      which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. Anybody could
+      follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but the Iroquois, busy with
+      destruction in the valley, might not follow, even if they saw it. No one
+      could tell. The danger of starvation or of death from exhaustion was more
+      imminent, more pressing, and the five resolved to let scouting alone for
+      the rest of the day and seek game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol,
+      &ldquo;though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd, but we ought to
+      find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and Long Jim
+      in another. But with all their hunting they succeeded in finding only one
+      little deer, which fell to the rifle of Silent Tom. It made small enough
+      portions for the supper and breakfast of nearly a hundred people, but it
+      helped wonderfully, and so did the fires which Henry and his comrades
+      would now have built, even had they not been needed for the cooking. They
+      saw that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing coals, would
+      alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and the next
+      morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible memory, the Great
+      Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to this day, as &ldquo;The Shades of
+      Death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. THE SHADES OF DEATH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Shades of Death&rdquo; is a marsh on a mountain top, the great, wet, and
+      soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains. When the fugitives from
+      Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense growth of pines, growing
+      mostly out of dark, murky water, which in its turn was thick with a growth
+      of moss and aquatic plants. Snakes and all kinds of creeping things
+      swarmed in the ooze. Bear and panther were numerous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and they were
+      compelled to enter it. Henry was again devoutly thankful that it was
+      summer. In such a situation with winter on top of it only the hardiest of
+      men could survive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still leading.
+      Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd. One could not scout in
+      such a morass, and it proved to be worse than they had feared. The day
+      turned gray, and it was dark among the trees. The whole place was filled
+      with gloomy shadows. It was often impossible to judge whether fairly solid
+      soil or oozy murk lay before them. Often they went down to their waists.
+      Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the stronger. Now
+      and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the women killed them with
+      sticks. Other serpents slipped away in the slime. Everybody was plastered
+      with mud, and they became mere images of human beings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible swamp, and
+      there they buried two more of their number who had perished from
+      exhaustion. The rest, save a few, lay upon the ground as if dead. On all
+      sides of them stretched the pines and the soft black earth. It looked to
+      the fugitives like a region into which no human beings had ever come, or
+      ever would come again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from which
+      no human being would ever emerge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the morass,
+      and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within him. They were
+      hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they seemed practically
+      lifeless now. Everything was dull, heavy, and dead. The note of the wind
+      among the leaves was somber. A long black snake slipped from the marshy
+      grass near his feet and disappeared soundlessly in the water. He was sick,
+      sick to death at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire for
+      vengeance, slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst, grew
+      within him. A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear?&rdquo; asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear what?&rdquo; asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under the
+      horizon, but thar all the same. Listen, thar she goes ag'in!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note, and then
+      it came a third time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white&mdash;but not for
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. He understood the look. &ldquo;We are pursued. Them
+      wolves howlin' are the Iroquois. What do you reckon we're goin' to do,
+      Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fight!&rdquo; replied the youth, with fierce energy. &ldquo;Beat 'em off!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his plan
+      came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you,
+      Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you will be Paul
+      Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old friends of yours.
+      Carpenter will at once lead the women and children on ahead, and perhaps
+      they will not hear the battle that is going to be fought here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over the face
+      of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the shiftless one. &ldquo;It
+      seems to me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I've heard o' them four fellers you're
+      talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all over this planet an' them other
+      planets that Paul tells of, I couldn't find four other fellers that I'd ez
+      soon have with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to stand here to the death,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're shorely right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met with
+      their full approval. Then the news was carried to Carpenter, who quickly
+      agreed that their course was the wisest. He urged all the fugitives to
+      their feet, telling them that they must reach another dry place before
+      night, but they were past asking questions now, and, heavy and apathetic,
+      they passed on into the swamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes and weeds,
+      and turned back to his friends on the oasis. The five lay down behind a
+      big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last look. They had never been
+      armed better. Their rifles were good, and the fine double-barreled
+      pistols, formidable weapons, would be a great aid, especially at close
+      quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;that the Iroquois can't get through at all
+      unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef we wuz settin' on
+      solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come sloshin' up to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's exactly it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We've a natural defense which we can
+      hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold 'em off, the
+      nearer our people will be to Fort Penn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never felt more like fightin' in my life,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among them was
+      bloodthirsty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can any of you hear anything?&rdquo; asked Henry. &ldquo;Nothin',&rdquo; replied Shif'less
+      Sol, after a little wait, &ldquo;nothin' from the women goin', an' nothin' from
+      the Iroquois comin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll just lie close,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;This hard spot of ground isn't more
+      than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get on it without our
+      knowing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides, with their
+      shoulders raised a little, in order that they might take instant aim when
+      the time came. Some rays of the sun penetrated the canopy of pines, and
+      fell across the brown, determined faces and the lean brown hands that
+      grasped the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another snake slipped
+      from the ground into the black water and swam away. Some water animal made
+      a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of these strange
+      intruders. Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a foot drawn from mud,
+      and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching, savages in war, whatever
+      they might be otherwise, and expecting an easy prey. Five brown thumbs
+      cocked their rifles, and five brown forefingers rested upon the triggers.
+      The eyes of woodsmen who seldom missed looked down the sights.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of feet in the mud came many times. The enemy was evidently
+      drawing near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many do you think are out thar?&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol to Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds.&rdquo; &ldquo;I s'pose the best thing
+      for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen, and he
+      agreed to do so. Shif'less Sol was to fire first. The sounds now ceased.
+      The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or instinct that they were
+      approaching an enemy who was to be feared, not weak and unarmed women and
+      children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger. The American
+      wilderness had heroes without number. It was Horatius Cocles five times
+      over, ready to defend the bridge with life. Over the marsh rose the weird
+      cry of an owl, and some water birds called in lonely fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile away,
+      out of the sound of rifle shot. He had urged Carpenter to marshal them on
+      as far as he could. But the silence endured yet a while longer. In the
+      dull gray light of the somber day and the waning afternoon the marsh was
+      increasingly dreary and mournful. It seemed that it must always be the
+      abode of dead or dying things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the boughs
+      appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted brow, the savage
+      black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. Only Henry saw it, but with
+      fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming leaped up before him-he fired at the
+      painted brow. The Mohawk uttered his death cry and fell back with a splash
+      into the mud and water of the swamp. A half dozen bullets were instantly
+      fired at the base of the smoke that came from Henry's rifle, but the youth
+      and his comrades lay close and were unharmed. Shif'less Sol and Tom were
+      quick enough to catch glimpses of brown forms, at which they fired, and
+      the cries coming back told that they had hit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's something,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;One or two Iroquois at least will not
+      wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish they'd try to rush us,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;I never felt so full of
+      fight in my life before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may try it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I understand that at the big battle of the
+      Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois would wait until a white
+      man behind a tree would fire, then they would rush up and tomahawk him
+      before he could reload.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They don't know how fast we kin reload,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;an' they don't
+      know that we've got these double-barreled pistols, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, they don't,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it's a great thing for us to have them.
+      Suppose we spread out a little. So long as we keep them from getting a
+      lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a great disadvantage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the others toward
+      the left. They still had good cover, as fallen timber was scattered all
+      over the oasis, and they were quite sure that another attack would be made
+      soon. It came in about fifteen minutes. The Iroquois suddenly fired a
+      volley at the logs and brush, and when the five returned the fire, but
+      with more deadly effect, they leaped forward in the mud and attempted to
+      rush the oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a second
+      volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch foot on solid
+      earth. Then the double barreled pistols came into play. The bullets sent
+      from short range drove back the savages, who were amazed at such a deadly
+      and continued fire. Henry caught sight of a white face among these
+      assailants, and he knew it to be that of Braxton Wyatt. Singularly enough
+      he was not amazed to see it there. Wyatt, sinking deeper and deeper into
+      savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois in such a
+      pursuit. He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the infamous son of the
+      Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself worse than the worst of the
+      savages, as Thayendanegea himself has written.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now about
+      shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger Wyatt darted
+      behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the bullet. He also saw the
+      renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not able to secure a shot at him,
+      either. Nevertheless, the Iroquois attack was beaten back. It was a
+      foregone conclusion that the result would be so, unless the force was in
+      great numbers. It is likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had thought
+      only a single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the five had
+      joined them later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but
+      their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for
+      their lives, could not carry them off. Paul, with a kind of fascinated
+      horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper. Then one was entirely
+      gone. The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too, was gone.
+      But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading the fugitives
+      on toward Fort Penn. They had not only held it, but they believed that
+      they could continue to hold it against anything, and their hearts became
+      exultant. Something, too, to balance against the long score, lay out there
+      in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over Wyoming, were sorry that
+      Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stillness came again. The sun did not break through the heavy gray
+      sky, and the somber shadows brooded over &ldquo;The Shades of Death.&rdquo; They heard
+      again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on the
+      murky surface. Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry of
+      wolf replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More Iroquois coming,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Well, we gave them a pretty
+      warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm
+      thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can, except in one case,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;if the new party brings their
+      numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround
+      us in the darkness. Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when
+      twilight comes. Carpenter and the train have a long lead now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;Now, what in tarnation is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A white flag,&rdquo; said Paul. A piece of cloth that had once been white had
+      been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They want a talk with us,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it's Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;I'd like to take a shot at him,
+      talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll see what they have to say,&rdquo; said Henry, and he called aloud: &ldquo;What
+      do you want with us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To talk with you,&rdquo; replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton
+      Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;show yourself and we will not fire upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were held
+      aloft in sign of peace. It was a splendid figure, at least six feet four
+      inches in height. At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke
+      through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant
+      scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face with
+      the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red bronze.
+      It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the mighty
+      Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ware,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I would speak with you. Let us talk as one chief to
+      another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were amazed. Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he had
+      come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far more
+      formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe. But his
+      demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to answer him?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; replied Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height. The same ruddy
+      sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another splendid
+      figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height of man, his
+      hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed in buckskin,
+      and his whole attitude that of one without fear. The two, the white and
+      the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across the marsh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?&rdquo; asked Henry. In the presence of
+      the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held his
+      heart vanished. He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk under
+      the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for White
+      Lightning. He himself had owed him his life on another and more distant
+      occasion, and he was not ungrateful. So there was warmth in his tone when
+      he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, &ldquo;I have
+      things to say that are important and that you will be glad to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the young
+      chief, coming forward, met him. Henry held out his hand in white fashion,
+      and the young chief took it. There was no sound either from the swamp or
+      from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of the eyes of
+      those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish to tell you, Ware,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity
+      becoming a great chief, &ldquo;that it was not I who led the pursuit of the
+      white men's women and children. I, and the Wyandots who came with me,
+      fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies
+      when I can. We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in
+      battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose
+      in its birch-bark cradle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which
+      impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was
+      usually a mask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that you tell the truth,&rdquo; said Henry gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I and my Wyandots,&rdquo; continued the chief, &ldquo;followed a trail through the
+      woods. We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and
+      Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up
+      there had just been a battle. The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven
+      back. It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little
+      children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak true words, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill squaws
+      and papooses,&rdquo; continued Timmendiquas. &ldquo;So I say to you, go on with those
+      who flee across the mountains. Our warriors shall not pursue you any
+      longer. We will turn back to the valley from which we come, and those of
+      your race, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, shall go with us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone that told
+      that every word was meant. Henry felt a glow of admiration. The true
+      greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the Iroquois?&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;will they go back with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will. They have killed too much. Today all the white people in the
+      valley are killed or driven away. Many scalps have been taken, those of
+      women and children, too, and men have died at the stake. I have felt shame
+      for their deeds, Ware, and it will bring punishment upon my brethren, the
+      Iroquois. It will make so great a noise in the world that many soldiers
+      will come, and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it is so, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;But you will be far away
+      then in your own land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief drew himself up a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall remain with the Iroquois,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have promised to help
+      them, and I must do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't blame you for that,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I am glad that you do not
+      seek the scalps of women and children. We are at once enemies and friends,
+      Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      White Lightning bowed gravely. He and Henry touched hands again, and each
+      withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked back toward his
+      comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy were near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The four rose up to greet him. They had heard part of what was said, and
+      Henry quickly told them the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's shorely a great chief,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;He'll keep his word,
+      too. Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear from pursuit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's a statesman, too,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He sees what damage the deeds of
+      Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them. He thinks our people
+      will now send a great army against the Iroquois, and I think so, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No nation can stand a thing like that,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;and I didn't dream it
+      could happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by the
+      fugitives. All of them had confidence in the word of Timmendiquas. There
+      was a remote chance that some other band had entered the swamp at a
+      different point, but it was remote, indeed, and it did not trouble them
+      much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Night was now over the great swamp. The sun no longer came through the
+      gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes of flame made by
+      fireflies. Had not the trail been so broad and deep it could easily have
+      been lost, but, being what it was, the skilled eyes of the frontiersmen
+      followed it without trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, looking at the
+      tracks in the mud. Then he suddenly added: &ldquo;Here's whar one's quit
+      forever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some bushes, and its
+      length indicated that a woman lay there. They passed it by in silence.
+      Henry now appreciated more fully than ever the mercy of Timmendiquas. The
+      five and Carpenter could not possibly have protected the miserable
+      fugitives against the great chief, with fifty Wyandots and Iroquois at his
+      back. Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none of the Indians or
+      white allies around him would have done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but watchful,
+      and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm. It was Carpenter, a man whose
+      task was not less than that of the five. They were in the thick of it and
+      could see what was done, but he had to lead on and wait. He counted the
+      dusk figures as they approached him, one, two, three, four, five, and
+      perhaps no man ever felt greater relief. He advanced toward them and said
+      huskily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was no fight! They did not attack!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a fight,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we beat them back; then a second and
+      a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of Wyandots, led by
+      their great chief, Timmendiquas. He came forward and said that they would
+      not pursue women and children, and that we could go in safety.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter looked incredulous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;every word of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is more than Brant would have done,&rdquo; said Carpenter, &ldquo;and it saves us,
+      with your help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter,&rdquo; said Henry
+      sincerely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the oasis, but
+      they spread the news that there would be no more pursuit, and many
+      drooping spirits revived. They spent another day in the Great Dismal
+      Swamp, where more lives were lost. On the day after their emergence from
+      the marsh, Henry and his comrades killed two deer, which furnished greatly
+      needed food, and on the day after that, excepting those who had died by
+      the way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into shelter and
+      safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois began the
+      celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great victory and the many
+      scalps taken at Wyoming. They could not recall another time when they had
+      secured so many of these hideous trophies, and they were drunk with the
+      joy of victory. Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes, and some
+      painted and dressed like Indians, took part in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand council to
+      prepare for it. All the leading chiefs were present, Sangerachte,
+      Hiokatoo, and the others. Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe, and other white men
+      were admitted. After their deliberations a great fire was built in the
+      center of the camp, the squaws who had followed the army feeding it with
+      brushwood until it leaped and roared and formed a great red pyramid. Then
+      the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance, and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the farthest point
+      of the camp emerged a long line of warriors, hundreds and hundreds of
+      them, all painted in red and black with horrible designs. They were naked
+      except the breechcloth and moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a tomahawk
+      as he sang.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the red
+      light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced and wheeled
+      about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid light upon faces hideous
+      with paint or the intoxication of triumph. The glare of their black eyes
+      was like those of Eastern eaters of hasheesh or opium, and they bounded to
+      and fro as if their muscles were springs of steel. They sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  We have met the Bostonians [*] in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+     [* Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by
+     the Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The monotonous chant with the refrain, &ldquo;Ever-victorious is the League of
+      the Ho-de-no-sau-nee,&rdquo; went on for many verses. Meanwhile the old squaws
+      never ceased to feed the bonfire, and the flames roared, casting a deeper
+      and more vivid light over the distorted faces of the dancers and those of
+      the chiefs, who sat gravely beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Higher and higher leaped the warriors. They seemed unconscious of fatigue,
+      and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. Their whole souls were
+      possessed by the orgy. Beads of sweat, not of exhaustion, but of emotional
+      excitement, appeared upon their faces and naked bodies, and the red and
+      black paint streaked together horribly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased suddenly to
+      sing, although they continued their dance. A moment later a cry which
+      thrilled every nerve came from a far point in the dark background. It was
+      the scalp yell, the most terrible of all Indian cries, long, high-pitched,
+      and quavering, having in it something of the barking howl of the wolf and
+      the fiendish shriek of a murderous maniac. The warriors instantly took it
+      up, and gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight. It was that of
+      a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the waist, her body
+      covered with red and black paint, her long black hair hanging in a loose
+      cloud down her back. She held a fresh scalp, taken from a white head,
+      aloft in either band. It was Catharine Montour, and it was she who had
+      first emitted the scalp yell. After her came more warriors, all bearing
+      scalps. The scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken,
+      and, as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+      hours, penetrating every part of the forest. All the time Catharine
+      Montour led the dance. None bounded higher than she. None grimaced more
+      horribly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and black
+      caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around amid hoots and
+      yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. They were the surviving
+      prisoners, and the black caps meant that they were to be killed and
+      scalped on the morrow. Stupefied by all through which they had gone, they
+      were scarcely conscious now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Midnight came. The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm stars
+      looked down upon the savage and awful scene. Now the dancers began to
+      weary. Many dropped unconscious, and the others danced about them where
+      they lay. After a while all ceased. Then the chiefs brought forth a white
+      dog, which Hiokatoo killed and threw on the embers of the fire. When it
+      was thoroughly roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it. Thus
+      closed the Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. A FOREST PAGE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five had
+      helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food and rest they
+      needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt themselves relieved of
+      a great responsibility. They were also aware how much they owed to
+      Timmendiquas, because few of the Indians and renegades would have been so
+      forbearing. Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to the great Wyandot.
+      Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the prisoners and the
+      slaughter of women and children, he did not do it. The five could never
+      forget these things in after life, when Brant was glorified as a great
+      warrior and leader. Their minds always turned to Timmendiquas as the
+      highest and finest of Indian types.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful state of
+      exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death on the way. Other
+      groups reached the Moravian towns, where they were received with all
+      kindness by the German settlers. The five were able to give some help to
+      several of these parties, but the beautiful Wyoming Valley lay utterly in
+      ruins. The ruthless fury of the savages and of many of the Tories,
+      Canadians, and Englishmen, can scarcely be told. Everything was
+      slaughtered or burned. As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+      pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. An entire
+      population was either annihilated or driven out, and finally Butler's
+      army, finding that nothing more was left to be destroyed, gathered in its
+      war parties and marched northward with a vast store of spoils, in which
+      scalps were conspicuous. When they repassed Tioga Point, Timmendiquas and
+      his Wyandots were still with them. Thayendanegea was also with them here,
+      and so was Walter Butler, who was destined shortly to make a reputation
+      equaling that of his father, &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler. Nor had the terrible Queen
+      Esther ever left them. She marched at the head of the army, singing,
+      horrid chants of victory, and swinging the great war tomahawk, which did
+      not often leave her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was still
+      full of the impulse of savage triumph. Wild Indian songs floated along the
+      stream or through the meadows, which were quiet now. They advanced at
+      their ease, knowing that there was nobody to attack them, but they were
+      watched by five woodsmen, two of whom were boys. Meanwhile the story of
+      Wyoming, to an extent that neither Indians nor woodsmen themselves
+      suspected, was spreading from town to town in the East, to invade thence
+      the whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation and horror that
+      would make the name Wyoming long memorable. Wyoming had been a victory for
+      the flag under which the invaders fought, but it sadly tarnished the cause
+      of that flag, and the consequences were to be seen soon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were thinking
+      little of distant consequences, but they were eager for the present
+      punishment of these men who had committed so much cruelty. From the bushes
+      they could easily follow the canoes, and could recognize some of their
+      occupants. In one of the rear boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young man whom
+      they knew to be Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by the most
+      savage ferocity against the patriots. He and Wyatt seemed to be on the
+      best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the five who
+      were watching among the bushes on the river bank. Certainly Braxton Wyatt
+      and he were a pair well met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol longingly, &ldquo;I think I could jest about reach
+      Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here. I ain't over fond o' shootin' from
+      ambush, but I done got over all scruples so fur ez he's concerned. Jest
+      one bullet, one little bullet, Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur a
+      second chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sol, it won't do,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;They'd get off to hunt us. The whole
+      fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as fast as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I s'pose you're right, Henry,&rdquo; said the shiftless one sadly, &ldquo;but I'd
+      jest like to try it once. I'd give a month's good huntin' for that single
+      trial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river, they turned
+      back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses near it. Here
+      everything had been destroyed. It was about dusk when they approached the
+      battlefield, and they heard a dreadful howling, chiefly that of wolves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'd better turn away,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We couldn't do anything with
+      so many.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up the
+      Susquehanna. A light rain fell that night, but they slept under a little
+      shed, once attached to a house which had been destroyed by fire. In some
+      way the shed had escaped the flames, and it now came into timely use. The
+      five, cunning in forest practice, drew up brush on the sides, and
+      half-burned timber also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which had
+      not long been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain, although
+      they did not sleep for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night had come
+      on cool, and the rain made it cooler. The five, profiting by experience,
+      often carried with them two light blankets instead of one heavy one. With
+      one blanket beneath the body they could keep warmer in case the weather
+      was cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old outhouse,
+      protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. They had eaten of a
+      deer that they had shot in the morning, and they had a sense of comfort
+      and rest that none of them had known before in many days. Henry's feelings
+      were much like those that he had experienced when he lay in the bushes in
+      the little canoe, wrapped up from the storm and hidden from the Iroquois.
+      But here there was an important increase of pleasure, the pattering of the
+      rain on the board roof, a pleasant, soothing sound to which millions of
+      boys, many of them afterwards great men, have listened in America.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost musical in
+      its rhythm, kept up. Not much wind was blowing, and it, too, was
+      melodious. Henry lay with his head on a little heap of ashes, which was
+      covered by his under blanket, and, for the first time since he had brought
+      the warning to Wyoming, he was free from all feeling of danger. The
+      picture itself of the battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture, and
+      of the savage Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was at
+      times as vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then in
+      its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth, hope, and
+      strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower. Physical comfort and the
+      presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that permeated his
+      whole being. The light wind mingled pleasantly with the soft summer rain.
+      The sound of the two grew strangely melodious, almost piercingly sweet,
+      and then it seemed to be human. They sang together, the wind and rain,
+      among the leaves, and the note that reached his heart, rather than his
+      ear, thrilled him with courage and hope. Once more the invisible voice
+      that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told him, even here
+      in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was lost would be regained. The
+      chords ended, and the echoes, amazingly clear, floated far away in the
+      darkness and rain. Henry roused himself, and came from the imaginative
+      borderland. He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice to Shif'less
+      Sol:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear anything, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothin' but the wind an' the rain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry,&rdquo; continued the shiftless
+      one, &ldquo;'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near sleep ez a feller
+      could be without bein' ackshooally so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was drifting away,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather gift.
+      Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything in brilliant
+      colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air, but Henry's gift went
+      deeper. It was the power to evoke the actual living picture of the event
+      that bad not yet occurred, something akin in its nature to prophecy, based
+      perhaps upon the wonderful power of observation, inherited doubtless, from
+      countless primitive ancestors. The finest product of the wilderness, he
+      saw in that wilderness many things that others did not see, and
+      unconsciously he drew his conclusions from superior knowledge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another note, a howl
+      almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full of ferocity. All knew
+      it at once. They had heard the cry of wolves too often in their lives, but
+      this had an uncommon note like the yell of the Indian in victory. Again
+      the cry arose, nearer, haunting, and powerful. The five, used to the
+      darkness, could see one another's faces, and the look that all gave was
+      the same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley,&rdquo; whispered Paul,
+      &ldquo;and striking our trail they think they are going to find what they have
+      been finding in such plenty before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; nodded Henry, &ldquo;but do you remember that time when in the house we
+      took the place of the man, his wife and children, just before the Indians
+      came?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll treat them wolves the same way,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm glad of the chance,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me, too,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and everyone
+      held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle, with the muzzle
+      pointing toward the forest. All accomplished marksmen, it would only be a
+      matter of a moment for the stock to leap to the shoulder, the eye to
+      glance down the barrel, the finger to pull the trigger, and the unerring
+      bullet to leap forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, you give the word as usual,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet, and they
+      saw many gleaming eyes draw near. There must have been at least thirty of
+      the wolves, and the five figures that they saw reclining, silent and
+      motionless, against the unburned portion of the house might well have been
+      those of the dead and scalped, whom they had found in such numbers
+      everywhere. They drew near in a semicircular group, its concave front
+      extended toward the fire, the greatest wolves at the center. Despite many
+      feastings, the wolves were hungry again. Nothing had opposed them before,
+      but caution was instinctive. The big gray leaders did not mind the night
+      or the wind or the rain, which they had known all their lives, and which
+      they counted as nothing, but they always had involuntary suspicion of
+      human figures, whether living or not, and they approached slowly,
+      wrinkling back their noses and sniffing the wind which blew from them
+      instead of the five figures. But their confidence increased as they
+      advanced. They had found many such burned houses as this, but they had
+      found nothing among the ruins except what they wished.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the human
+figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves curling
+back farther from the strong white teeth. The outer ends of the concave
+semicircle also drew in. The whole pack was about to spring upon its
+unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true that many a wolfish pulse
+beat a little higher in anticipation. With a suddenness as startling
+ figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a gush
+of flame shot from five muzzles. Five of the wolves-and they were the
+biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon the ashes of the
+charred timbers, and the others, howling their terror to the dark,
+skies, fled deep into the forest.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with his foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting those
+      wolves,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I for one am glad we did it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So am I,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me, too,&rdquo; said the other three together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one fell
+      asleep. No more wolves howled that night anywhere near them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and a
+      splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold. Jim Hart built a fire among
+      the blackened logs, and cooked venison. They had also brought from Fort
+      Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim carried with a small coffee pot in
+      his camp kit, and everyone had a small tin cup. He made coffee for them,
+      an uncommon wilderness luxury, in which they could rarely indulge, and
+      they were heartened and strengthened by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with its silver
+      river in the center, and its green mountain walls on either side. But the
+      beauty was for the eye only. It did not reach the hearts of those who had
+      seen it before. All of the five loved the wilderness, but they felt now
+      how tragic silence and desolation could be where human life and all the
+      daily ways of human life had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its own. The
+      game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into the valley. Deer
+      ate what had grown in the fields and gardens, and the wolves were
+      everywhere. The whole black tragedy was written for miles. They were never
+      out of sight of some trace of it, and their anger grew again as they
+      advanced in the blackened path of the victorious Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts and
+      skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign against the
+      Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted sooner or later.
+      Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering news of the Indian plans,
+      and, when that army of which they dreamed should finally march, they could
+      help it most of all by warning it of ambush, the Indian's deadliest
+      weapon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was manifest in
+      all wars with the Indians along the whole border from North to South, as
+      it steadily shifted farther West. The practical hunter and scout was
+      always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw
+      levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were
+      invariably at a great disadvantage. They were likely to be caught in
+      ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened
+      at Wyoming. The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+      country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his
+      comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it. An army needed
+      eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs. So they went
+      swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of the
+      Iroquois. They had a plan of approaching the upper Mohawk village of
+      Canajoharie, where one account says that Thayendanegea was born, although
+      another credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned now from the valley to the deep woods. The trail showed that
+      the great Indian force, after disembarking again, split into large
+      parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound for its home village. The
+      five noted several of the trails, but one of them consumed the whole
+      attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about eight
+      Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he took to be
+      those of a white woman and of several children, captives, as even a tyro
+      would infer. The soul of Tom, the good, honest, and inarticulate
+      frontiersman, stirred within him. A white woman and her children being
+      carried off to savagery, to be lost forevermore to their kind! Tom, still
+      inarticulate, felt his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that the
+      tracks in the soft mud told so plainly. But despair was not the only
+      emotion in his heart. The silent and brave man meant to act.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;see these tracks here in the soft spot by the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly the same
+      tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About a day old, I think,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just about,&rdquo; said Tom; &ldquo;an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in my mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I do,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we ought to overtake them by to-morrow
+      night. You tell the others, Tom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words, receiving
+      from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed fast on the trail.
+      They knew that the Indians could not go very fast, as their speed must be
+      that of the slowest, namely, that of the children, and it seemed likely
+      that Henry's prediction of overtaking them on the following night would
+      come true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an easy trail. Here and there were tiny fragments of cloth, caught
+      by a bush from the dress of a captive. In one place they saw a fragment of
+      a child's shoe that had been dropped off and abandoned. Paul picked up the
+      worn piece of leather and examined it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it was worn by a girl,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and, judging from its size, she
+      could not have been more than eight years old. Think of a child like that
+      being made to walk five or six hundred miles through these woods!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Younger ones still have had to do it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol gravely, &ldquo;an'
+      them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they had no
+      doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more numerous than any
+      others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming battle. They came that afternoon
+      to a camp fire beside which the warriors and captives had slept the night
+      before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They ate bar meat an' wild turkey,&rdquo; said Long Jim, looking at some bones
+      on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' here,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;on this pile uv bushes is whar the women an'
+      children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is whar the warriors lay
+      anywhars. You can still see how the bodies uv some uv 'cm crushed down the
+      grass an' little bushes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' I'm thinkin',&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail that led
+      away from the camp fire, &ldquo;that some o' them little ones wuz gittin'
+      pow'ful tired. Look how these here little trails are wobblin' about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar tomahawks,&rdquo; said
+      Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance of Tom's
+      remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the greatest danger to be feared,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we must overtake
+      them in the night when they are not suspecting. If we attack by day they
+      will tomahawk the captives the very first thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we don't need to hurry. We'll go on until about
+      midnight, and then sleep until sunrise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far less
+      skillful than they could have followed. But a silent dread was in the
+      heart of every one of them. As they saw the path of the small feet
+      staggering more and more they feared to behold some terrible object beside
+      the path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The trail of the littlest child is gone,&rdquo; suddenly announced Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but the mother has picked it up and is carrying it.
+      See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor woman,&rdquo; said Paul. &ldquo;Henry, we're just bound to overtake that band.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll do it,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes that they
+      could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. Then they resumed
+      the trail, haunted always by that fear of finding something terrible
+      beside it. But it was a trail that continually grew slower. The Indians
+      themselves were tired, or, feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of
+      hurry. By and by the trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It feels a lot better now,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;So do I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet cold.
+      Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians had taken time
+      for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They can't be more than two or three hours ahead,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we'll
+      have to go on now very cautiously.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests, a region
+      suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on their own account;
+      but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now advanced slowly. The
+      afternoon was long and warm, but an hour before sunset they looked over a
+      hill into a glade, and saw the warriors making camp for the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. The
+      Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were cooking venison
+      upon it. Others were lying on the grass, apparently resting, but a little
+      to one side sat a woman, still young and of large, strong figure, though
+      now apparently in the last stages of exhaustion, with her feet showing
+      through the fragments of shoes that she wore. Her head was bare, and her
+      dress was in strips. Four children lay beside her' the youngest two with
+      their heads in her lap. The other two, who might be eleven and thirteen
+      each, had pillowed their heads on their arms, and lay in the dull apathy
+      that comes from the finish of both strength and hope. The woman's face was
+      pitiful. She had more to fear than the children, and she knew it. She was
+      so worn that the skin hung loosely on her face, and her eyes showed
+      despair only. The sad spectacle was almost more than Paul could stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't like to shoot from ambush,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we could cut down half
+      of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk the woman
+      and children in an instant,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We agreed, you know, that it
+      would be sure to happen. We can't do anything until night comes, and then
+      we've got to be mighty cautious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew carefully
+      to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the undergrowth, watching the
+      Indians complete their fire and their preparations for the night. It was
+      evident to Henry that they considered themselves perfectly safe. Certainly
+      they had every reason for thinking so. It was not likely that white
+      enemies were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it could only be
+      a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce band of Senecas
+      who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they' had suffered the
+      year before at the Oriskany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just enough for
+      broiling deer meat which they carried. They drank at a little spring which
+      ran from under a ledge near them, and gave portions of the meat to the
+      woman and children. After the woman had eaten, they bound her hands, and
+      she lay back on the grass, about twenty feet from the camp fire. Two
+      children lay on either side of her, and they were soon sound asleep. The
+      warriors, as Indians will do when they are free from danger and care,
+      talked a good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them a
+      luxurious time. They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and looked at
+      some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at their belts. The
+      woman could not keep from seeing these, too, but her face did not change
+      from its stony aspect of despair. Then the light of the fire went out, the
+      sun sank behind the mountains, and the five could no longer see the little
+      group of captives and captors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging at the
+      hearts of every one of them. But they must give the Indians time to fall
+      asleep if they would secure rescue, and not merely revenge. They remained
+      in the bushes, saying but little and eating of venison that they carried
+      in their knapsacks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark, but with a
+      faint moon showing. Then they descended slowly into the valley,
+      approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they knew the Indian camp
+      lay. This work required at least three quarters of an hour, and they
+      reached a point where they could see the embers of the fire and the dark
+      figures lying about it. The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put out
+      no sentinels, and all were asleep. But the five knew that, at the first
+      shot, they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and as
+      formidable as tigers. Their problem seemed as great as ever. So they lay
+      in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's this,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We want to save the woman and the children from
+      the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of range of the blade
+      before the battle begins.&rdquo; &ldquo;How?&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run for the
+      woods with the children, and then you four must do the most of the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think you can do it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can, as I will soon show you. I'm going to steal forward to the woman,
+      but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your rifles and pistols.
+      You can come a little nearer without being heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in the last
+      fringe of bushes except Henry. He lay almost flat upon the ground,
+      carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his right hand. He was
+      undertaking one of the severest and most dangerous tests known to a
+      frontiersman. He meant to crawl into the very midst of a camp of the
+      Iroquois, composed of the most alert woodsmen in the world, men who would
+      spring up at the slightest crackle in the brush. Woodmen who, warned by
+      some sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their hearts
+      from beating louder and faster. They knew the tremendous risk undertaken
+      by their comrade, but there was not one of them who would have shirked it,
+      had not all yielded it to the one whom they knew to be the best fitted for
+      the task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years of skill
+      that he had acquired in his life in the wilds. His body was like that of a
+      serpent, going forward, coil by coil. He was near enough now to see the
+      embers of the fire not yet quite dead, the dark figures scattered about
+      it, sleeping upon the grass with the long ease of custom, and then the
+      outline of the woman apart from the others with the children about her.
+      Henry now lay entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those of a
+      serpent. It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body that
+      he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of his advance was the woman. He saw by the faint light of the
+      moon that she was not yet asleep. Her face, worn and weather beaten, was
+      upturned to the skies, and the stony look of despair seemed to have
+      settled there forever. She lay upon some pine boughs, and her hands were
+      tied behind her for the night with deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like a great
+      snake. Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with war paint, and
+      came closer to the woman. She was not paying attention to anything about
+      her, but was merely looking up at the pale, cold stars, as if everything
+      in the world had ceased for her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept a little nearer. He made a slight noise, as of a lizard
+      running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. He crept closer,
+      and there he lay flat upon the grass within six feet of her, his figure
+      merely a slightly darker blur against the dark blur of the earth. Then,
+      trusting to the woman's courage and strength of mind, he emitted a hiss
+      very soft and low, like the warning of a serpent, half in fear and half in
+      anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which the sound
+      had come. It might have been the formidable hiss of a coiling rattlesnake
+      that she heard, but she felt no fear. She was too much stunned, too near
+      exhaustion to be alarmed by anything, and she did not look a second time.
+      She merely settled back on the pine boughs, and again looked dully up at
+      the pale, cold stars that cared so little for her or hers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low noise,
+      sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the border, knew to
+      be made by a human being. She raised herself a little, although it was
+      difficult with her bound hands to sit upright, and saw a dark shadow
+      approaching her. That dark shadow she knew to be the figure of a man. An
+      Indian would not be approaching in such a manner, and she looked again,
+      startled into a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the
+      incredible, the impossible, was about to happen. A voice came from the
+      figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not move,&rdquo; said that incredible voice out of the unknown. &ldquo;I have come
+      for your rescue, and others who have come for the same purpose are near.
+      Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds that hold your arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary Newton. A
+      sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her four children awoke
+      within her just when hope had gone the call to life came. She had never
+      heard before a voice so full of cheer and encouragement. It penetrated her
+      whole being. Exhaustion and despair fled away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn a little on your side,&rdquo; said the voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel as it
+      swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them together. Her
+      arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein of her being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall attack in a few moments,&rdquo; said the voice, &ldquo;but at the first
+      shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your children. Hold out
+      your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held out both hands obediently. The handle of a tomahawk was pressed
+      into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into the other.
+      Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how,&rdquo; said the
+      voice. Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far days of
+      Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom the unknown
+      figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. It had seemed to her
+      that God himself had deserted her, but at the last moment he had sent some
+      one. She did not doubt, she could not doubt, because the bonds had been
+      severed, and there she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand. The
+      friendly stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come, but
+      she was not helpless now. Like many another frontier woman, she was
+      naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope, all her
+      strength had returned for the present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape superstition, and
+      Mary Newton began to believe that some supernatural creature had
+      intervened in her behalf. She raised herself just a little on one elbow
+      and surveyed the surrounding thicket. She saw only the dead embers of the
+      fire, and the dark forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground. Had it
+      not been for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have believed
+      that the voice was only a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose quickly to
+      his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands. The woman's fingers clutched
+      the knife and pistol more tightly, and her whole gaunt figure trembled.
+      The Seneca listened only a moment. Then he gave a sharp cry, and all the
+      other warriors sprang up. But three of them rose only to fall again, as
+      the rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others staggered from wounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket, and then
+      they rushed upon the camp. Quick as a flash two of the Senecas started
+      toward the woman and children with their tomahawks, but Mary Newton was
+      ready. Her heart had leaped at the shots when the Senecas fell, and she
+      kept her courage. Now she sprang to her full height, and, with the
+      children screaming at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly
+      into the face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same way
+      with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. Then, tomahawk
+      in hand, she rushed forward. In judging Mary Newton, one must consider
+      time and place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk. As the five
+      rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled pistols, while Henry
+      swung his clubbed rifle with terrible effect. It was too much for the
+      Senecas. The apparition of the armed woman, whom they had left bound, and
+      the deadly fire from the five figures that sprang upon them, was like a
+      blow from the hand of Aieroski. The unhurt and wounded fled deep into the
+      forest, leaving their dead behind. Mary Newton, her great deed done,
+      collapsed from emotion and weakness. The screams of the children sank in a
+      few moments to frightened whimpers. But the oldest, when they saw the
+      white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was revived;
+      Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three were in the thickets,
+      watching lest the surviving Senecas return for attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must have sent
+      you to our rescue,&rdquo; said Mary Newton reverently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don't know,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;but we are doing the best we can. Do you
+      think you can walk now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Away from the savages? Yes!&rdquo; she said passionately. She looked down at
+      the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a single trace of
+      pity for them. Again it is necessary to consider time and place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some of my strength came back while I was lying here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and
+      much more of it when you drove away the Indians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire with his
+      comrades, &ldquo;we must start on the back trail at once. The surviving Senecas,
+      joined by other Iroquois, will certainly pursue, and we need all the start
+      that we can get.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him over his
+      shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the older two scorned
+      help. They were full of admiration for the great woodsmen, mighty heroes
+      who had suddenly appeared out of the air, as it were, and who had swept
+      like a tornado over the Seneca band. It did not seem possible now that
+      they, could be retaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also recovered her
+      forethought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;One of
+      the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles farther on was a river
+      flowing into the Susquehanna, and that they would cross this river on a
+      boat now concealed among bushes on the bank. The crossing was at a sudden
+      drop between high banks. Might not we go on, find the boat, and come back
+      in it down the river and into the Susquehanna?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Besides,
+      it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the Iroquois off our track.
+      They'll think, o' course, that we've gone straight back, an' we'll pass
+      'em ez we're going forward.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's certainly the best plan,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it's worth our while to
+      try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois. Do you know the general
+      direction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost due north.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any Iroquois who
+      may be returning to this camp, and push for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others followed in a
+      silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the two smallest children,
+      who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. Henry did not believe that the
+      returning Iroquois could follow their trail on such a dark night, and the
+      others agreed with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while they saw the gleam of water. Henry knew that it must be very
+      near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such a dark night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Mrs. Newton,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that this is the river of which you
+      spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you've done well with my poor guess, and the boat must
+      be hidden somewhere near here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two older children, unable to
+      walk farther, sank down beside her. But the two who slept soundly on the
+      shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not awaken. Henry motioned to Jim
+      and Tom to remain there, and Shif'less Sol bent upon them a quizzical and
+      approving look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed galoot,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;carryin' a baby that tender. Knew Jim could sling a little black
+      bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think you'd take to nussin' so easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde,&rdquo; said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+      condescension, &ldquo;that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. In face
+      uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but with the little an'
+      the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez human bein's are ever made to
+      be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right, old hoss,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;I can't argify with you now, ez the
+      general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his major, which is
+      Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o' them barges o' Clepatry that
+      Paul tells about, all solid silver, with red silk sails an' gold oars, an'
+      we're meanin' to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they discovered, deep
+      among bushes growing in the shallow water, a large, well-made boat with
+      two pairs of oars and with small supplies of parched corn and venison
+      hidden in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good luck an' bad luck come mixed,&rdquo; said the shift-less one, &ldquo;an' this is
+      shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck. The woman an' the children are
+      clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we could never hev got them
+      back. Now it's jest a question o' rowin' an' fightin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;while you can go back and tell the others, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That just suits a lazy man,&rdquo; said Sol, and he walked away jauntily. Under
+      his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at the find, which he knew to
+      be of such vast importance. He approached the dusky group, and his really
+      tender heart was stirred with pity for the rescued captives. Long Jim and
+      Silent Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but the older ones and
+      the woman, also, had fallen asleep. Sol, in order to conceal his emotion,
+      strode up rather roughly. Mary Newton awoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find anything?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Find anything?&rdquo; repeated Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Well, Long Jim an' Tom here
+      might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me, three eddicated
+      men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally bound to find it whether
+      it wuz thar or not. Yes, we've unearthed what Paul would call an argosy,
+      the grandest craft that ever floated on this here creek, that I never saw
+      before, an' that I don't know the name uv. She's bein' floated out now,
+      an' I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to tell the princes and
+      princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the other gran' an' mighty
+      passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice is in the stream, an' the
+      Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin', settin' on the Pup to welcome ye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sol,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;you do talk a power uv foolishness, with your Dogs
+      an' Pups.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain't foolishness,&rdquo; rejoined the shiftless one. &ldquo;I heard Paul read it
+      out o' a book oncet, plain ez day. They've been ruled by Dogs at Venice
+      for more than a thousand years, an' on big 'casions the Dog comes down a
+      canal in a golden barge, settin' on the Pup. I'll admit it 'pears strange
+      to me, too, but who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the ways of
+      foreign countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the sea?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've found the boat,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;an' that's enough!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it really true?&rdquo; asked Mrs. Newton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' Henry an' Paul are in it, waitin' fur
+      us. We're thinkin', Mrs. Newton, that the roughest part of your trip is
+      over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really fine one,
+      and they were delighted. Mary Newton for the first time broke down and
+      wept, and no one disturbed her. The five spread the blankets on the bottom
+      of the boat, where the children soon went to sleep once more, and Tom Ross
+      and Shif'less Sol took the oars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back in a boat ag'in,&rdquo; said the shiftless one exultantly. &ldquo;Makes me feel
+      like old times. My fav'rite mode o' travelin' when Jim Hart, 'stead o' me,
+      is at the oars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which is most o' the time,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the wilderness.
+      They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful arms, with scarcely an
+      effort, propelled the boat along the stream. The woman herself lay down on
+      the blankets and fell asleep with the children. Henry at the prow, Tom
+      Ross at the stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with their
+      rifles across their knees. They knew that the danger was far from over.
+      Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown to them, as a
+      highway, and those who survived of their original captors could pick up
+      their trail by daylight. And the Senecas, being mad for revenge, would
+      surely get help and follow. Henry believed that the theory of returning
+      toward the Wyoming Valley was sound. That region had been so thoroughly
+      ravaged now that all the Indians would be going northward. If they could
+      float down a day or so without molestation, they would probably be safe.
+      The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened, flowing with a smooth,
+      fairly swift current. The forest on either side was dense with oak,
+      hickory, maple, and other splendid trees, often with a growth of
+      underbrush. The three riflemen never ceased to watch intently. Henry
+      always looked ahead. It would have been difficult for any ambushed
+      marksman to have escaped his notice. But nothing occurred to disturb them.
+      Once a deer came down to drink, and fled away at sight of the phantom boat
+      gliding almost without noise on the still waters. Once the far scream of a
+      panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton and her children, sleeping
+      soundly, did not hear it. The five themselves knew the nature of the
+      sound, and paid no attention. The boat went steadily on, the three
+      riflemen never changing their position, and soon the day began to come.
+      Little arrows of golden light pierced through the foliage of the trees,
+      and sparkled on the surface of the water. In the cast the red sun was
+      coming from his nightly trip. Henry looked down at the sleepers. They were
+      overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake of their own accord for a
+      long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not let 'em sleep on?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom Ross
+      resumed their rifles. The day was coming fast, and the whole forest was
+      soon transfused with light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one of the five had slept during the night. They did not feel the need
+      of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great exaltation. They had
+      saved the prisoners thus far from a horrible fate, and they were firmly
+      resolved to reach, with them, some strong settlement and safety. They
+      felt, too, a sense of exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo, the
+      Butlers, the Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed such
+      terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver to gold,
+      and the woman and the children still slept. The five chewed some strips of
+      venison, and looked rather lugubriously at the pieces they were saving for
+      Mary Newton and the children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We ought to hev more'n that,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Ef the worst comes to
+      the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But not yet,&rdquo; said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the sleepers. &ldquo;I
+      think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon, and its width will be a
+      good thing for us. I wish we were there now. I don't like this narrow
+      stream. Its narrowness affords too good an ambush.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;an'
+      that is a good sign. What's that you see ahead, Henry&mdash;ain't it a
+      river?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It surely is,&rdquo; replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad expanse of
+      water, &ldquo;and it's the Susquehanna. Pull hard, Sol! In five more minutes
+      we'll be in the river.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+      Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout behind them,
+      and saw at least a dozen canoes following. The canoes were filled with
+      Indians and Tories, and they had spied the fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep the women and the children down, Paul,&rdquo; cried Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and, without a
+      word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled watermen, swung heavily
+      on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less Sol sat in the rear with their
+      rifles ready. Mary Newton awoke with a cry at the sound of the shots, and
+      started to rise, but Paul pushed her down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we are pursued.
+      The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't be afraid. The two who
+      are watching there are the best shots in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in the stern
+      of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past, kings of the forest
+      whom no one could overcome, and her courage came back. The children, too,
+      had awakened with frightened cries, but she and Paul quickly soothed them,
+      and, obedient to commands, the four, and Mary Newton with them, lay flat
+      upon the bottom of the boat, which was now being sent forward rapidly by
+      Jim Hart and Tom. Paul took up his rifle and sat in a waiting attitude,
+      either to relieve one of the men at the oars or to shoot if necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light. The Indians, after
+      their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful were Long Jim and Tom that
+      they were gaining but little, although some of the boats contained six or
+      eight rowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces in the
+      first boat. One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other, he was quite
+      sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler. Hot anger swept through all
+      his veins, and the little pulses in his temples began to beat like trip
+      hammers. Now the picture of Wyoming, the battle, the massacre, the
+      torture, and Queen Esther wielding her great tomahawk on the bound
+      captives, grew astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his
+      brain. The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+      had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?&rdquo; he called clearly across the intervening
+      water. &ldquo;Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women and children,
+      champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of the savages. And it is
+      you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of a wicked father. Come a little
+      closer, won't you? We've messengers here for both of you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of Shif'less Sol,
+      and repeated his request that they come a little closer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They understood his words, and they understood, also, the significant
+      gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles. The hearts of both Butler
+      and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and their boat dropped back to third
+      place. Henry laughed aloud when he saw. The Viking rage was still upon
+      him. This was the primeval wilderness, and these were no common foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers,&rdquo; he cried.
+      &ldquo;Why have you dropped back to third place in the line, Braxton Wyatt and
+      Walter Butler, when you were first only a moment ago? Are you cowards as
+      well as murderers of women and children?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's pow'ful good talk,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol admiringly. &ldquo;Henry, you're
+      a real orator. Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get a chance at one o' them
+      renegades.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of the
+      renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain first place. Thus
+      the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called Henry's
+      attention to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in the first
+      boat?&rdquo; he said to Henry. &ldquo;Wyatt an' Butler are a leetle too fur away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Take that
+      fellow on the right who is pulling so hard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over his aim,
+      and pulled the trigger. The rower whom Henry had pointed out fell back in
+      the boat, his hands slipping from the handles of his oars. The boat was
+      thrown into confusion, and dropped back in the race. Scattering shots were
+      fired in return, but all fell short, the water spurting up in little jets
+      where they struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long stay
+      among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!&rdquo; he
+      shouted. &ldquo;And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler,
+      murderers of women and children! Why don't you keep your proper places in
+      the front?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the way to talk to 'em,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, as he reloaded.
+      &ldquo;Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton Wyatt hisself. Since
+      Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor I, either,&rdquo; said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful tones: &ldquo;The
+      place of a leader is in front, isn't it? Then why don't you come up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up. They were not lacking in
+      courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the fugitive boat contained,
+      and he had also told Butler. So they still hung back, although they raged
+      at Henry Ware's taunts, and permitted the Mohawks and Senecas to take the
+      lead in the chase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're not going to give us a chance,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I'm satisfied of
+      that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets, though just now I'd rather
+      it were the two white ones. What do you think, Sol, of that leading boat?
+      Shouldn't we give another hint?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you, Henry,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;They're comin' much
+      too close fur people that ain't properly interduced to us. This promiskus
+      way o' meetin' up with strangers an' lettin' 'em talk to you jest ez ef
+      they'd knowed you all their lives hez got to be stopped. It's your time,
+      Henry, to give 'em a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you take the big
+      fellow in the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. Again
+      confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a decline of
+      enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and swore, but, as they
+      showed no great zeal for the lead themselves, the Iroquois did not gain on
+      the fugitive boat. They, too, were fast learning that the two who crouched
+      there with their rifles ready were among the deadliest marksmen in
+      existence. They fired a dozen shots, perhaps, but their rifles did not
+      have the long range of the Kentucky weapons, and again the bullets fell
+      short, causing little jets of water to spring up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for some chance to
+      help them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and announced
+      that he could see no danger. There was probably no Indian fleet farther
+      down the river than the one now pursuing them, and the danger was behind
+      them, not before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not said a
+      word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that would have carried
+      oarsmen of our day to many a victory. Moreover, they had the inducement
+      not merely of a prize, but of life itself, to row and to row hard. They
+      had rolled up their sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of woven
+      steel rose and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver current
+      of the Susquehanna.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat. The children had cried
+      out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing, but she and Paul
+      bad soothed them and kept them down. Somehow Mary Newton had become
+      possessed of a great faith. She noticed the skill, speed, and success with
+      which the five always worked, and, so long given up to despair, she now
+      went to the other extreme. With such friends as these coming suddenly out
+      of the void, everything must succeed. She had no doubt of it, but lay
+      peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed by the sound of
+      the shots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. The
+      Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were driven back
+      by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. Shif'less Sol, while
+      he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose place he had taken,
+      nevertheless was not silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller Butler,&rdquo;
+       he said. &ldquo;Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see us here, almost
+      where they could stretch out their hands an' put 'em on us. Like reachn'
+      fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git it by half a finger's length.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are certainly not pleased,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but this must end some way
+      or other, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin',&rdquo; rejoined the shiftless one, &ldquo;but
+      when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. Ez I've said more'n
+      once before, floatin' down a river with somebody else pullin' at the oars
+      is the life jest suited to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry looked up. &ldquo;A summer thunderstorm is coming,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and from the
+      look of things it's going to be pretty black. Then's when we must dodge
+      'em.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a good weather prophet. In a half hour the sky began to darken
+      rapidly. There was a great deal of thunder and lightning, but when the
+      rain came the air was almost as dark as night. Mary Newton and her
+      children were covered as much as possible with the blankets, and then they
+      swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern shore. They had already lost
+      sight of their pursuers in the darkness, and as they coasted along the
+      shore they found a large creek flowing into the river from the east.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when the rain
+      ceased. Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly drying everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too shallow for
+      them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to the land. Two days
+      later they arrived at a strong fort and settlement, where Mary Newton and
+      her four children, safe and well, were welcomed by relatives who had
+      mourned them as dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. &ldquo;THE ALCOVE&rdquo;
+     </h2>
+    <p>
+      They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as food was
+      served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually slept
+      soundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry and his
+      comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a single room
+      inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newton had already
+      spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside their hunting shirts
+      and leggins, prepared for rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flat and
+      broad, in one corner of the room, &ldquo;that's a bed. Mebbe you don't think it,
+      but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe you're right, Sol,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hev seen sech things ez that, an'
+      mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tells us
+      about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess the ground
+      wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong, an' all the
+      rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man myself I'll
+      jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender, Sol Hyde, an'
+      not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed yourself, an' in
+      the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in a silver mug an' a
+      razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffled red silk shirt an' a
+      blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jest comin' to the knee,
+      where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' out uv purple satin slippers,
+      an' then he'll clap on your head a big wig uv snow-white hair, fallin' all
+      about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a silver sword to your side, an'
+      he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez long been known ez Shif'less Sol, an'
+      desarvin' the name, but who in reality is the King o' France, is now
+      before you. Down on your knees an' say your prayers!'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sun is
+      a wally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard all about 'em from Paul,&rdquo; replied Long Jim in a tone of intense
+      satisfaction. &ldquo;A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to do fur
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I want one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol emphatically. &ldquo;He'd jest suit a lazy
+      man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbe you're
+      more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all the instincts
+      uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'm hungry, I like
+      to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired, an' I like to
+      sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed at birth by
+      fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France, after all, an'
+      my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal ancestors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe it's so,&rdquo; rejoined Long Jim. &ldquo;I've heard that thar hev been a
+      pow'ful lot uv foolish kings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them, and
+      was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him to
+      slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than two
+      minutes behind Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted in his
+      ear: &ldquo;Henry Ware, by all that's glorious,&rdquo; and a hand pressed his fingers
+      together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figure and smiling
+      brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made that adventurous journey
+      up the Mississippi and Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the others?&rdquo; was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, but
+      we're as sound as ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's always a safe prediction to make,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, smiling. &ldquo;I
+      never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out of
+      danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of the New Englander darkened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wyoming!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;I cannot hear of it without every vein growing
+      hot within me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We saw things done there,&rdquo; said Henry gravely, &ldquo;the telling of which few
+      men can bear to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know! I know!&rdquo; exclaimed Adam Colfax. &ldquo;The news of it has spread
+      everywhere!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What we want,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;is revenge. It is a case in which we must
+      strike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a white life will
+      be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, &ldquo;and we would send an army now against the
+      Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at their
+      lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That is the
+      reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which has
+      suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will strike
+      in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make more than
+      half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you know this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
+      here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us so
+      fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
+      Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
+      means to help Thayendanegea to the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is bad,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader, but
+      there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will relieve
+      somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry, that we got
+      through safely with our supplies to the Continental army, and they could
+      not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
+      Adam Colfax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on the
+      Mississippi an' the Ohio'&mdash;an' now that you're here, they're goin' to
+      win again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we are going to win here and everywhere,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, &ldquo;but
+      it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because our
+      people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
+      east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot cause,
+      and the five, on the day after that, received a message written on a piece
+      of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts of the
+      settlement. It was addressed to &ldquo;Henry Ware and Those with Him,&rdquo; and it
+      read:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     &ldquo;I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     &ldquo;I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     &ldquo;I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A renegade catches something of the Indian nature,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and always
+      likes to threaten and boast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that the invention o' writin' wuz a
+      mistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mighty
+      big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' up to him
+      face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing a pow'ful
+      sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I'll keep this letter,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;an' we five will give an
+      answer to it later on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravely
+      tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significant action.
+      Nothing more was needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton and her
+      children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chiefly
+      ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. It was
+      their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois, until
+      some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations, was
+      assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined borderers could
+      achieve something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of the great
+      heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was now at its
+      highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed with victory,
+      and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything. Only the
+      strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. The colonists
+      here were so much reduced, and so little help could be sent them from the
+      East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into innumerable small parties
+      and rake the country as with a fine tooth comb. They never missed a lone
+      farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive in the woods able to evade them.
+      And they were constantly fed from the North with arms, ammunition, rewards
+      for scalps, bounties, and great promises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silent and
+      invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struck hard.
+      There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a single
+      Iroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, and the
+      warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommon size
+      and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, and they
+      carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served to them at
+      the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided by the evil
+      spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably. No one
+      could find where they slept, unless it was those who never came back
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and Braxton
+      Wyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,
+      also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their red
+      allies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of the
+      raiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,
+      but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. While
+      their acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+      manifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They were
+      heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, on the
+      Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and as far
+      north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplished more for
+      a defense than did those five in the waning months of the summer. Late in
+      September the most significant of all these events occurred. A party of
+      eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part in the Wyoming affair, was
+      attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such deadly fierceness that
+      only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John Johnson. Brant sent out six
+      war parties, composed of not less than twenty warriors apiece, to seek
+      revenge, but they found nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one of
+      the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at that
+      point was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At the
+      entrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or, rather,
+      cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ample shelter from
+      the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was about halfway between the
+      top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of approach both from below
+      and above. Unless completely surprised-a very unlikely thing with them-the
+      five could hold it against any force as long as their provisions lasted.
+      They also built a boat large enough for five, which they hid among the
+      bushes at the lake's edge. They were thus provided with a possible means
+      of escape across the water in case of the last emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great
+      delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of
+      other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk
+      over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with skins of
+      deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls furnished
+      many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They also, with
+      much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long Jim was to
+      use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones so near the
+      mouth of &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; that the smoke would pass out and be lost in the
+      thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing toward the
+      inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on them all, but
+      Jim would not be cooking then.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo;
+       plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no way
+      in which they could store water, and for that they had to take their
+      chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting caution,
+      was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a few miles of
+      &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; but the pursuers invariably went astray on the hard, rocky
+      ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution to swim down the
+      creek before climbing up to &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; Nobody could follow a trail in
+      the face of such difficulties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, but they
+      easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half waded,
+      half swam down the creek, and climbed up to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; where the others
+      were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water. When they had
+      eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth of &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo;
+       where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage that hid the
+      entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happy mood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to set up in a nice safe
+      place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,
+      seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap in
+      knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that old
+      town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind that
+      it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but 'cause
+      old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a plain. That
+      wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on a mountain,
+      with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been enough Greeks
+      in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable weepins they used
+      in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the walls, laughin' at
+      'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin' killed by A-killus, fur
+      which I've always been sorry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them ancient
+      times that Paul tells about,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;Now, thar wuz 'Lyssus, ten
+      or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin' his ship on the
+      rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants, one-eyed women, an'
+      sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the woods, killin' game on the
+      way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed? Then thar wuz the
+      keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that river so no arrow could
+      enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an' keepin' it out o' the water,
+      which caused his death the very first time Paris shot it off with his
+      little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev sense enough to let the heel go
+      under, too. She could hev dragged it out in two seconds an' no harm done
+      'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin' on the part of A-killus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,&rdquo; said Tom
+      Ross. &ldquo;I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an' I'm
+      beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I know
+      now that's whar the French come from.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Paris was the name of a man,&rdquo; persisted Paul. &ldquo;Maybe the French named
+      their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then they showed mighty poor jedgment,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Ef I'd named
+      my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. &ldquo;Come here, you fellows, and
+      see what's passing down the lake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being rowed
+      slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each canoe
+      held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them contained
+      two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite likely,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and at the same time they may be engaged in
+      some general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the base
+      of the cliff.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage, and
+      they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six long war
+      canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and flooded all
+      the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was not mistaken,
+      and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in the first boat.
+      From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off either with a rifle
+      bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he knew that it would lead to
+      an immediate siege, from which they might not escape, and which at least
+      would check their activities and plans for a long time. Similar impulses
+      flitted through the minds of the other four, but all kept still, although
+      fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle stocks until they touched
+      triggers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming
+      of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of
+      moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's
+      finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to
+      let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close together.
+      They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and smaller
+      still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm thinkin',&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;that thar's some kind uv a movement
+      on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that
+      they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something
+      three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois
+      town of Oghwaga.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's most likely true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it seems to me that it's our
+      business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as you do,&rdquo; they replied with unanimity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we leave this place and start in the morning,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues, and
+      Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains, but the five
+      avoided them all. On one or two occasions they would have been willing to
+      stop and fight, but they had bigger work on hand. They had received from
+      others confirmation of the report that Long Jim had heard from the
+      hunters, and they were quite sure that a strong force was advancing to
+      strike the first blow in revenge for Wyoming. Curiously enough, this body
+      was commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William Butler, and according to
+      report it was large and its leaders capable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the Delaware,
+      it was joined by the five. They were introduced to the colonel by the
+      celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom they had met several times
+      in the woods, and they were received warmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard of you,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler with much warmth, &ldquo;both from
+      hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax. Two of you were to have
+      been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry indicated the two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal against the
+      Indians and their white allies,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone who was there,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;would feel all his life, the desire
+      to punish those who did it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, too, from all that I have heard,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler.
+      &ldquo;It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of our column and warn
+      us of what lies before us. I believe you have volunteered for that duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered only two
+      hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and brave, and it was the
+      best force that could yet be sent to the harassed border. It might, after
+      all, strike a blow for Wyoming if it marched into no ambush, and Henry and
+      his comrades were resolved to guard it from that greatest of all dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the five were
+      far ahead, passing through the woods, up the Susquehanna, toward the
+      Indian villages that lay on its banks, though a great distance above
+      Wyoming. The chief of these was Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the
+      destination of the little army, they were resolved to visit it, or at
+      least come so near it that they could see what manner of place it was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it's a big village,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler, &ldquo;it will be too strong to
+      attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are absent on
+      expeditions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of the
+      approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October evening they
+      knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of the Iroquois supplies.
+      They considered it very risky and unwise to approach in the daytime, and
+      accordingly they lay in the woods until the dark should come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly in the three months
+      since Wyoming. All the green was now gone, and it was tinted red and
+      yellow and brown. The skies were a mellow blue, and there was a slight
+      haze over the forest, but the air had the wonderful crispness and
+      freshness of the American autumn. It inspired every one of the five with
+      fresh zeal and energy, because they believed the first blow was about to
+      be struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the reports of its
+      importance were confirmed. They had not before seen an Indian village with
+      so many signs of permanence. They passed two or three orchards of apple
+      and peach trees, and they saw other indications of cultivation like that
+      of the white farmer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain't a bad-lookin' town,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart. &ldquo;But it'll look wuss,&rdquo;
+       said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;onless they've laid an ambush somewhar. I don't like
+      to see houses an' sech like go up in fire an' smoke, but after what wuz
+      done at Wyomin' an' all through that valley, burnin' is a light thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're bound to strike back with all our might,&rdquo; said Paul, who had the
+      softest heart of them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I wonder who's in this here town,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;Mebbe
+      Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;This is their base and store of supplies. Oh,
+      if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men, what a rush we could
+      make!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the village,
+      passing among some thick clusters of grapevines. Henry was in the lead,
+      and he heard a sudden snarl. A large cur of the kind that infest Indian
+      villages leaped straight at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades from the
+      consequences of an alarm. He dropped his rifle instinctively, and seized
+      the dog by the throat with both hands. A bark following the snarl had
+      risen to the animal's throat, but it was cut short there. The hands of the
+      great youth pressed tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from the
+      earth. The four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no alarm
+      would be made now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. Henry cast
+      the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all five of them sank
+      softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. About fifteen yards away an
+      Indian warrior was walking cautiously along and looking among the vines.
+      Evidently he had heard the snarl of the dog, and was seeking the cause.
+      But it had been only a single sound, and he would not look far. Yet the
+      hearts of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among the vines, and
+      their nerves were tense for action should the need for it come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did not see
+      the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with the dark growth,
+      and presently, satisfied that the sound he had heard was of no importance,
+      he walked in another direction, and passed out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept to the
+      very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon an open space,
+      beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but their attention was
+      centered upon a figure that stood in the open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to disclose the
+      features, every one of the scouts recognized the figure. It could be none
+      other than that of Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+      Wyandots. He was pacing back and forth, somewhat in the fashion of the
+      white man, and his manner implied thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could bring him down from here with a bullet,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but
+      I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;nor will I. But look, there's another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first. It was also
+      that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall as Timmendiquas. It
+      was Thayendanegea. Then three white figures appeared. One was that of
+      Braxton Wyatt, and the others they took to be those of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and
+      his son, Walter Butler. After a talk of a minute or two they entered one
+      of the wooden houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's to be a conference of some kind,&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;I wish I could
+      look in on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I,&rdquo; said the others together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we know this much,&rdquo; continued Henry. &ldquo;No great force of the
+      Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up quickly, we can
+      take the town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a chance not to be lost,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they reached
+      the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs of two or three
+      of the Indian houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've a feeling in me,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;that the place is doomed. We'll strike
+      the first blow for Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their trail with
+      the utmost speed toward the marching American force, going in Indian file
+      through the wilderness. Henry, as usual, led; Shif'less Sol followed, then
+      came Paul, and then Long Jim, while Silent Tom was the rear guard. They
+      traveled at great speed, and, some time after daylight, met the advance of
+      the colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a little
+      when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared. But he uttered an
+      exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader, Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have you found?&rdquo; he asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've been to Oghwaga,&rdquo; replied the youth, &ldquo;and we went all about the
+      town. They do not suspect our coming. At least, they did not know when we
+      left. We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the Butlers, and Wyatt enter the house
+      for a conference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now is our chance,&rdquo; said eager young William Gray. &ldquo;What if we should
+      take the town, and with it these men, at one blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can scarcely hope for as much as that,&rdquo; said Henry, who knew that men
+      like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to allow themselves to
+      be seized by so small a force, &ldquo;but we can hope for a good victory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the news, and,
+      led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with all possible haste.
+      William Gray was still sanguine of a surprise, but the young riflemen did
+      not expect it. Indian sentinels were sure to be in the forest between them
+      and Oghwaga. Yet they said nothing to dash this hope. Henry had already
+      seen enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and the little army
+      full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came. Besides the young
+      captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant named Taylor, who had been
+      in the battle at Wyoming, but who had escaped the massacre. The five had
+      not met him there, but the common share in so great a tragedy proved a tie
+      between them. Taylor's name was Robert, but all the other officers, and
+      some of the men for that matter, who had known him in childhood called him
+      Bob. He was but little older than Henry, and his earlier youth, before
+      removal to Wyoming, had been passed in Connecticut, a country that was to
+      the colonials thickly populated and containing great towns, such as
+      Hartford and New Haven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any other that
+      they had ever seen. His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. Holland was his
+      birthplace, but America was his nation. He was short and extremely fat,
+      but he had an agility that amazed the five when they first saw it
+      displayed. He talked much, and his words sounded like grumbles, but the
+      unctuous tone and the smile that accompanied them indicated to the
+      contrary. He formed for Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining
+      study in character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ain't quite seen his like afore,&rdquo; said the shiftless one to Paul.
+      &ldquo;First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble down among the
+      first bushes he met. 'Stead o' that, he sailed right through 'em, makin'
+      never a trip an' no noise at all, same ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into a
+      juicy venison steak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard tell,&rdquo; said Long Jim, who also contemplated the prodigy, &ldquo;that
+      big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes ez spry ez you. They say
+      that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the giraffe across the sands uv Afriky,
+      an' I know from pussonal experience that the bigger an' clumsier a b'ar is
+      the faster he kin make you scoot fur your life. But he's the real Dutch,
+      ain't he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the Spanish under the Duke
+      uv Alivy an' Belisarry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly,&rdquo; replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to correct
+      Long Jim's history, &ldquo;and I'm willing to predict to you, Jim Hart, that
+      Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight that we may have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Heemskerk rolled up to them. He seemed to have a sort of circular motion
+      like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace with the others,
+      nevertheless, and he showed no signs of exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am here?&rdquo;
+       he said to Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?&rdquo; replied Paul politely. &ldquo;Because I am a Dutchman.
+      I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a baby. I, Cornelius
+      Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle country of Holland in a goot
+      leetle house, by the side of a goot leetle canal, painting beautiful blue
+      china, dishes, plates, cups, saucers, all most beautiful, and here I am
+      running through the woods of this vast America, carrying on my shoulder a
+      rifle that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian and hunted by him.
+      Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr. Heemskerk,&rdquo; replied
+      Paul, &ldquo;and wish to see punishment inflicted upon those who have committed
+      great crimes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so! Not so!&rdquo; replied the Dutchman with energy. &ldquo;It is because I am
+      one big fool. I am not really a big enough man to be as big a fool as I
+      am, but so it is! so it is!&rdquo; Shif'less Sol regarded him critically, and
+      then spoke gravely and with deliberation: &ldquo;It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk,
+      an' Paul ain't told quite all the truth, either. I've heard that the Dutch
+      was the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe; that all
+      you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden shoe, an' all
+      the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump right on top o' you all
+      at once. Lookin' you up an' lookin' you down, an' sizin' you up, an' sizin
+      you down, all purty careful, an' examinin' the corners O' your eyes
+      oncommon close, an' also lookin' at the way you set your feet when you
+      walk, I'm concludin' that you just natcherally love a fight, an' that you
+      are lookin' fur one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me brave when
+      I am not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I only say once more that I ought to be in Holland
+      painting blue plates, and not here in the great woods holding on to my
+      scalp, first with one hand and then with the other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men, only
+      laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a little
+      rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night before, caught a few
+      winks. But in less than an hour they were up and away again. The five
+      riflemen were once more well in advance, and with them were Taylor and
+      Heemskerk, the Dutchman, grumbling over their speed, but revolving along,
+      nevertheless, with astonishing ease and without any sign of fatigue. They
+      discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and as the village
+      now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his belief that the
+      Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would not stay to give battle.
+      If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were prepared for a strong resistance,
+      the bullets of the skirmishers would already be whistling through the
+      woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn leaves fell
+      fast before the rising wind. The promise of the night was dark, which was
+      not bad for their design, and once more the five-now the seven approached
+      Oghwaga. From the crest of the very same hill they looked down once more
+      upon the Indian houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a great base for the Iroquois,&rdquo; said Henry to Heemskerk, &ldquo;and
+      whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel Butler must
+      attack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little higher
+      point for a better view, &ldquo;now I feel in all its fullness the truth that I
+      should be back in Holland, painting blue plates.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of the
+      Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of the time,
+      and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell him the way was
+      open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of them. There were also many
+      serious thoughts in the back of his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile of
+      Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the Iroquois
+      knew of their advance. Henry and his comrades, well in front, looked down
+      upon the town, but saw nothing. No light came from an Indian chimney, nor
+      did any dog howl. Just behind them were the troops in loose order, Colonel
+      Butler impatiently striking his booted leg with a switch, and William Gray
+      seeking to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good example to the
+      men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think, Mr. Ware?&rdquo; asked Colonel Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we ought to rush the town at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so!&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting blue
+      plates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then we'll
+      charge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a long,
+      thrilling note. Before its last echo was ended, the little army rushed
+      upon the town. Three or four shots came from the houses, and the soldiers
+      fired a few at random in return, but that was all. Indian scouts had
+      brought warning of the white advance, and the great chiefs, gathering up
+      all the people who were in the village, had fled. A retreating warrior or
+      two had fired the shots, but when the white men entered this important
+      Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single human being. Timmendiquas,
+      the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was gone; Thayendanegea, the real
+      head of the Six Nations, had slipped away; and with them had vanished the
+      renegades. But they had gone in haste. All around them were the evidences.
+      The houses, built of wood, were scores in number, and many of them
+      contained furniture such as a prosperous white man of the border would buy
+      for himself. There were gardens and shade trees about these, and back of
+      them, barns, many of them filled with Indian corn. Farther on were
+      clusters of bark lodges, which had been inhabited by the less progressive
+      of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses misty in
+      the moonlight. The army had not yet made much noise, but he was beginning
+      to hear behind him the ominous word, &ldquo;Wyoming,&rdquo; repeated more than once.
+      Cornelius Heemskerk had stopped revolving, and, standing beside Henry,
+      wiped his perspiring, red face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland, Mr.
+      Ware,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is a dark and sanguinary time. The men whose brethren
+      were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not now spare the town of
+      those who did it. In this wilderness they give blow for blow, or perish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness. His heart had
+      been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never forget Wyoming or its
+      horrors; but in the destruction of an ancient town the long labor of man
+      perished, and it seemed waste. Doubtless a dozen generations of Iroquois
+      children had played here on the grass. He walked toward the northern end
+      of the village, and saw fields there from which recent corn had been
+      taken, but behind him the cry, &ldquo;Wyoming!&rdquo; was repeated louder and oftener
+      now. Then he saw men running here and there with torches, and presently
+      smoke and flame burst from the houses. He examined the fields and forest
+      for a little distance to see if any ambushed foe might still lie among
+      them, but all the while the flame and smoke behind him were rising higher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry turned back and joined his comrades. Oghwaga was perishing. The
+      flames leaped from house to house, and then from lodge to lodge. There was
+      no need to use torches any more. The whole village was wrapped in a mass
+      of fire that grew and swelled until the flames rose above the forest, and
+      were visible in the clear night miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and scouts were
+      compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest. The wind rose and the
+      flames soared. Sparks flew in myriads, and ashes fell dustily on the dry
+      leaves of the trees. Bob Taylor, with his hands clenched tightly, muttered
+      under his breath, &ldquo;Wyoming! Wyoming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the Iroquois who suffer now,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, as he revolved slowly
+      away from a heated point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks would
+      leap higher and the flames roar louder. The barns, too, were falling down,
+      and the grain was destroyed. The grapevines were trampled under foot, and
+      the gardens were ruined. Oghwaga, a great central base of the Six Nations,
+      was vanishing forever. For four hundred years, ever since the days of
+      Hiawatha, the Iroquois had waxed in power. They had ruled over lands
+      larger than great empires. They had built up political and social systems
+      that are the wonder of students. They were invincible in war, because
+      every man had been trained from birth to be a warrior, and now they were
+      receiving their first great blow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+      Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, Walter Butler, Braxton Wyatt, a
+      low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman, with whom Wyatt had become very
+      friendly, and about sixty Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a tower
+      of light to the south that had just appeared above the trees. It was of an
+      intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band knew that it
+      was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that was burning, and
+      that the men who were doing it were the white frontiersmen, who, his
+      red-coated allies had told him, would soon be swept forever from these
+      woods. And they were forced to stand and see it, not daring to attack so
+      strong and alert a force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the column of
+      fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. Timmendiquas never
+      said a word. In his heart, Indian though he was, he felt that the Iroquois
+      had gone too far. In him was the spirit of the farseeing Hiawatha. He
+      could perceive that great cruelty always brought retaliation; but it was
+      not for him, almost an alien, to say these things to Thayendanegea, the
+      mighty war chief of the Mohawks and the living spirit of the Iroquois
+      nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter storms. His
+      arms were folded across his breast, and he looked steadily toward that red
+      threatening light off there in the south. Some such idea as that in the
+      mind of Timmendiquas may have been passing in his own. He was an uncommon
+      Indian, and he had had uncommon advantages. He had not believed that the
+      colonists could make head against so great a kingdom as England, aided by
+      the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large body of Tories among their
+      own people. But he saw with his own eyes the famous Oghwaga of the
+      Iroquois going down under their torch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, Colonel John Butler,&rdquo; he said bitterly, &ldquo;where is your great
+      king now? Is his arm long enough to reach from London to save our town of
+      Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his great city of London is to
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The thickset figure of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler moved, and his swart face flushed
+      as much as it could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;We are
+      fighting here for your country as well as his, and you cannot say that
+      Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the British and Canadians have
+      not done their part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea, &ldquo;but it is true, also, that one must
+      fight with wisdom. Perhaps there was too much burning of living men at
+      Wyoming. The pain of the wounded bear makes him fight the harder, and it,
+      is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga yonder burns. Say, is it not so,
+      Colonel John Butler?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering. The Tory,
+      Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was the only one who
+      spoke aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thayendanegea,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I, and the Wyandots who are with me, have come
+      far. We expected to return long ago to the lands on the Ohio, but we were
+      with you in your village, and now, when Manitou has turned his face from
+      you for the time, we will not leave you. We stay and fight by your side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and
+      you and I are brothers. I shall be proud and happy to have such a mighty
+      leader fighting with me. We will have vengeance for this. The power of the
+      Iroquois is as great as ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and the flames
+      of hate and resolve burned in his eyes. Old Hiokatoo, the most savage of
+      all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a murmur passed through the group
+      of Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend, Coleman, the
+      Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and savage Walter Butler,
+      whom he somewhat feared. Wyatt was perhaps the least troubled of all those
+      present. Caring for himself only, the burning of Oghwaga caused him no
+      grief. He suffered neither from the misfortune of friend nor foe. He was
+      able to contemplate the glowing tower of light with curiosity only.
+      Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies would attempt
+      revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for himself in such
+      adventures. His horizon had broadened somewhat of late. The renegade,
+      Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon Girty, but he had found a new
+      friend in Coleman. He was coming now more into touch with the larger
+      forces in the East, nearer to the seat of the great war, and he hoped to
+      profit by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is a terrible blow to Brant,&rdquo; Coleman whispered to him. &ldquo;The
+      Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while the rebels,
+      occupied with the king's troops, have not been able to send help to their
+      own. But they have managed to strike at last, as you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do see,&rdquo; said Wyatt, &ldquo;and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not sorry. Perhaps
+      these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll soon realize that they
+      need likely chaps such as you and me, eh, Coleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not far from the truth,&rdquo; said Coleman, laughing a little, and
+      pleased at the penetration of his new friend. They did not talk further,
+      although the agreement between them was well established. Neither did the
+      Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders say any more. They watched the tower of
+      fire a long time, past midnight, until it reached its zenith and then
+      began to sink. They saw its crest go down behind the trees, and they saw
+      the luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely, leaving there
+      only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched northward. It
+      was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay down for the rest that
+      they needed badly. They spread their blankets at the edge of the open, but
+      well back from the burned area, which was now one great mass of coals and
+      charred timbers, sending up little flame but much smoke. Many of the
+      troops were already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged William
+      Gray to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from ambush. He knew
+      that the rashness and confidence of the borderers, especially when drawn
+      together in masses, had often caused them great losses, and he was
+      resolved to prevent a recurrence at the present time if he could. He had
+      made these urgent requests of Gray, instead of Colonel Butler, because of
+      the latter's youth and willingness to take advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row almost at
+      the edge of the forest. The heat from the fire was still great, but it
+      would die down after a while, and the October air was nipping. Henry
+      usually fell asleep in a very few minutes, but this time, despite his long
+      exertions and lack of rest, he remained awake when his comrades were sound
+      asleep. Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which he saw the fire rising
+      in great black coils that united far above. It seemed to Henry, half
+      dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit was passing in
+      the smoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four hours he
+      was up again, as the little army intended to march at once upon another
+      Indian town. The hours while he slept had passed in silence, and no
+      Indians had come near. William Gray had seen to that, and his best scout
+      had been one Cornelius Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch birth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, as he
+      revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry was eating his breakfast,
+      &ldquo;and I am now very tired. It was like walking four or five times around
+      Holland, which is such a fine little country, with the canals and the
+      flowers along them, and no great, dark woods filled with the fierce
+      Iroquois.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be here, and
+      perhaps before the day is over you will get some fighting hot enough to
+      please even you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour later he
+      was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of overtaking some large
+      band of retreating Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at Wyoming,
+      Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly that very morning
+      up the river against another Indian town, Cunahunta. Fortunately for him,
+      a band of riflemen and scouts unsurpassed in skill led the way, and saw to
+      it that the road was safe. In this band were the five, of course, and
+      after them Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta before
+      night,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their towns,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us strike so great a blow
+      without a fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, &ldquo;or
+      they would certainly give us a big battle. We've been lucky in the time of
+      our advance. As it is, I think we'll have something to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the North,
+      the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the hills, the leaves
+      falling softly from the trees as the wind blew, but bringing with them no
+      hint of decay. None of the vanguard felt fatigue, but when they crossed a
+      low range of hills and saw before them a creek flowing down to the
+      Susquehanna, Henry, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and dropped down
+      in the grass. The others, knowing without question the significance of the
+      action, also sank down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. Look a
+      little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the feathers in the
+      headdress of an Iroquois. Farther on I think I can catch a glimpse of a
+      green coat, and if I am right that coat is worn by one of Johnson's Royal
+      Greens. It's an ambush, Sol, an ambush meant for us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said
+      Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with the desire for action.
+      &ldquo;I, too, see the feather of the Iroquois.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear this force
+      out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come up, is it not?&rdquo;
+       asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the Dutchman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk. &ldquo;Of
+      course we will fight, and fight now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How about them blue plates?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol softly. But Heemskerk did
+      not hear him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They swiftly developed their plan of action. There could be no earthly
+      doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were ambushed on the
+      far side of the creek. Possibly Thayendanegea himself, stung by the
+      burning of Oghwaga and the advance on Cunahunta, was there. But they were
+      sure that it was not a large band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one was a
+      veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of the woods. They
+      had supreme confidence in their ability to beat the best of the Iroquois,
+      man for man, and they carried the very finest arms known to the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. The others,
+      including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make a circuit, cross the
+      creek a full mile above, and come down on the flank of the ambushing
+      party. Theirs would be the main attack, but it would be preceded by
+      sharpshooting from the four, intended to absorb the attention of the
+      Iroquois. The chosen ten slipped back down the hill, and as soon as they
+      were sheltered from any possible glimpse by the warriors, they rose and
+      ran rapidly westward. Before they had gone far they heard the crack of a
+      rifle shot, then another, then several from another point, as if in reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's our sharpshooters,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;They've begun to disturb the
+      Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier,&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his face blazing red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that they
+      intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the water breast
+      high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. Then they turned and
+      rapidly descended the stream on its northern bank. In a few minutes they
+      heard the sound of a rifle shot, and then of another as if replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Iroquois have been fooled,&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk. &ldquo;Our four good
+      riflemen have made them think that a great force is there, and they have
+      not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an attack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the forest, they
+      saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the faint flash of rifles.
+      They were coming somewhere near to the Iroquois band, and they practiced
+      exceeding caution. Presently they caught sight of Indian faces, and now
+      and then one of Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers. They stopped and
+      held a council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute. They all
+      agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in the
+      Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on the other
+      side of the creek, fell. Heemskerk quickly followed with a shot as good,
+      and the surprised Iroquois turned to face this new foe. But they and the
+      Tories were a strong band, and they retreated only a little. Then they
+      stood firm, and the forest battle began. The Indians numbered not less
+      than thirty, and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them, but the
+      value of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one that attacked.
+      The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of the forest, and
+      marksmen such as the Indians were never able to become, continually
+      pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree to tree. Once or twice the
+      warriors started a rush, but they were quickly driven back by
+      sharpshooting such as they had never faced before. They soon realized that
+      this was no band of border farmers, armed hastily for an emergency, but a
+      foe who knew everything that they knew, and more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois, and Wyatt
+      in particular was hot with rage. He suspected that the five who had
+      defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and there might be a
+      chance now to destroy them all. He crept to the side of the fierce old
+      Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that a part of their band slip
+      around and enfold the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying
+      aspect. He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered with
+      scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready in his
+      hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good friend, the
+      king. The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly at the Battle
+      of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout these years of
+      border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois. In this respect Hiokatoo
+      led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he was to savage
+      scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was the most
+      terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld. He was old, but age in him
+      seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity. The path of a deep cut,
+      healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide, lay across his
+      forehead. Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek, his chin, and his
+      neck. He was crouched much like a panther, with his rifle in his hands and
+      the ready tomahawk at his belt. But it was the extraordinary expression of
+      his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder. He read there no mercy for
+      anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt, if he should stand in the
+      way, and it was this last fact that brought the shudder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hiokatoo thought it a good plan. Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and
+      Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward
+      the right. Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been
+      joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed
+      his little force to meet it. Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught
+      sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew
+      back a little. While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting in the
+      front, he waited for the attack. It came in half an hour, the flanking
+      force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white riflemen
+      was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again. But they had
+      come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor. The Tory, like
+      Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of the most ruthless on
+      that terrible day. When they were less than a dozen feet apart they
+      recognized each other. Henry saw the look that passed between them, and,
+      although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some reason he did not
+      use it. The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the bullet missed, and the
+      Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded rifle and brought the
+      stock down with all his force upon the head of his enemy. The man,
+      uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and Taylor stood over
+      him, still trembling with rage. In an instant Henry seized him and dragged
+      him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where he had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!&rdquo; exclaimed young Taylor,
+      still trembling all over with passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll never massacre anybody else. You've seen to that,&rdquo; said Henry, and
+      in a minute or two Taylor was quiet. The sharpshooting continued, but here
+      as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it. Despite their numbers,
+      they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who lay behind
+      trees almost in security, and who never missed. Another Tory and a chief,
+      also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted. Nor did he feel any
+      better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have failed here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They shoot too well for us to rush them.
+      We have lost good men.&rdquo; Hiokatoo frowned, and the scars on his face stood
+      out in livid red lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These who fight us now are of their best, and while
+      we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. Come, we will go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone from their
+      front. They scouted some distance, and, finding no enemy, hurried back to
+      Colonel Butler. The troops were pushed forward, and before night they
+      reached Cunahunta, which they burned also. Some farther advance was made
+      into the Indian country, and more destruction was done, but now the winter
+      was approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home to
+      protect their families. Others were to rejoin the main Revolutionary army,
+      and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the time. The first blow had
+      been struck, and it was a hard one, but the second blow and third and
+      fourth and more, which the five knew were so badly needed, must wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed. They had hoped to go far
+      into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the Six Nations, to hunt
+      down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant himself, but they could not
+      wholly blame their commander. The rear guard, or, rather, the forest guard
+      of the Revolution, was a slender and small force indeed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much personal
+      regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom were Morgan's
+      riflemen from Virginia. The farewells to William Gray, Bob Taylor, and
+      Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns,&rdquo; said Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more,&rdquo; said Taylor, &ldquo;and
+      we'll strike another blow for Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I foresee,&rdquo; said Cornelius Heemskerk, &ldquo;that I, a peaceful man, who ought
+      to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn into danger in the
+      great, dark wilderness again, and that you will be there with me, Mynheer
+      Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the Wise Solomon, Mynheer the Silent Tom, and
+      Mynheer the Very Long James. I see it clearly. I, a man of peace, am
+      always being pushed in to war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We hope it will come true,&rdquo; said the five together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you go back to Kentucky?&rdquo; asked William Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Henry, speaking for them all, &ldquo;we have entered upon this
+      task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world,&rdquo; said Heemskerk.
+      &ldquo;I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by your side in some
+      great battle to come, but the first thing I shall do when I see you again,
+      my friends, is to look around at you, one, two, three, four, five, and see
+      if you have upon your heads the hair which is now so rich, thick, and
+      flowing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never fear, my friend,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we have fought with the warriors all
+      the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not one of us has lost a
+      single lock of hair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, and
+      then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his face express emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from Colonel
+      Butler, and then they parted in the forest. Many of the soldiers looked
+      back and saw the five tall figures in a line, leaning upon the muzzles of
+      their long-barreled Kentucky rifles, and regarding them in silence. It
+      seemed to the soldiers that they had left behind them the true sons of the
+      wilderness, who, in spite of all dangers, would be there to welcome them
+      when they returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. THE DESERTED CABIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry turned to the
+      others. &ldquo;Well, boys,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;what are you thinking about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I?&rdquo; asked Paul. &ldquo;I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a sort of
+      alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' me?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove runs back,
+      an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm fur the winter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove would be
+      when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in front of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' ez fur me,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;I wuz thinkin' I could run a sort uv
+      flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the front an' let the
+      smoke pass out. I could cook all right. It wouldn't be ez good a place fur
+      cookin' ez the one we hed that time we spent the winter on the island in
+      the lake, but 'twould serve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's strange,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I've been thinking of all the things that
+      all four of you have been thinking about, and, since we are agreed, we are
+      bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and pass the winter there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word he led the way, and the others followed. It was
+      apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base, because the
+      cold had increased greatly in the last few days. The last leaves had
+      fallen from the trees, and a searching wind howled among the bare
+      branches. Better shelter than blankets would soon be needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins, among which
+      wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now afforded, although
+      Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long journey to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; but they did not hurry, seeing no
+      need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of their decision by
+      the fact that the cold was increasing. The country in which the lake was
+      situated lay high, and, as all of them were quite sure that the cold was
+      going to be great there, they thought it wise to make preparations against
+      it, which they discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion through the
+      woods. They spoke, also, of greater things. All felt that they had been
+      drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had swam before. They
+      fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution of this great rearguard
+      struggle, and at present they did not have the remotest idea of returning
+      to Kentucky under any circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of Tories of his own,
+      and that he is likely to be as dangerous as either of the Butlers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some day we'll end him for good an' all,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and now all the
+      forest was bare and apparently lifeless. They came down the creek, and
+      found their boat unharmed and untouched still among the foliage at the
+      base of the cliff.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's one thing safe,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;an' I guess we'll find 'The
+      Alcove' all right, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tain't likely,&rdquo; replied Long Jim. &ldquo;We've left the human smell thar, an'
+      even after all this time it's likely to drive away any prowlin' bear or
+      panther that pokes his nose in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim was quite right. Their snug nest, like that of a squirrel in the
+      side of a tree, had not been disturbed. The skins which they had rolled up
+      tightly and placed on the higher shelves of stone were untouched, and
+      several days' hunting increased the supply. The hunting was singularly
+      easy, and, although the five did not know it, the quantity of game was
+      much greater in that region than it had been for years. It had been swept
+      of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory hordes, and deer, bear, and
+      panther seemed to know instinctively that the woods were once more safe
+      for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and more than
+      once they saw something among the coals that caused them to turn away with
+      a shudder. At every place where man had made a little opening the
+      wilderness was quickly reclaiming its own again. Next year the grass and
+      the foliage would cover up the coals and the hideous relics that lay among
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff side,
+      and stored it in &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They also cured some bear meat, and, having
+      added a further lining of skins, they felt prepared for winter. They had
+      also added to the comfort of the place. They had taken the precaution of
+      bringing with them two axes, and with the heads of these they smoothed out
+      more of the rough places on the floor and sides of &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They
+      thought it likely, too, that they would need the axes in other ways later
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of Indians,
+      and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least ten miles from &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; They seemed to be traveling north, and the five made no
+      investigations. Somewhat later they met a white runner in the forest, and
+      he told them of the terrible massacre of Cherry Valley. Walter Butler,
+      emulating his father's exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a mixed
+      horde of Iroquois, Tories, British, and Canadians. He had not been wholly
+      successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and children, and
+      was now returning northward with prisoners. Some said, according to the
+      runner, that Thayendanegea had led the Indians on this occasion, but, as
+      the five learned later, he had not come up until the massacre was over.
+      The runner added another piece of information that interested them deeply.
+      Butler had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by a young Tory or renegade
+      named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by cunning and cruelty. It was
+      said that Wyatt had built up for himself a semi-independent command, and
+      was becoming a great scourge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's our Braxton,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He is rising to his opportunities. He
+      is likely to become fully the equal of Walter Butler.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went somewhat
+      sadly back to &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They had learned also from the runner that
+      Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and this fact increased
+      their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to operate on a large scale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may get a chance at him anyhow,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He and his band may go
+      too far away from the main body of the Indians and Tories, and in that
+      case we can strike a blow if we are watchful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+      additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt. He had grown up
+      with them. Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with his becoming a
+      renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands or exile for taking part
+      in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry Valley, but, long since an ally of
+      the Indians, he was now at the head of a Tory band that murdered and
+      burned from sheer pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for the present they &ldquo;holed up,&rdquo; and now their foresight was
+      justified. To such as they, used to the hardships of forest life, &ldquo;The
+      Alcove&rdquo; was a cheery nest. From its door they watched the wild fowl
+      streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others outlined against the dark,
+      wintry skies. So numerous were these flocks that there was scarcely a time
+      when they did not see one passing toward the warm South.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of wild geese,
+      arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. A few faint honks
+      came to them, and then the geese grew misty on the horizon. Shif'less Sol
+      followed them with serious eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you ever think, Paul,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that we human bein's ain't so mighty
+      pow'ful ez we think we are. We kin walk on the groun', an' by hard
+      learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the water a little. But jest
+      look at them geese flyin' a mile high, right over everything, rivers,
+      forests any mountains, makin' a hundred miles an hour, almost without
+      flappin' a wing. Then they kin come down on the water an' float fur hours
+      without bein' tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun', too. Did you
+      ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments? Why, Paul, s'pose you
+      an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through the air a mile a
+      minute fur a month an' never git tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd certainly see some great sights,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;but do you know, Sol,
+      what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift of tireless wings?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out all the
+      camps of the Indians and Tories. I'd pick out the Butlers and Braxton
+      Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they were planning. Then I'd fly
+      away to the East and look down at all the armies, ours in buff and blue,
+      and the British redcoats. I'd look into the face of our great
+      commander-in-chief. Then I'd fly away back into the West and South, and
+      I'd hover over Wareville. I'd see our own people, every last little one of
+      them. They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but I'd be so
+      high up in the air no bullet could reach me. Then I'd come soaring back
+      here to you fellows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' I
+      wouldn't mind takin' it in myself. But fur the present we'd better busy
+      our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are givin' us, though we're well
+      fixed fur a house already. It's cu'rus what good homes a handy man kin
+      find in the wilderness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The predictions of the wild fowl were true. A few days later heavy clouds
+      rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched them, knowing what they
+      would bring them. They spread to the zenith and then to the other horizon,
+      clothing the whole circle of the earth. The great flakes began to drop
+      down, slowly at first, then faster. Soon all the trees were covered with
+      white, and everything else, too, except the dark surface of the lake,
+      which received the flakes into its bosom as they fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about two feet
+      on the ground. After that it turned intensely cold, the surface of the
+      snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered the lake. It was not
+      possible to travel under such circumstances without artificial help, and
+      now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in the far North, came to their help. He
+      showed them how to make snowshoes, and, although all learned to use them,
+      Henry, with his great strength and peculiar skill, became by far the most
+      expert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks, Henry
+      took many long journeys on the snowshoes. Sometimes be hunted, but oftener
+      his role was that of scout. He cautioned his friends that he might be
+      out-three or four days at a time, and that they need take no alarm about
+      him unless his absence became extremely long. The winter deepened, the
+      snow melted, and another and greater storm came, freezing the surface,
+      again making the snowshoes necessary. Henry decided now to take a scout
+      alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since grown into the
+      habit of accepting his decisions almost without question, he started at
+      once. He was well equipped with his rifle, double barreled pistol,
+      hatchet, and knife, and he carried in addition a heavy blanket and some
+      jerked venison. He put on his snowshoes at the foot of the cliff, waved a
+      farewell to the four heads thrust from &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; above, and struck out
+      on the smooth, icy surface of the creek. From this he presently passed
+      into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course almost due north.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth. In one of his
+      journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories and
+      Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it was the
+      party led by Braxton Wyatt. Now he meant to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover signs much
+      earlier than he had expected. Before the end of the first day he saw the
+      traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy snow, and once he came to a
+      place where a deer had been slain and dressed. Then he came to another
+      where the snow had been hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping
+      place for several men. Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again, and
+      a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications. All the
+      primitive instincts leaped up within him. A child of the forest and of
+      elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was strong within him. He was
+      tired of hunting wild animals, and now there was promise of a' more
+      dangerous foe. For the purposes that he had in view he was glad that he
+      was alone. The wintry forest, with its two feet of snow covered with ice,
+      contained no terrors for him. He moved on his snowshoes almost like a
+      skater, and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who is
+      practically born on such shoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his snowshoes,
+      he was, indeed, a wonderful figure. The added height and the white glare
+      from the ice made him tower like a great giant. He was clad completely in
+      soft, warm deerskin, his hands were gloved in the same material, and the
+      fur cap was drawn tightly about his head and ears. The slender-barreled
+      rifle lay across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer meat made a light
+      package on his back. Only his face was uncovered, and that was rosy with
+      the sharp but bracing cold. But the resolute blue eyes seemed to have
+      grown more resolute in the last six months, and the firm jaw was firmer
+      than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the earth of
+      snow and ice that it inclosed. His eyes traveled the circle of the horizon
+      three times, and at the end of the third circle he made out a dim, dark
+      thread against that sheet of blue steel. It was the light of a camp fire,
+      and that camp fire must belong to an enemy. It was not likely that anybody
+      else would be sending forth such a signal in this wintry wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently in a
+      small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height. He made up his mind
+      that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he intended to make a
+      thorough scout about it. He advanced until the smoke line became much
+      thicker and broader, and then he stopped in the densest clump of bushes
+      that he could find. He meant to remain there until darkness came, because,
+      with all foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible to examine
+      the hostile camp by day. The bushes, despite the lack of leaves, were so
+      dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the crust of ice, he
+      dug a hole. Then, having taken off his snowshoes and wrapped his blanket
+      about his body, he thrust himself into the hole exactly like a rabbit in
+      its burrow. He laid his shoes on the crust of ice beside him. Of course,
+      if found there by a large party of warriors on snowshoes he would have no
+      chance to flee, but he was willing to take what seemed to him a small
+      risk. The dark would not be long in coming, and it was snug and warm in
+      the hole. As he sat, his head rose just above the surrounding ice, but his
+      rifle barrel rose much higher. He ate a little venison for supper, and the
+      weariness in the ankles that comes from long traveling on snowshoes
+      disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those uncommonly
+      keen ears of his. No sound at all came. There was not even a wind to
+      rustle the bare boughs. The sun hung a huge red globe in the west, and all
+      that side of the earth was tinged with a red glare, wintry and cold
+      despite its redness. Then, as the earth turned, the sun was lost behind
+      it, and the cold dark came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles were
+      soothed, and he grew sleepy. It would have been very pleasant to doze
+      there, but he brought himself round with an effort of the will, and became
+      as wide awake as ever. He was eager to be off on his expedition, but he
+      knew how much depended on waiting, and he waited. One hour, two hours,
+      three hours, four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest before he
+      roused himself from his covert. Then, warm, strong, and tempered like
+      steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and advanced toward the
+      point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now. He was a
+      formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving like some
+      spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold stars
+      twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer visible. But Henry
+      did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. He had marked its base too
+      clearly in his mind to make any mistake, and he advanced with certainty.
+      He came presently into an open space, and he stopped with amazement.
+      Around him were the stumps of a clearing made recently, and near him were
+      some yards of rough rail fence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the clearing the
+      dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys of two of which smoke
+      was rising. It was his first thought that he had come upon a little
+      settlement still held by daring borderers, but second thought told him
+      that it was impossible. Another and more comprehensive look showed many
+      signs of ruin. He saw remains of several burned houses, but clothing all
+      was the atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells when a place is
+      abandoned. The two threads of smoke did not alter this impression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry divined it all. The builders of this tiny village in the wilderness
+      bad been massacred or driven away. A part of the houses had been
+      destroyed, some were left standing, and now there were visitors. He
+      advanced without noise, keeping behind the rail fence, and approaching one
+      of the houses from the chimneys of which the smoke came. Here be crouched
+      a long time, looking and listening attentively; but it seemed that the
+      visitors had no fears. Why should they, when there was nothing that they
+      need fear in this frozen wilderness?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stole a little nearer. It had been a snug, trim little settlement.
+      Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived there, literally hewing a
+      home out of the forest. His heart throbbed with a fierce hatred and, anger
+      against those who had spoiled all this, and his gloved finger crept to the
+      hammer of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night was intensely cold. The mercury was far below zero, and a wind
+      that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. Even the wariest of
+      Indians in such desolate weather might fail to keep a watch. But Henry did
+      not suffer. The fur cap was drawn farther over chin and ears, and the
+      buckskin gloves kept his fingers warm and flexible. Besides, his blood was
+      uncommonly hot in his veins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings had not
+      been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that they could never be
+      used again, save as a passing shelter, just as they were being used now.
+      He slid cautiously about the desolate place. He crossed a brook, frozen
+      almost solidly in its bed, and he saw two or three large mounds that had
+      been haystacks, now covered with snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from which
+      the smoke came. It was rather more pretentious than the others, built of
+      planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a roof. The remains of a
+      small portico formed the approach to the front door. Henry supposed that
+      the house had been set on fire and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a
+      part of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. He knew
+      that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a window. A faint
+      sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved forward slowly to the
+      window. It was an oaken shutter originally fastened with a leather strap,
+      but the strap was gone, and now some one had tied it, though not tightly,
+      with a deer tendon. The crack between shutter and wall was at least three
+      inches, and Henry could see within very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the crevice.
+      What he saw within did not still any of those primitive feelings that had
+      risen so strongly in his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was burning
+      somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of least crackling and
+      greatest heat. The huge bed of coals threw a mass of varied and glowing
+      colors across the floor. Large holes had been burned in the side of the
+      room by the original fire, but Indian blankets had been fastened tightly
+      over them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+      three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword by his
+      side. He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face had increased much
+      in coarseness and cruelty. It had also increased in satisfaction. He was a
+      great man now, as he saw great men, and both face and figure radiated
+      gratification and pride as he lolled before the fire. At the other corner,
+      sitting upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform, was his lieutenant,
+      Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short, uncommonly muscular
+      figure. His face was dark and cruel, with small eyes set close together. A
+      half dozen other white men and more than a dozen Indians were in the room.
+      All these lay upon their blankets on the floor, because all the furniture
+      had been destroyed. Yet they had eaten, and they lay there content in the
+      soothing glow of the fire, like animals that had fed well. Henry was so
+      near that he could hear every word anyone spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?&rdquo; said Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm glad the fire spared a part of it,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;Looks as if it was
+      done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter night when we come
+      along. I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is watching over us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a man that I like, Levi,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can see to the inside of
+      things. It would be a good idea to use this place as a base and shelter,
+      and make a raid on some of the settlements east of the hills, eh, Levi?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It could be done,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;But just listen to that wind, will you!
+      On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. Even our Iroquois
+      are glad to be under a roof.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up by an
+      angry fire. So here was more talk of destruction and slaughter! His gaze
+      alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner engaged upon a task. Henry
+      looked more closely, and saw that he was stretching a blonde-haired scalp
+      over a small hoop. A shudder shook his whole frame. Only those who lived
+      amid such scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings. He felt,
+      too, a bitter sense of injustice. The doers of these deeds were here in
+      warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or fugitives. He turned
+      away from the window, stepping gently upon the snowshoes. He inferred that
+      the remainder of Wyatt's band were quartered in the other house from which
+      he had seen the smoke rising. It was about twenty rods away, but he did
+      not examine it, because a great idea had been born suddenly in his brain.
+      The attempt to fulfill the idea would be accompanied by extreme danger,
+      but he did not hesitate a moment. He stole gently to one of the
+      half-fallen outhouses and went inside. Here he found what he wanted, a
+      large pine shelf that had been sheltered from rain and that was perfectly
+      dry. He scraped off a large quantity of the dry pine until it formed
+      almost a dust, and he did not cease until he had filled his cap with it.
+      Then he cut off large splinters, until he had accumulated a great number,
+      and after that he gathered smaller pieces of half-burned pine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced far, but he
+      never faltered. His head was bare, but he was protected from the wind by a
+      fragment of the outhouse wall. Every two or three minutes he stopped and
+      listened for the sound of a creaking, sliding footstep on the snow, but,
+      never hearing any, he always resumed his work with the same concentration.
+      All the while the wind rose and moaned through the ruins of the little
+      village. When Henry chanced to raise his head above the sheltering wall,
+      it was like the slash of a knife across his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+      splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which the light
+      had shone. He looked again through the crevice at the window. The light
+      had died down much more, and both Wyatt and Coleman were asleep on the
+      floor. But several of the Iroquois were awake, although they sat as silent
+      and motionless as stones against the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside the plank
+      wall. There he put the pine dust in a little heap on the snow and covered
+      it over with pine splinters, on top of which he put larger pieces of pine.
+      Then he went back for the remainder of the pine dust, and built a similar
+      pyramid against a sheltered side of the second house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good fortune
+      only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his heart aflame
+      with righteous anger against those inside, still pursued the work. His
+      heart throbbed, but hand and eye were steady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. The wind
+      rose much higher and roared harder against the house. It would prevent the
+      Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were, from hearing a light sound
+      without. Then he drew forth his flint and steel and struck them together
+      with a hand so strong and swift that sparks quickly leaped forth and set
+      fire to the pine tinder. Henry paused only long enough to see the flame
+      spread to the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the other house, where
+      the task was repeated-he intended that his job should be thorough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to the first
+      house and looked at his fire. It had already spread to the larger pieces
+      of pine, and it could not go out now. The sound made by the flames blended
+      exactly with the roaring of the wind, and another minute or two might pass
+      before the Iroquois detected it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his anger.
+      By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the flames would be so
+      high that the wind would reach them. Then no one could put them out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at once, but
+      that lingering desire to make his task complete and, also, the wish to see
+      the result kept him from doing it. He merely walked across the open space
+      and stood behind a tree at the edge of the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very snug, in
+      the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals before them. They
+      may even have been dreaming peaceful and beautiful dreams, when suddenly
+      an Iroquois sprang to his feet and uttered a cry that awoke all the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I smell smoke!&rdquo; he exclaimed in his tongue, &ldquo;and there is fire, too! I
+      hear it crackle outside!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open. Flame and smoke blew
+      in his face. He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at the pistol in his
+      belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole side of the house is on fire!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Whose neglect has
+      done this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fire was set on the outside,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was no carelessness of our
+      men. Some enemy has done this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt furiously. &ldquo;Out, everybody! The house burns
+      fast!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were falling
+      about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by the roaring winds,
+      and roared with them. The shell of the house would soon be gone, and when
+      Tories and Iroquois were outside they saw the remainder of their band
+      pouring forth from the other house, which was also in flames.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in a sort of
+      stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest heights by the
+      wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments nothing
+      whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton Wyatt and his band
+      must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could never use this place as a
+      basis for attack upon settlements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How under the sun could it have happened?&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It didn't happen. It was done,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;Somebody set these houses
+      on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the snow where
+      it was not yet melted by the heat. He saw there the track of snowshoes,
+      and suddenly, looking toward the forest, whither they led, he saw a dark
+      figure flit away among the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. HENRY'S SLIDE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body hidden behind
+      one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the scene with a
+      fascinated interest that would not let him go. He knew that his work there
+      was done already. Everything would be utterly destroyed by the flames
+      which, driven by the wind, leaped from one half-ruined building to
+      another. Braxton Wyatt and his band would have enough to do sheltering
+      themselves from the fierce winter, and the settlements could rest for a
+      while at least. Undeniably he felt exultation as he witnessed the
+      destructive work of his hand. The border, with its constant struggle
+      for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to please
+      his eye and heart. A new pulse beat triumphantly every time a timber,
+      burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a falling roof. He laughed
+      inwardly as the flames disclosed the dismay on the faces of the Iroquois
+      and Tories, and it gave him deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his
+      gaudy little sword at his thigh, stalking about helpless. It was while he
+      was looking, absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert eye
+      saw him and gave the warning shout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half running,
+      half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow. After him came
+      warriors and some Tories who had put on their snowshoes preparatory to the
+      search through the forest for shelter. Several bullets were fired, but he
+      was too far away for a good aim. He heard one go zip against a tree, and
+      another cut the surface of the ice near him, but none touched him, and he
+      sped easily on his snowshoes through the frozen forest. But Henry was
+      fully aware of one thing that constituted his greatest danger. Many of
+      these Iroquois had been trained all their lives to snowshoes, while he,
+      however powerful and agile, was comparatively a beginner. He glanced back
+      again and saw their dusky figures running among the trees, but they did
+      not seem to be gaining. If one should draw too near, there was his rifle,
+      and no man, white or red, in the northern or southern forests, could use
+      it better. But for the present it was not needed. He pressed it closely,
+      almost lovingly, to his side, this best friend of the scout and
+      frontiersman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had chosen his course at the first leap. It was southward, toward the
+      lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging from his line, knowing
+      that some part of the wide half circle of his pursuers would profit by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a great upward surge. He had been the victor in what he meant
+      to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape. The cold wind, whistling
+      by, whipped his blood and added new strength to his great muscles. His
+      ankles were not chafed or sore, and he sped forward on the snowshoes,
+      straight and true. Whenever he came to a hill the pursuers would gain as
+      he went up it, but when he went down the other side it was he who gained.
+      He passed brooks, creeks, and once a small river, but they were frozen
+      over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them. Again it was a lake a
+      mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely increased his speed. Always
+      he kept a wary look ahead for thickets through which he could not pass
+      easily, and once he sent back a shout of defiance, which the Iroquois
+      answered with a yell of anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove fatal,
+      the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking of a runner would
+      end his flight, and in a long chase such an accident might happen. It
+      might happen, too, to one or more of the Iroquois, but plenty of them
+      would be left. Yet Henry had supreme confidence in his snowshoes. He had
+      made them himself, he had seen that every part was good, and every thong
+      had been fastened with care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire sank to
+      nothing. The leafless trees stood up, the branches unmoving. The forest
+      was bare and deserted. All the animals, big and little, had gone into
+      their lairs. Nobody witnessed the great pursuit save pursuers and pursued.
+      Henry kept his direction clear in his mind, and allowed the Iroquois to
+      take no advantage of a curve save once. Then he came to a thicket so large
+      that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to pass it. He turned
+      to the right, hence the Indians on the right gained, and they sent up a
+      yell of delight. He replied defiantly and increased his speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously near-near
+      enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the fugitive much. It
+      aroused Henry's anger. He took it as an indignity rather than a danger,
+      and he resolved to avenge it. So far as firing was concerned, he was at a
+      disadvantage. He must stop and turn around for his shot, while the
+      Iroquois, without even checking speed, could fire straight at the flying
+      target, ahead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless, he took the chance. He turned deftly on the snowshoes, fired
+      as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw him fall, then Whirled and
+      resumed his flight. He had lost ground, but he had inspired respect. A
+      single man could not afford to come too near to a marksman so deadly, and
+      the three or four who led dropped back with the main body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry made his greatest effort. He wished to leave the foe far behind,
+      to shake off his pursuit entirely. He bounded over the ice and snow with
+      great leaps, and began to gain. Yet he felt at last the effects of so
+      strenuous a flight. His breath became shorter; despite the intense cold,
+      perspiration stood upon his face, and the straps that fastened the
+      snowshoes were chafing his ankles. An end must come even to such strength
+      as his. Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was sinking into
+      the darkness. If he could only increase his speed again, he might leave
+      the Iroquois now. He made a new call upon the will, and the body
+      responded. For a few minutes his speed became greater. A disappointed
+      shout arose behind him, and several shots were fired. But the bullets fell
+      a hundred yards short, and then, as he passed over a little hill and into
+      a wood beyond, he was hidden from the sight of his pursuers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but they could
+      not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at an angle. Pausing a
+      second or two for fresh breath, he continued on his new course, although
+      not so fast as before. He knew that the Iroquois would rush straight
+      ahead, and would not discover for two or three minutes that they were off
+      the trail. It would take them another two or three minutes to recover, and
+      he would make a gain of at least five minutes. Five minutes had saved the
+      life of many a man on the border.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How precious those five minutes were! He would take them all. He ran
+      forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick, and then
+      enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute. He had felt that he was pumping
+      the very lifeblood from his heart. His breath had come painfully, and the
+      thongs of the snowshoes were chafing his ankles terribly. But those
+      minutes were worth a year. Fresh air poured into his lungs, and the
+      muscles became elastic once more. In so brief a space he had recreated
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do his
+      utmost unless the enemy came in sight. About ten minutes later he heard a
+      cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a signal from some Indian to
+      the others that the trail was found again. But with so much advantage he
+      felt sure that he was now quite safe. He ran, although at decreased speed,
+      for about two hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust root of a
+      great oak. Here he depended most upon his ears. The forest was so silent
+      that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but there was none.
+      Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would remain there a long time for a
+      thorough rest. He even dared to take off his snowshoes that he might rub
+      his sore ankles, but he wrapped his heavy blanket about his body, lest he
+      take deep cold in cooling off in such a temperature after so long a
+      flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and then he
+      saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something that told him he
+      must be on the alert again. It was a single ring of smoke, like that from
+      a cigar, only far greater. It rose steadily, untroubled by wind until it
+      was dissipated. It meant &ldquo;attention!&rdquo; and presently it was followed by a
+      column of such rings, one following another beautifully. The column said:
+      &ldquo;The foe is near.&rdquo; Henry read the Indian signs perfectly. The rings were
+      made by covering a little fire with a blanket for a moment and then
+      allowing the smoke to ascend. On clear days such signals could be seen a
+      distance of thirty miles or more, and he knew that they were full of
+      significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. One had
+      found his trail, and was signaling to the other. The party sending up the
+      smoke might be a half mile away, but the others, although his trail was
+      yet hidden from them, might be nearer. It was again time for flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace, folded the
+      blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly root, started once
+      more. He ran forward at moderate speed for perhaps a mile, when he
+      suddenly heard triumphant yells on both right and left. A strong party of
+      Iroquois were coming up on either side, and luck had enabled them to catch
+      him in a trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked his
+      glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might again stave
+      them off. He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling into determined
+      silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest here was of large trees, with
+      no undergrowth, and he noticed that the two parties did not join, but kept
+      on as they had come, one on the right and the other on the left. This fact
+      must have some significance, but he could not fathom it. Neither could he
+      guess whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but apparently they made no
+      effort to come within range of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out, and then
+      both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the kind that savages
+      utter only when they see their triumph complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He had come
+      to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high like a mountain, and
+      steep like a wall. The surface of the lake was so far down that it was
+      misty white like a cloud. Now he understood the policy of the Indian bands
+      in not uniting. They knew that they would soon reach the lofty cliffs of
+      the lake, and if he turned to either right or left there was a band ready
+      to seize him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in his life.
+      It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a trap, and Braxton
+      Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. That was perhaps the
+      bitterest thing of all, to be taken and tortured by Braxton Wyatt. He was
+      there. He could hear his voice in one of the bands, and then the courage
+      that never failed him burst into fire again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from retreat to
+      either right or left, but not yet closing in because of his deadly rifle.
+      He gave them a single look, put forth his voice in one great cry of
+      defiance, and, rushing toward the edge of the mighty cliff, sprang boldly
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of amazement and
+      chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats, and, taking a single
+      glance backward, he caught a glimpse of dusky faces stamped with awe. But
+      the bold youth had not made a leap to destruction. In the passage of a
+      second he had calculated rapidly and well. While the cliff at first glance
+      seemed perpendicular, it could not be so. There was a slope coated with
+      two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels of his snowshoes, he
+      shot downward like one taking a tremendous slide on a toboggan. Faster and
+      faster he went, but deeper and deeper he dug his shoes into the snow,
+      until he lay back almost flat against its surface. This checked his speed
+      somewhat, but it was still very great, and, preserving his self-control
+      perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly Providence to save him from some
+      great boulder or abrupt drop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him as he
+      descended. Yet he drew himself compactly together, and held his rifle
+      parallel with his body. Once or twice, as he went over a little ridge, he
+      shot clear of the snow, but he held his body rigid, and the snow beyond
+      saved him from a severe bruise. Then his speed was increased again, and
+      all the time the white surface of the lake below, seen dimly through the
+      night and his flight, seemed miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was sure.
+      None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. Braxton Wyatt could
+      have no triumph over him. He was alone in his great flight. Once a
+      projection caused him to turn a little to one side. He was in momentary
+      danger of turning entirely, and then of rolling head over heels like a
+      huge snowball, but with a mighty effort he righted himself, and continued
+      the descent on the runners, with the heels plowing into the ice and the
+      snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles nearer.
+      Presently he would be there. The impossible had become possible, the
+      unattainable was about to be attained. He gave another mighty dig with his
+      shoes, the last reach of the slope passed behind him, and he shot out on
+      the frozen surface of the lake, bruised and breathless, but without a
+      single broken bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay frozen snow,
+      which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the cliff. There he lost his
+      balance at last, and fell on his side, where he lay for a few moments,
+      weak, panting, but triumphant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered nothing
+      save some bruises, that would heal in their own good time. His deerskin
+      clothing was much torn, particularly on the back, where he had leaned upon
+      the ice and snow, but the folded blanket had saved him to a considerable
+      extent. One of his shoes was pulled loose, and presently he discovered
+      that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate. But he did
+      not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of victory. He
+      looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him fifteen
+      hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit. The wall ran
+      away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any easier path.
+      He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at him, but it was
+      too far away, and he saw only a black line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
+      away from &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; and he did not intend to go there, lest the
+      Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge. But
+      as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and the
+      Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side, he felt
+      perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the time of an
+      increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly swollen, and he
+      did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low bills. Here,
+      under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he found a partial
+      shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with infinite patience he
+      built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead boughs, hung his blanket
+      in front of it on two sticks that the flame might not be seen, took off
+      his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared his ankles. Both were
+      swollen, but the left much more badly than the other. He doubted whether
+      he would be able to walk on the following day, but he rubbed them a long
+      time, both with the palms of his hands and with snow, until they felt
+      better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned back against the faithful
+      snowshoes which had saved his life, however much they had hurt his ankles,
+      and gave himself up to the warmth of the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
+      terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one which,
+      if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff and
+      painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and legs
+      many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he had
+      venison, ate several strips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
+      bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
+      coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket, wrapped
+      himself in it, and was soon asleep before the fire. He slept long and
+      deeply, and although, when he awoke, the day had fully come, the coals
+      were not yet out entirely. He arose, but such a violent pain from his left
+      ankle shot through him that he abruptly sat down again. As he bad feared,
+      it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not walk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no striving against
+      unchangeable circumstance. He drew up more wood, which he had stacked
+      against the cliff, and put it on the coals. He hung up the blanket once
+      more in order that it might hide the fire, stretched out his lame leg, and
+      calmly made a breakfast off the last of his venison. He knew he was in a
+      plight that might appall the bravest, but he kept himself in hand. It was
+      likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a shapeless mass
+      by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet, and he had little fear of
+      them, but to be unable to walk and alone in an icy wilderness without food
+      was sufficient in itself. He calculated that it was at least a dozen miles
+      to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; and the chances were a hundred to one against any of his
+      comrades wandering his way. He looked once more at his swollen left ankle,
+      and he made a close calculation. It would be three days, more likely four,
+      before he could walk upon it. Could he endure hunger that long? He could.
+      He would! Crouched in his nest with his back to the cliff, he had defense
+      against any enemy in his rifle and pistol. By faithful watching he might
+      catch sight of some wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food
+      for his stomach. His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was nothing
+      to do but sit quiet and wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He scarcely moved for hours. As long as he was still his ankle troubled
+      him but little. The sun came out, silver bright, but it had no warmth. The
+      surface of the lake was shown only by the smoothness of its expanse; the
+      icy covering was the same everywhere over hills and valleys. Across the
+      lake he saw the steep down which he had slid, looming white and lofty. In
+      the distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its terrors, it had,
+      beyond a doubt, saved his life. He glanced down at his swollen ankle, and,
+      despite his helpless situation, he was thankful that he had escaped so
+      well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all around
+      himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house. Then he let the fire die
+      except some coals that gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over his
+      head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
+      stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was warm,
+      and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him. He was
+      young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance. Now it
+      cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and for a few
+      moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon came back as
+      strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim silence, trying
+      to forget that there was any such thing as food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon, but
+      before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
+      trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
+      could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and, in
+      fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
+      daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
+      pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
+      thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature, no
+      matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then he
+      would feast!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
+      white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
+      the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
+      hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
+      but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The new
+      snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail from
+      the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to a gray,
+      somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not feel the
+      pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and then they
+      came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in the night,
+      and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease in the power
+      of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as his physical
+      fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same confidence that
+      he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little more threatening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
+      back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
+      his left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move it
+      with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk. Once
+      more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly walk and
+      hunt game or make a try for &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; so far as his ankle was
+      concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
+      strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine made
+      upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so powerful, so
+      skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness and to every
+      manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by a bruised ankle
+      to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be more than ten
+      miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright and stepped out
+      into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could scarcely keep from
+      crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank back into the
+      shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for another full day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
+      blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for the
+      sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering from
+      cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the bright
+      flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it go out.
+      Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface of the
+      snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a wandering
+      deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He was more than
+      ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of his den, the rifle
+      across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the cheek bones showed high
+      and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the fierce desire for prey, and
+      the long, lean body drawn forward as if it were about to leap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole in
+      the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
+      abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
+      edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned and
+      dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay still
+      for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at himself.
+      It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea think of him
+      if they knew how he came to his end? They would put him with old squaws or
+      little children. And how Braxton Wyatt and his lieutenant, the squat Tory,
+      would laugh! That was the bitterest thought of all. But the frenzy passed,
+      and he fell into a sleep which was only a succession of bad dreams. He was
+      running the gauntlet again among the Shawnees. Again, kneeling to drink at
+      the clear pool, he saw in the water the shadow of the triumphant warrior
+      holding the tomahawk above him. One after another the most critical
+      periods of his life were lived over again, and then he sank into a deep
+      torpor, from which he did not rouse himself until far into the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have regained
+      much of his lost will. He looked once more at the fatal left ankle. It had
+      improved greatly. He could even stand upon it, but when he rose to his
+      feet he felt a singular dizziness. Again, what he had gained in one way he
+      had lost in another. The earth wavered. The smooth surface of the lake
+      seemed to rise swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly. The far slope down
+      which he had shot rose to the height of miles. There was a pale tinge,
+      too, over the world. He sank down, not because of his ankle, but because
+      he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two. He was ashamed
+      of such extraordinary weakness. He looked at one of his hands. It was
+      thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever, and the blue veins stood
+      out on the back of it. He could scarcely believe that the hand was his
+      own. But after the first spasm of weakness was over, the precious will
+      returned. He could walk. Strength enough to permit him to hobble along had
+      returned to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+      nervous system, however weakened it might be. He must seek food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the blanket
+      tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. He was preparing
+      both mind and body for the supreme effort. He knew that everything hung
+      now on the surviving remnants of his skill and courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great reserve now
+      except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. It was proof of his
+      youthful greatness that it stood the last test. As he lay there, the final
+      ounce of will and courage came. Strength which was of the mind rather than
+      of the body flowed back into his veins; he felt able to dare and to do;
+      the pale aspect of the world went away, and once more he was Henry Ware,
+      alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his shoulders.
+      He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left ankle, despite its
+      great improvement, would not stand the strain. He must break his way
+      through the snow, which was a full three feet in depth. Fortunately the
+      crust had softened somewhat in the last two or three days, and he did not
+      have a covering of ice to meet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the cliff, his
+      rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might miss no chance at
+      game. To an ordinary observer there would have been no such chance at all.
+      It was merely a grim white wilderness that might have been without
+      anything living from the beginning. But Henry, the forest runner, knew
+      better. Somewhere in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had
+      left, and in these lairs were wild animals. To any such wild animal,
+      whether panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome object,
+      with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his thin lips opening
+      now and then, and disclosing the two rows of strong white teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard, because
+      it was desperate work for one in his condition to break his way through
+      snow so deep. But his ankle stood the strain well, and his courage
+      increased rather than diminished. He was no longer a cripple confined to
+      one spot. While he stood resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about half
+      a rod to his left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched carefully
+      among them. The snow was not nearly so thick there, and under the thickest
+      clump, where the shelter was best, he saw a small round opening. In an
+      instant all his old vigorous life, all the abounding hope which was such a
+      strong characteristic of his nature, came back to him. Already he had
+      triumphed over Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow, ice, crippling,
+      and starvation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right hand. He
+      thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit leaped for life
+      from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod stretched him dead at the
+      feet of the hunter. Henry picked up the rabbit. It was large and yet fat.
+      Here was food for two meals. In the race between the ankle and starvation,
+      the ankle had won.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not give way to any unseemly elation. He even felt a momentary
+      sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because all these wild
+      things were his kindred now. He returned by the path that he had broken,
+      kindled his fire anew, dexterously skinned and cleaned his rabbit, then
+      cooked it and ate half, although he ate slowly and with intervals between
+      each piece. How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being longed to
+      leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was still supreme.
+      He knew what was good for himself, and he did it. Everything was done in
+      order and with sobriety. Then he put the rest of the rabbit carefully in
+      his food pouch, wrapped the blanket about his body, leaned back, and
+      stretched his feet to the coals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! He had
+      not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty cliffs on the
+      farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and hanging with icicles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the strength
+      returning to his frame. He knew that the blood in his veins had begun to
+      sparkle, and that his vitality was rising fast. He could have gone to
+      sleep peacefully, but instead he went forth and hunted again. He knew that
+      where the rabbit had been, others were likely to be near, and before he
+      returned he had secured two more. Both of these he cleaned and cooked at
+      once. When this was done night had come, but he ate again, and then,
+      securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best sleep that he had
+      enjoyed since his flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started then, but
+      he was prudent. There was still a chance of meeting the Iroquois, and the
+      ankle might not stand so severe a test. He would rest in his nest for
+      another day, and then he would be equal to anything. Few could lie a whole
+      day in one place with but little to do and with nothing passing before the
+      eyes, but it was a part of Henry's wilderness training, and he showed all
+      the patience of the forester. He knew, too, as the hours went by, that his
+      strength was rising all the while. To-morrow almost the last soreness
+      would be gone from his ankle and then he could glide swiftly over the
+      snow, back to his comrades. He was content. He had, in fact, a sense of
+      great triumph because he had overcome so much, and here was new food in
+      this example for future efforts of the mind, for future victories of the
+      will over the body. The wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly
+      down the curve, but all the time the boy scarcely stirred. Once there was
+      a flight of small birds across the heavens, and he watched them vaguely,
+      but apparently he took no interest. Toward night he stood up in his recess
+      and flexed and tuned his muscles for a long time, driving out any
+      stiffness that might come through long lack of motion. Then he ate and lay
+      down, but he did not yet sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he knew
+      &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; lay. A good moon was now shining, and stars by the score were
+      springing out. Suddenly at a point on that far shore a spark of red light
+      appeared and twinkled. Most persons would have taken it for some low star,
+      but Henry knew better. It was fire put there by human hand for a purpose,
+      doubtless a signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared by the first,
+      then a third, then a fourth. He uttered a great sigh of pleasure. It was
+      his four friends signaling to him somewhere in the vast unknown that they
+      were alive and well, and beckoning him to come. The lights burned for
+      fifteen or twenty minutes, and then all went out together. Henry turned
+      over on his side and fell sound asleep. In the morning he put on his
+      snowshoes and started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. THE SAFE RETURN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found
+      good footing for his shoes. For a while he leaned most on the right ankle,
+      but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them equally, and
+      sped forward, his spirits rising at every step. The air was cold, and
+      there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind that whipped
+      his face. The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and his eyes no
+      longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild animal in
+      search of prey. A fine red color was suffused through the brown of his
+      face. He had chosen his course with due precaution. The broad surface,
+      smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the temptation away. He
+      did not wish to run any chance whatever of another Iroquois pursuit, and
+      he kept in the forest that ran down close to the water's edge. It was
+      tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious freedom.
+      With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in his cell,
+      with a ball and chain to his foot. Now he flew along, while the cold wind
+      whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely to live. He went
+      on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that contained &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the last of his
+      rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood at the hidden
+      path that led up to their home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. To one who
+      had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely
+      desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been
+      visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes. But Henry had such
+      eyes. He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the surface
+      of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there. He resolved
+      to surprise them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+      dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind. As he gradually
+      approached &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as
+      he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light
+      falling on the snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.
+      Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound. He knew all
+      those tones. They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who
+      had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band
+      who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still. Lying almost
+      flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed
+      about it were the four. Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was
+      gazing into the coals. Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long
+      Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was
+      talking. Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry will turn up all right,&rdquo; he was saying. &ldquo;Hasn't he always done it
+      afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break
+      his rule now. I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories
+      between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to
+      ketch Henry. I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing, Sol?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him,&rdquo; said the shiftless
+      one. &ldquo;He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin' around an Injun
+      village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an' listenin' an' gatherin' talk
+      about their plans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He ain't doin' any sech thing,&rdquo; broke in Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours,
+      an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're
+      talkin' about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing, Jim?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry's away off to the south, not to the north,&rdquo; replied the long one,
+      &ldquo;an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned. One house has been left
+      standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the groun'. A
+      whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin' thar fur days,
+      eatin' so much an' hevin' such a good time that the fat's hangin' down
+      over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust right out uv
+      his huntin' shirt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face to
+      the fire. Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;Can you have any vision, too, Tom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Tom Ross, &ldquo;I kin. I shet my eyes, but I don't see like
+      either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong. I see Henry, an' I see
+      him plain. He's had a pow'ful tough time. He ain't threatenin' to bust
+      with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are
+      fallin' down over his jaws. It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk a
+      mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags his
+      left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself. He ain't spyin' on no
+      Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer hangin' by
+      the side uv him. It's t'other way 'roan'. He's layin' almost flat on his
+      face not twenty feet from us, lookin' right in at us, an' I wuz the first
+      to see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise
+      sprang to his feet. Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so you saw me, Tom,&rdquo; he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand
+      after another. &ldquo;I might have known that, while I could stalk some of you,
+      I could not stalk all of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I caught the glimpse uv you,&rdquo; said Silent Tom, &ldquo;while Sol an' Jim wuz
+      talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul called
+      on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an' worth
+      tellin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I've not been having any easy time, and for a
+      while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I will
+      tell you all about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
+      food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry,&rdquo; said
+      Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any one of you would have done it,&rdquo; said Henry, modestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+      &ldquo;One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause that
+      scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
+      tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak for us all there, Sol,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have all of you been doing?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much of anything,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;We've been scoutin'
+      several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
+      or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
+      up warmer an' storin' away food.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is yet
+      on foot against the Iroquois?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tom ran across some scouts from the militia,&rdquo; replied Paul, &ldquo;and they
+      said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army would
+      march.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a long
+      time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for two days
+      and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to melt under
+      the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down the cliffs, and
+      would have entered &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; had not the five made provision to turn it
+      away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening to the gush of the
+      water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one another. Yet the time
+      dragged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man wuz never made to be a caged animile,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;The
+      longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
+      improve, neither, an' I ain't happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guess it's the same with all uv us,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still cold
+      weather, they began again to range the forest far in every direction, and
+      they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were becoming active.
+      There were more burnings, more slaughters, and more scalpings. The whole
+      border was still appalled at the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley,
+      and the savages were continually spreading over a wider area. Braxton
+      Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the aid of his Tory lieutenant,
+      Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name equal to that of Walter Butler.
+      As for &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and his men, no men were hated more thoroughly than
+      they.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five continued to do the best they could, which was much, carrying
+      many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have been victims.
+      While they devoted themselves to their strenuous task, great events in
+      which they were to take a part were preparing. The rear guard of the
+      Revolution was about to become for the time the main guard. A great eye
+      had been turned upon the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great mind,
+      which could bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint, was preparing
+      to send help to those farther away. So mighty a cry of distress had risen,
+      that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed. As the warm weather
+      came, the soldiers began to march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the Iroquois and
+      their allies, the Tories, the English, and the Canadians. There was a
+      great stirring among the leaders, Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+      the Johnsons, the Butlers, Claus, and the rest. Haldimand, the king's
+      representative in Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all the Iroquois to
+      meet the enemy. The Tories were' extremely active. Promises were made to
+      the tribes that they should have other victories even greater than those
+      of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the terrible Queen Esther went
+      among them, swinging her great war tomahawk over her head and chanting her
+      song of death. She, more than any other, inflamed the Iroquois, and they
+      were eager for the coming contest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter, but,
+      faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the last, he
+      returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of the Wyandot
+      nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not be estimated too
+      highly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the forest,
+      and they thrilled at the thought that the crisis was approaching. Then
+      they set out for Lake Otsego, where the army was gathering for the great
+      campaign. They were equipped thoroughly, and they were now so well known
+      in the region that they knew they would be welcome.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the last
+      night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry, scouting as usual
+      to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep in the forest. He wheeled
+      instantly to cover behind the body of a great beech tree, and the stranger
+      sought to do likewise, only he had no convenient tree that was so large.
+      It was about the twelfth hour, but Henry could see a portion of a body
+      protruding beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he recognized it. As he
+      held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and woodsman,
+      what are you doing in my wilderness? Stand forth at once and give an
+      account of yourself, or I will shoot off the part of your body that sticks
+      beyond that oak tree!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was instantaneous. A round, plump body revolved from the
+      partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open, rifle in hand
+      and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware,&rdquo; replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud, clear
+      tone, &ldquo;I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that you are. Come
+      from behind that beech and let us see which has the stronger grip.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so powerful that
+      both winced. Then they released hands simultaneously, and Heemskerk asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the other four mynheers? Am I wrong to say that they are near,
+      somewhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not wrong,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They are alive, well and hungry, not
+      a mile from here. There is one man whom they would be very glad to see,
+      and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is roaming in our woods without a
+      permit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed. It was obvious that he felt
+      as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in seeing him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My heart swells,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feared that you might have been killed or
+      scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far land of Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have wintered well,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;in a place of which I shall not tell
+      you now, and we are here to see the campaign through.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come, too, for the same purpose,&rdquo; said Heemskerk. &ldquo;We shall be
+      together. It is goot.&rdquo; &ldquo;Meanwhile,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;our camp fire is lighted.
+      Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is cooking strips of meat over the
+      coals, and, although it is a mile away, the odor of them is very pleasant
+      in my nostrils. I wish to go back there, and it will be all the more
+      delightful to me, and to those who wait, if I can bring with me such a
+      welcome guest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on, mynheer,&rdquo; said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then they ate
+      and talked. Heemskerk was sanguine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something will be done this time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Word has come from the great
+      commander that the Iroquois must be crushed. The thousands who have fallen
+      must be avenged, and this great fire along our border must be stopped. If
+      it cannot be done, then we perish. We have old tales in my own country of
+      the cruel deeds that the Spaniards did long, long ago, but they were not
+      worse than have been done here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them traveled back
+      to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and the scars and traces of
+      many more tragedies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw that all
+      they had heard was true. The most formidable force that they had ever seen
+      was gathering. There were many companies in the Continental buff and blue,
+      epauletted officers, bayonets and cannon. The camp was full of life,
+      energy, and hope, and the five at once felt the influence of it. They
+      found here old friends whom they had known in the march on Oghwaga,
+      William Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very welcome.
+      They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge, received
+      roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with Heemskerk and the two
+      celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and David Elerson, they roamed the
+      forest in a great circle about the lake, bringing much valuable
+      information about the movements of the enemy, who in their turn were
+      gathering in force, while the royal authorities were dispatching both
+      Indians and white men from Canada to help them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much impatience. It
+      takes a long time for an army to gather and then to equip itself for the
+      march, and they were so used to swift motion that it was now a part of
+      their nature. At last the army was ready, and it left the lake. Then it
+      proceeded in boats down the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an
+      artificial dam built with immense labor, to its confluence with the larger
+      river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander, General James
+      Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then the army, late in August,
+      began its march upon the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. They knew
+      that no important movement of so large a force could escape the notice of
+      the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made it their duty to see that the
+      Americans marched into no trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched with brown,
+      and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were ripening on the vines, and
+      the quantity of game had increased, the wild animals returning to the land
+      from which civilized man had disappeared. The desolation seemed even more
+      complete than in the autumn before. In the winter and spring the Iroquois
+      and Tories had destroyed the few remnants of houses that were left.
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band had been particularly active in this work, and
+      many tales had come of his cruelty and that of his swart Tory lieutenant,
+      Coleman. Henry was sure, too, that Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps
+      fifty Indians and Tories, was now in front of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others, twelve
+      brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night about ten miles
+      ahead of the army. They lighted no fire, and, even had it been cold, they
+      would not have done so, as the region was far too dangerous for any light.
+      Yet the little band felt no fear. They were only twelve, it is true, but
+      such a twelve! No chance would either Indians or Tories have to surprise
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to keep watch
+      while the others slept. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Heemskerk were the
+      sentinels. It was very late, nearly midnight; the sky was clear, and
+      presently they saw smoke rings ascending from high hills to their right,
+      to be answered soon by other rings of smoke to their left. The three
+      watched them with but little comment, and read every signal in turn. They
+      said: &ldquo;The enemy is still advancing,&rdquo; &ldquo;He is too strong for us...... We
+      must retreat and await our brethren.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least,&rdquo; whispered
+      Heemskerk. &ldquo;Brant is probably ahead of us in command, and he will avoid us
+      until he receives the fresh forces from Canada.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it that you're right,&rdquo; Henry whispered back. &ldquo;Timmendiquas also is
+      with him, and the two great chiefs are too cunning to fight until they can
+      bring their last man into action.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' then,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;we'll see what happens.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry very gravely, &ldquo;we'll see what happens. The Iroquois are
+      a powerful confederacy. They've ruled in these woods for hundreds of
+      years. They're led by great chiefs, and they're helped by our white
+      enemies. You can't tell what would happen even to an army like ours in an
+      ambush.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later, when they
+      heard footsteps. They awakened the others, and the twelve, crawling to the
+      edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat upon their faces, with their hands
+      upon the triggers of their rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and Tories in
+      about equal numbers, were passing. Wyatt walked at the head. Despite his
+      youth, he had acquired an air of command, and he seemed a fit leader for
+      such a crew. He wore a faded royal uniform, and, while a small sword hung
+      at his side, he also carried a rifle on his shoulder. Close behind him was
+      the swart and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and Tories
+      together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as many
+      belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle fairly ached
+      to press it. What an opportunity this would be if the twelve were only
+      forty, or even thirty! With the advantage of surprise they might hope to
+      annihilate this band which had won such hate for itself on the border. But
+      twelve were not enough and twelve such lives could not be spared at a time
+      when the army needed them most.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+      disappointment by a mere physical act if possible. He happened to look at
+      Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed together in the same
+      manner. It is probable that like feelings swayed every one of the twelve,
+      but they were so still in the brushwood that no Iroquois heard grass or
+      leaf rustle. Thus the twelve watched the sixty pass, and after they were
+      gone, Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for several miles.
+      They saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as they approached
+      the stream they beheld signs of fortifications. It was now nearly
+      daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they turned back. But they were
+      convinced that the enemy meant to fight on the Chemung.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the brushwood and
+      saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of men, famous or infamous
+      in their day, were gathered around a low camp fire on the crest of a small
+      hill. The most distinguished of them all in looks was a young Indian chief
+      of great height and magnificent build, with a noble and impressive
+      countenance. He wore nothing of civilized attire, the nearest approach to
+      it being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung gracefully over his
+      right shoulder. It was none other than the great Wyandot chief,
+      Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without expression to the words
+      of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his mixture of
+      savage and civilized costume, and about him were other famous Indian
+      chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Little Beard,
+      a young Seneca renowned for ferocity, and others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir John
+      Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his oath of
+      neutrality, the condition of his release, and then, fleeing to Canada, had
+      returned to wage bloody war on the settlements; his brother-in-law,
+      Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy;
+      his son, Walter Butler, of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart;
+      the Canadian Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark
+      Tory, Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together, wore the
+      handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed many dark deeds or
+      permitted them to be done by men under his command, and he had secured the
+      opportunity only through his broken oath, but he had lost greatly. The
+      vast estates of his father, Sir William Johnson, were being torn from him,
+      and perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he had done he
+      would lose all and become an exile from the country in which he was born.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not a cheerful council. There was no exultation as after Wyoming
+      and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places. Sir John bit his lip
+      uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his hand on his knee, stared
+      gloomily at the fire. The two Butlers were silent, and the dark face of
+      Thayendanegea was overcast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a mile
+      long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner that an enemy
+      could attack only in front and on one flank, that flank itself being
+      approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge which ran parallel to the
+      river. The ground about the camp was covered with pine and scrub oaks.
+      Many others had been cut down and added to the breastwork. A deep brook
+      ran at the foot of the hill on which the leaders sat. About the slopes of
+      this hill and another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian
+      warriors, all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white
+      allies, conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+      Rangers. These men made but little noise now. They were resting and
+      waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at the fire.
+      He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said in his excellent
+      English: &ldquo;The king promised us that if we would take up arms for him
+      against the Yankees, he would send a great army, many thousands, to help
+      us. We believed him, and we took up the hatchet for him. We fought in the
+      dark and the storm with Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many of our warriors
+      fell. But we did not sulk in our lodges. We have ravaged and driven in the
+      whole American border along a line of hundreds of miles. Now the Congress
+      sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we have done, and the great
+      forces of the king are not here. I have been across the sea; I have seen
+      the mighty city of London and its people as numerous as the blades of
+      grass. Why has not the king kept his promise and sent men enough to save
+      the Iroquois?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the soul of the
+      great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred. His penetrating mind saw the
+      uplifted hand about to strike-and the target was his own people. His tone
+      became bitterly sarcastic as he spoke, and when he ceased he looked
+      directly at the baronet in a manner that showed a reply must be given. Sir
+      John moved uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;but the king has
+      many things to do. The war is spread over a vast area, and he must keep
+      his largest armies in the East. But the Royal Greens, the Rangers, and all
+      others whom we can raise, even in Canada, are here to help you. In the
+      coming battle your fortunes are our fortunes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased. His glance fell upon
+      the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are many in England itself,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;who wish us harm, and who
+      perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that we ought to
+      have. They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of the torture and of the
+      slaughter of women and children, and they say that war must not be carried
+      on in such a way. But there are some among us who are more savage than the
+      savages themselves, as they call us. It was you, John Butler, who led at
+      Wyoming, and it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed the women and children
+      to be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would have been slain there had I
+      not, come up in time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The dark face of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler grew darker, and the pallid face of his
+      son grew more pallid. Both were angry, and at the same time a little
+      afraid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won at Wyoming in fair battle,&rdquo; said the elder Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But afterwards?&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians against us,&rdquo;
+       continued Thayendanegea. &ldquo;It is because of them that the commander of the
+      Bostonians has sent a great army, and the Long House is threatened with
+      destruction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son and I have fought for our common cause,&rdquo; said &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, the
+      blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson interfered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois,&rdquo; he said, calling
+      the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name, &ldquo;but I and my
+      brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain Butler have already lost
+      though we may regain. And with this strong position and the aid of ambush
+      it is likely that we can defeat the rebels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long embankment,
+      the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors scattered numerously here
+      and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may be right, Sir John,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;yes, I think you are right, and by
+      all the gods, red and white, we shall see. I wish to fight here, because
+      this is the best place in which to meet the Bostonians. What say you,
+      Timmendiquas, sworn brother of mine, great warrior and great chief of the
+      Wyandots, the bravest of all the western nations?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was sonorous, and
+      his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we fight&mdash;and we must fight&mdash;this is the place in which to
+      meet the white army,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Wyandots are here to help the
+      Iroquois, as the Iroquois would go to help them. The Manitou of the
+      Wyandots, the Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he said no
+      more. All regarded him with respect and admiration. Even Braxton Wyatt
+      felt that it was a noble deed to remain and face destruction for the sake
+      of tribes not his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the while in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What further
+      information can you give us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow,&rdquo; replied Wyatt, &ldquo;and the
+      American army is advancing cautiously. It has out strong flanking parties,
+      and it is preceded by the scouts, those Kentuckians whom I know and have
+      met often, Murphy, Elerson, Heemskerk, and the others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we could only lead them into an ambush,&rdquo; said Sir John. &ldquo;Any kind of
+      troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before an unseen foe
+      pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep woods. Then they magnify the
+      enemy tenfold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. &ldquo;When we killed
+      Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors stood in the
+      moccasins of only one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John frowned. He did not like this allusion to the time when the
+      Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a great defeat.
+      But he feared to rebuke the old chief. Hiokatoo and the Senecas were too
+      important.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The foliage
+      is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is not used to
+      forest warfare. What say you to this, Wyatt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt shook his head. He knew the caliber of the five from Kentucky, and
+      he had little hope of such good fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have learned from many lessons,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and their scouts are
+      the best. Moreover, they will attempt anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the renegade roved
+      about the dark circle of trees and warriors that inclosed them. Presently
+      he saw something that caused him to rise and walk a little distance from
+      the fire. Although his eye suspected and his mind confirmed, Braxton Wyatt
+      could not believe that it was true. It was incredible. No one, be he ever
+      so daring, would dare such a thing. But the figure down there among the
+      trees, passing about among the warriors, many of whom did not know one
+      another, certainly looked familiar, despite the Indian paint and garb.
+      Only that of Timmendiquas could rival it in height and nobility. These
+      were facts that could not be hidden by any disguise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Wyatt?&rdquo; asked Sir John. &ldquo;What do you see? Why do you look so
+      startled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not seen here
+      before,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;he is as tall and as powerful as Timmendiquas, and
+      there is only one such. There is a spy among us, and it is Henry Ware.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the flitting
+      figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you say?&rdquo; exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, &ldquo;a spy, and
+      you know him to be such!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he is the worst of them all,&rdquo; replied Wyatt. &ldquo;I know him. I could
+      not mistake him. But he has dared too much. He cannot get away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The great camp was now in an uproar. The tall figure was seen here and
+      there, always to vanish quickly. Twenty shots were fired at it. None hit.
+      Many more would have been fired, but the camp was too much crowded to take
+      such a risk. Every moment the tumult and confusion increased, but
+      Thayendanegea quickly posted warriors on the embankment and the flanks, to
+      prevent the escape of the fugitive in any of those directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. It was
+      next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving to strike with a
+      tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great force. The next instant the
+      figure leaped far out into the stream. The moonlight glimmered an instant
+      on the bare head, while bullets the next moment pattered on the water
+      where it had been. Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger
+      reclaimed the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods with
+      more vain bullets flying about him. But he sent back a shout of irony and
+      triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the bank bite their
+      lips in anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a trumpet
+      awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henry was standing
+      beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's excitement, danger, and
+      escape, but his face was flushed and his eyes sparkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up, Paul! Up!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;We know the enemy's position, and we will be in
+      battle before another sun sets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on his feet,
+      rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great attack. He, like all the
+      others, had slept on such a night fully dressed. Shif'less Sol, Long Jim,
+      Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the rest were by the side of him, and all about
+      them rose the sounds of an army going into battle, commands sharp and
+      short, the rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of bayonets, the
+      clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of men talking in
+      half-finished sentences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was the first time
+      that they had ever beheld a large and regular army going into action, and
+      they were a part of it, a part by no means unimportant. It was Henry, with
+      his consummate skill and daring, who had uncovered the position of the
+      enemy, and now, without snatching a moment's sleep, he was ready to lead
+      where the fray might be thickest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and the army
+      began to move through the thick forest. A light wind, crisp with the air
+      of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. The sun, swinging upward in
+      the east, poured down a flood of brilliant rays that lighted up
+      everything, the buff and blue uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the
+      bayonets, and the forest, still heavy with foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now! now!&rdquo; thought every one of the five, &ldquo;we begin the vengeance for
+      Wyoming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the thickets for
+      the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so terribly. As Braxton Wyatt
+      had truly said, these scouts were the best in the world. Nothing could
+      escape the trained eyes of Henry Ware and his comrades, and those of
+      Murphy, Ellerson, and the others, while off on either flank of the army
+      heavy detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement. They
+      saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deep silence in front of
+      them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its golden light down upon the
+      army in such an intense, vivid flood that rifle barrels and bayonets gave
+      back a metallic gleam. All around them the deep woods swayed and rustled
+      before the light breeze, and now and then they caught glimpses of the
+      river, its surface now gold, then silver, under the shining sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, but he had
+      seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he could not keep
+      down the desire to see punishment. It is only those in sheltered homes who
+      can forgive the tomahawk and the stake. Now he was the very first of the
+      scouts, although his comrades and a dozen others were close behind him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them by the
+      forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and the sound of
+      commands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankment ran, and he
+      knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by timber. They were not
+      far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded very slowly, examining every tree
+      and clump of bushes to see whether a lurking enemy was hidden there. The
+      silence endured longer than he had thought. Nothing could be seen in front
+      save the waving forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown shoulder's edge
+      showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all the scouts sank to the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle, whistled over
+      their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loud at such a time, came
+      back from the forest in many echoes, and a light puff of smoke arose.
+      Quick as a flash, before the brown shoulder and body exposed to take aim
+      could be withdrawn, Tom Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his
+      death yell. The Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a war
+      whoop, fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and before
+      it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in tremendous
+      volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout that had often appalled
+      the bravest, but the little band of scouts were not afraid. When its last
+      echo died they sent forth a fierce, defiant note of their own, and,
+      crawling forward, began to send in their bullets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers, who
+      replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line through the
+      undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of smoke arose and,
+      uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed. Twigs and bark fell, and now
+      and then a man, as they fought from tree to tree. Henry caught one glimpse
+      of a face that was white, that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought a shot at
+      the renegade leader, but he could not get it. But the scouts pushed on,
+      and the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on the flanks they
+      began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of the army were in
+      action, but the main body still advanced without firing a shot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and rifle pits,
+      and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and Tory skirmishers
+      leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge with their army. Then they
+      turned back and saw the long line of their own army steadily advancing,
+      while the sounds of heavy firing still continued on both flanks. Henry
+      looked proudly at the unbroken array, the front of steel, and the cannon.
+      He felt prouder still when the general turned to him and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
+      lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of the
+      rifles shall talk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest of
+      the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there among
+      the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
+      waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
+      be thickest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
+      and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells, new
+      and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
+      position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in a
+      curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
+      followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
+      aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+      like cry came back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the medicine!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I wonder how you like that, you Butlers
+      an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your scalp-taking
+      crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
+      the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower of
+      rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short, and the
+      whoop hurt no one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision, while
+      the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
+      engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
+      his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
+      from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
+      bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field. They
+      could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork, the
+      dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by shell and
+      shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the great
+      chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men, and
+      striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
+      bullets at close quarters, but more terrifying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian camp,
+      creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance to shoot down
+      the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watching them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, boys,&rdquo; exclaimed Henry. &ldquo;Here's work for us now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the skirmishers,
+      who were soon driven in again. The artillery fire had never ceased for a
+      moment, the shells and balls passing over their heads. Their work done,
+      the sharpshooters fell back again, the gunners worked faster for a while,
+      and then at a command they ceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all the
+      others knew instinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in every
+      bone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now!&rdquo; Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment the order was
+      given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke floating away for the
+      moment and the sun flashing off the bayonets. The five sprang up and
+      rushed on ahead. A sheet of flame burst from the embankment, and the rifle
+      pits sprang into fire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past them, and
+      the sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never ceased to rush
+      straight for the embankment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. There was one
+      continuous flash from the earthwork, and a continuous flash replied. The
+      rifles were at work now, thousands of them, and they kept up an incessant
+      crash, while above them rose the unbroken thunder of the cannon. The
+      volume of smoke deepened, and it was shot through with the sharp, pungent
+      odor of burned gunpowder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded, and fired
+      again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had never ceased. It
+      had not been checked even for a moment, and the bayonets of one of the
+      regiments glittered in the sun a straight line of steel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was lowest. He
+      saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he intended to strike if
+      he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulating and shouting to his men to stand
+      fast and drive back the charge. He believed even then, and he knew later,
+      that Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were showing courage superior to that
+      of the Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian allies.
+      The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the Iroquois did
+      not cease to send a stream of bullets from the earthwork.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and closer. He
+      saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he snapped his empty
+      pistol at it. But it was hidden the next instant behind others, and then
+      they were at the embankment. He saw the glowing faces of his comrades at
+      his side, the singular figure of Heemskerk revolving swiftly, and behind
+      them the line of bayonets closing in with the grimness of fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him point blank, and
+      he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then his comrades were by his
+      side, and they leaped down into the Indian camp. After them came the
+      riflemen, and then the line of bayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and
+      the great Wyandot shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal
+      Greens and the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+      McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
+      had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
+      of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown faces
+      before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and there,
+      shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that the
+      battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal Greens
+      and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best of the
+      Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+      overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they fell
+      back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest fighter,
+      the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly Timmendiquas,
+      Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who were most
+      strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield, with its
+      numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them. They
+      retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of bullets,
+      and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
+      face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The victory is won already!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Now to drive it home!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; cried Henry in return, &ldquo;and we'll lead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long Jim
+      and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed, and
+      they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they now
+      took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down in
+      Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their bullets
+      searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled them to
+      retreat anew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
+      the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
+      Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of their
+      allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and white
+      force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a
+      greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee
+      with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but the people
+      of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in their history,
+      and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the Iroquois chiefs as
+      they fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but the
+      heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army was
+      driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
+      confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
+      the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere. The
+      victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that
+      had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The Iroquois
+      were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might be hemmed in
+      against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford. Uttering their
+      cry of despair, &ldquo;Oonali! Oonali!&rdquo; a wail for a battle lost, they sprang
+      into the stream, many of them throwing away their rifles, tomahawks, and
+      blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the Scouts and a body of
+      riflemen were after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
+      opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
+      men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men in
+      the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
+      pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
+      kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering fire
+      over their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton Wyatt
+      again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the riflemen,
+      he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders were driven
+      back. Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence, escaped among the
+      thickets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Little groups
+      seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away. Thayendanegea
+      and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together enough men for an
+      ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but they were pushed
+      too hard and fast. A rally was always destroyed in the beginning, and the
+      chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives. The pursuit was continued
+      for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the army itself moved
+      forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest on the trail of the
+      flying Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close watch,
+      nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then they exchanged shots with a
+      band, but the Indians always fled quickly, and at last they stopped
+      because they could no longer find any resistance. They had been in action
+      or pursuit for many hours, and they were black with smoke, dust, and
+      sweat, but they were not yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk drew a
+      great red silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his glowing face,
+      which was as red as the handkerchief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a year,&rdquo; he
+      said. &ldquo;The Iroquois have always thought they were invincible, and now the
+      spell's been broke. If we only follow it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's sure to be done,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I heard General Sullivan himself
+      say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps over the
+      path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. They beheld a dead
+      warrior at every step, and at intervals were rifles, tomahawks, scalping
+      knives, blankets, and an occasional shot pouch or powder horn. Presently
+      they reached the main army, which was going into camp for the night. Many
+      camp fires were built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory, were
+      getting ready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been told
+      already that they were to march again in the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field of
+      battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was now coming, and it
+      was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets, and the trees were torn
+      by cannon balls. Some tents raised by the Tories lay in ruins, and the
+      earth was stained with many dark splotches. But the army had passed on,
+      and it was silent and desolate where so many men had fought. The twilight
+      drew swiftly on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome sounds. The
+      wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done so much to turn
+      into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they were telling it to
+      one another. By and by, as the night deepened, the five saw fiery eyes in
+      the thickets, and the long howls came again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House,&rdquo; said Paul,
+      upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush of victory
+      in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoice over a fallen
+      foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory, and none of them could
+      wish any part of it undone. They returned slowly to the camp, and once
+      more they heard behind them the howl of the wolves as they invaded the
+      battlefield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp fires
+      twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many men talking.
+      Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, lads,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You must eat-you won't find out until you begin,
+      how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we march early
+      to-morrow, and we march fast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food since morning;
+      they had never thought of it, but now, with the relaxation from battle,
+      they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's mighty good,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and ate
+      bread and meat and drank coffee, &ldquo;but I'll say this for you, you old
+      ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than the venison an'
+      bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more,&rdquo; said Long Jim
+      complacently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo again, Jim,&rdquo;
+       said Henry. &ldquo;We are going on a long campaign through the Iroquois
+      country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' it's shore to be a dangerous one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Men like
+      warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one fight. They'll be
+      hangin' on our flanks like wasps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but in my opinion the Iroquois are overthrown
+      forever. One defeat means more to them than a half dozen to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the fires.
+      They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
+      scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could not
+      sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He watched
+      the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth around the
+      camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank to sleep. The
+      fires which had formed a great core of light also sank, and the shadows
+      crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing sentinels, rifle on
+      shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves, attuned so long to great
+      effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over him, and his eyelids drooped,
+      the sounds in the camp sank to the lowest murmur, but just as he was
+      falling asleep there came from the battlefield behind then the far, faint
+      howl of a wolf, the dirge of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose, refreshed,
+      ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and breakfast was
+      cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as all had eaten,
+      the army marched, going northward and westward, intending to cut through
+      the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come from the great
+      commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had been so long such a
+      terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be annihilated. They must
+      be made strangers in their own country. Women and children were not to be
+      molested, but their towns must perish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung, the
+      power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the border did
+      not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had promised them
+      certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the promises would
+      come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were fugitives in
+      their own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
+      and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for a
+      surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still lurked
+      in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the bullets of
+      ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible. Nothing
+      could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory chiefs might
+      plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
+      sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little danger of the
+      latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at least, bring a
+      sufficient force into the field. But after the moon had risen, the five,
+      with Heemskerk, went ahead through the forest. The Iroquois town of
+      Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the army would reach it on the morrow. It
+      was the intention of the scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was near midnight when the little party drew near to Kanawaholla and
+      watched it from the shelter of the forest. Like most other Iroquois towns,
+      it contained wooden houses, and cultivated fields were about it. No smoke
+      rose from any of the chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts saw loaded
+      figures departing through a great field of ripe and waving corn. It was
+      the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could carry. Two or
+      three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives, but the scouts
+      made no attempt to pursue. They could not restrain a little feeling of
+      sympathy and pity, although a just retribution was coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the war, as we
+      asked them,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, &ldquo;how much might have been spared to both
+      sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of the corn
+      field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were taking a last look
+      at their town, and the feeling of pity and sympathy deepened, despite
+      Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the rest. But that feeling never extended
+      to the white allies of the Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea characterized in
+      word and in writing as &ldquo;more savage than the savages themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul was in
+      Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken away, but that was
+      all. Most of the houses were in disorder, showing the signs of hasty
+      flight, but the town lay wholly at the mercy of the advancing army. Henry
+      and his comrades withdrew with the news, and the next day, when the troops
+      advanced, Kanawaholla was put to the torch. In an hour it was smoking
+      ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the Iroquois
+      power under foot and laying waste the country. One after another the
+      Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown, Kendaia, Kanadesaga,
+      Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye, Kanaghsawa, Gathtsewarohare,
+      and others, forming a long roll, bearing the sounding Iroquois names.
+      Villages around Cayuga and other lakes were burned by detachments. The
+      smoke of perishing towns arose everywhere in the Iroquois country, while
+      the Iroquois themselves fled before the advancing army. They sent appeal
+      after appeal for help from those to whom they had given so much help, but
+      none came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold. The forests blazed with
+      brilliant colors. The winds blew, leaves rustled and fell. The winter
+      would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so proud of what they had
+      achieved, would have to find what shelter they could in the forests or at
+      the British posts on the Canadian frontier. Thayendanegea was destined to
+      come again with bands of red men and white and inflict great loss, but the
+      power of the Six Nations was overthrown forever, after four centuries of
+      victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all the time in the
+      thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched into the Genesee
+      Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul, as they lay on their
+      blankets one night, counted fires in three different directions, and every
+      one of the three marked a perishing Indian village. It was not a work in
+      which they took any delight; on the contrary, it often saddened them, but
+      they felt that it had to be done, and they could not shirk the task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of scouts and
+      riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in advance of the army. It
+      was a democratic little band, everyone saying what he pleased, but
+      yielding in the end to the authority of the leader. They were now far up
+      the Genesee toward the Great Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of advancing
+      ahead of the army on the great Seneca village known variously as the
+      Seneca Castle and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full match in
+      cruelty for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. Several causes led to this
+      decision. It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas, all the
+      Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there. While not likely to be
+      true about all, it was probably true about some of them, and a bold stroke
+      might effect much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind. The renegade was
+      in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he had developed great
+      abilities as a partisan, being skillfully seconded by the squat Tory,
+      Coleman. His reputation now was equal at least to that of Walter Butler,
+      and he had skirmished more than once with the vanguard of the army.
+      Growing in Henry's heart was a strong desire to match forces with him, and
+      it was quite probable that a swift advance might find him at the Seneca
+      Castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late autumn. The
+      night had been clear and cold, with a touch of winter in it, and the
+      brilliant colors of the foliage had now turned to a solid brown. Whenever
+      the wind blew, the leaves fell in showers. The sky was a fleecy blue, but
+      over hills, valley, and forest hung a fine misty veil that is the mark of
+      Indian summer. The land was nowhere inhabited. They saw the cabin of
+      neither white man nor Indian. A desolation and a silence, brought by the
+      great struggle, hung over everything. Many discerning eyes among the
+      riflemen noted the beauty and fertility of the country, with its noble
+      forests and rich meadows. At times they caught glimpses of the river, a
+      clear stream sparkling under the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in Kentucky,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' it seems to me I like one about ez well ez t'other.
+      Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go back home? 'Pears to me that we're
+      always goin' farther an' farther away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us away,
+      Sol,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said the shiftless one with a resigned air, &ldquo;I hope them same
+      circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me gently, but
+      strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest fur a lazy an' tired
+      man like me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at least,&rdquo; said
+      Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were wholly
+      irrelevant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow night?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely anxious for
+      a fight,&rdquo; Henry replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I try to be resigned,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. But his eyes were sparkling
+      with the light of battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca Castle
+      about ten miles ahead. Henry was quite sure that the Senecas to whom it
+      belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with the aid of the other tribes
+      might make a stand there. It was more than likely, too, that the Senecas
+      had sharpshooters and sentinels well to the south of their town, and it
+      behooved the riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a
+      hornet's nest. Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind that
+      searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their blankets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in the
+      thickets. Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry. He had observed his
+      young leader's face closely that day, and he had a mind of uncommon
+      penetration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton Wyatt an'
+      his band at Little Beard's town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That among other things,&rdquo; replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That first, and the others afterwards,&rdquo; persisted the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so,&rdquo; admitted Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel the same way you do,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;You see, we've knowed
+      Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that one who started out a
+      boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. An' think uv all the cruel
+      things that he's done an' helped to do. I ain't hidin' my feelin's. I'm
+      jest itchin' to git at him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;I'd like for our band to have it out with his.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that night,
+      because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the following night, in
+      view of an enterprise that he had in mind. The rosy Dutchman, Heemskerk,
+      was in command of the guard, and he revolved continually about the camp
+      with amazing ease, and with a footstep so light that it made no sound
+      whatever. Now and then he came back in the thicket and looked down at the
+      faces of the sleeping five from Kentucky. &ldquo;Goot boys,&rdquo; he murmured to
+      himself. &ldquo;Brave boys, to stay here and help. May they go through all our
+      battles and take no harm. The goot and great God often watches over the
+      brave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to the new
+      nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout man, despite a
+      life of danger and hardship. The people of the woods do not lose faith,
+      and he looked up at the dark skies as if he found encouragement there.
+      Then he resumed his circle about the camp. He heard various noises-the
+      hoot of an owl, the long whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of deer
+      going down to the river to drink. But the sounds were all natural, made by
+      the animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it. Once or twice
+      he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to indicate the
+      presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and beat up the woods, the
+      night passed, eventless, away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw sure
+      indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois evidently were
+      not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. Henry had learned that
+      this was one of the largest and strongest of all the Iroquois towns,
+      containing between a hundred and two hundred wooden houses, and with a
+      population likely to be swollen greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois
+      towns already destroyed. The need of caution&mdash;great caution&mdash;was
+      borne in upon him, and he paid good heed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about three
+      miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry, according to
+      his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross. He was
+      resolved to find out more about this important town, and his enterprise
+      was in full accord with his duties, chief among which was to save the
+      vanguard of the army from ambush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the covert,
+      and, after traveling a short distance through the forest, turned in toward
+      the river. As the town lay on or near the river, Henry thought they might
+      see some signs of Indian life on the stream, and from this they could
+      proceed to discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when they first saw the river it was desolate. Not a canoe was moving
+      on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the undergrowth, followed
+      the bank toward the town. But the forest soon ceased, and they came upon a
+      great field, where the Senecas had raised corn, and where stalks, stripped
+      of their ears and browned by the autumn cold, were still standing. But all
+      the work of planting, tending, and reaping this great field, like all the
+      other work in all the Iroquois fields, had been done by the Iroquois
+      women, not by the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint lines of
+      smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca Castle. The dry
+      cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew across the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The stalks will make a little shelter,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we must cross
+      the field. We want to keep near the river.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and bearing
+      back toward the river. They crossed the field without being observed, and
+      came into a thick fringe of trees and undergrowth along the river. They
+      moved cautiously in this shelter for a rod or two, and then the three,
+      without word from any one of them, stopped simultaneously. They heard in
+      the water the unmistakable ripple made by a paddle, and then the sound of
+      several more. They crept to the edge of the bank and crouched down among
+      the bushes. Then they saw a singular procession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. They were
+      in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. But the aspect of the
+      little fleet was wholly different from that of an ordinary group of
+      Iroquois war canoes. It was dark, somber, and funereal, and in every
+      canoe, between the feet of the paddlers, lay a figure, stiff and
+      impassive, the body of a chief slain in battle. It had all the appearance
+      of a funeral procession, but the eyes of the three, as they roved over it,
+      fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as they were to the
+      strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who half
+      sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. Her long black
+      hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered head. She wore a
+      brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but it was stained and torn.
+      The woman's whole attitude expressed grief, anger, and despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Queen Esther!&rdquo; whispered Henry. The other two nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman at
+      Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now. The picture of the
+      great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound prisoners was still too
+      vivid. She had several sons, one or two of whom were slain in battle with
+      the colonists, and the body that lay in the boat may have been one of
+      them. Henry always believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and now she
+      raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're goin' to land,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it approached, a
+      group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca chief, appeared among
+      the trees, coming forward to meet them. The three in their covert crouched
+      closer, interested so intensely that they were prepared to brave the
+      danger in order to remain. But the absorption of the Iroquois in what they
+      were about to do favored the three scouts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her crouching
+      position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of grief, rage, and
+      despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. It was fiercer than the
+      cry of a wolf, and it came back from the dark forest in terrifying echoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's not a woman, but a fiend,&rdquo; whispered Henry; and, as before, his
+      comrades nodded in assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty that had
+      once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was long since gone.
+      Her white half of blood had been submerged years ago in her Indian half,
+      and there was nothing now about her to remind one of civilization or of
+      the French Governor General of Canada who was said to have been her
+      father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois stood respectfully before her. It was evident that she had
+      lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power proceeding partly
+      from her force and partly from superstition. As the bodies were brought
+      ashore, one by one, and laid upon the ground, she uttered the long wailing
+      cry again and again, and the others repeated it in a sort of chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+      chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the ground, and
+      began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to interpret roughly to
+      the others. She sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory.
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could ever
+      remember or translate. But every verse ended with the melancholy refrain:
+      &ldquo;Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!&rdquo; which the others also
+      repeated in chorus. Then the warriors lifted up the bodies, and they moved
+      in procession toward the town. The three watched them, but they did not
+      rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit trees. Then they stood
+      up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;She
+      gives me the creeps. She must be a witch huntin' for blood. She is shore
+      to stir up the Iroquois in this town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I mean to go nearer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wa'al,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;I reckon that if you mean it we mean it, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are certainly Tories in the town,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and if we are seen
+      we can probably pass for them. I'm bound to find out what's here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean to know if he's here,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on,&rdquo; said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of sight,
+      and entered the orchard. From that point they saw the houses and great
+      numbers of Indians, including squaws and children, gathered in the open
+      spaces, where the funeral train was passing. Queen Esther still stalked at
+      its head, but her chant was now taken up by many scores of voices, and the
+      volume of sound penetrated far in the night. Henry yet relied upon the
+      absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him a chance for a
+      good look through the town, and he and his comrades advanced with
+      boldness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as their occupants had gone
+      to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white men-a few of the
+      Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other Tories, who were dressed
+      much like Henry and his comrades. One of them spoke to Shif'less Sol, who
+      nodded carelessly and passed by. The Tory seemed satisfied and went his
+      way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead o' the
+      army,&rdquo; said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. He saw that
+      no preparations for defense had been made, and there was no evidence that
+      any would be made. All was confusion and despair. Already some of the
+      squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy burdens. The three coupled caution
+      with boldness. If they met a Tory they merely exchanged a word or two, and
+      passed swiftly on. Henry, although he had seen enough to know that the
+      army could advance without hesitation, still pursued the quest. Shif'less
+      Sol was right. At the bottom of Henry's heart was a desire to know whether
+      Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a desire soon satisfied, as they
+      reached the great Council House, turned a corner of it, and met the
+      renegade face to face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he uttered a
+      cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. There was no light but
+      that of the moon, but he knew his foe in an instant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry Ware!&rdquo; he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a weapon.
+      Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching Wyatt on the jaw, and
+      sending him down as if he had been shot. Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross ran
+      bodily over Coleman, hurling him down, and leaping across his prostrate
+      figure. Then they ran their utmost, knowing that their lives depended on
+      speed and skill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They quickly put the Council House between them and their pursuers, and
+      darted away among the houses. Braxton Wyatt was stunned, but he speedily
+      regained his wits and his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again!&rdquo; he cried to his
+      lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up. &ldquo;Come, men! After
+      them! After them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they began a
+      search among the houses. But it was hard to find the fugitives. The light
+      was not good, many flitting figures were about, and the frantic search
+      developed confusion. Other Tories were often mistaken for the three
+      scouts, and were overhauled, much to their disgust and that of the
+      overhaulers. Iroquois, drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join in
+      the hunt, but Wyatt could give them little information. He had merely seen
+      an enemy, and then the enemy had gone. It was quite certain that this
+      enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades were crafty. Trained by ambush and escape, flight
+      and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive their pursuers. When
+      Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran around the Council House, a
+      large and solid structure, and, finding a door on the opposite side and no
+      one there or in sight from that point, they entered it, closing the door
+      behind them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they made out
+      the log wall of the great, single room which constituted the Council
+      House. After that, with more accustomed eyes, they saw on the wall arms,
+      pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some with long hair and some with
+      short. The hair was usually blonde, and most of the scalps had been
+      stretched tight over little hoops. Henry clenched his fist in the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think so,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;At any rate they'd find us if we were
+      rushing about the village. Here we at least have a chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes, and the
+      three sat down behind them in the very heart of the Iroquois sanctuary.
+      Should anyone casually enter the Council House they would still be hidden.
+      They sat in Turkish fashion on the floor, close together and with their
+      rifles lying across their knees. A thin light filtered through a window
+      and threw pallid streaks on the floor, which they could see when they
+      peeped around the edge of the mats. But outside they heard very clearly
+      the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the village. Shif'less
+      Sol chuckled. It was very low, but it was a chuckle, nevertheless, and the
+      others heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;layin'
+      here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're ragin' an' tearin' up
+      the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. Gives me a mighty snug feelin',
+      though, like the one you have when you're safe in a big log house, an' the
+      wind an' the hail an' the snow are beatin' outside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're shorely right, Sol,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to me,&rdquo; continued the irrepressible Sol, &ldquo;that you did git in a
+      good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all. Ain't he unhappy now, bitin' his
+      fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? I feel real sorry, I do,
+      fur Braxton. It's hard fur a nice young feller to have to suffer sech
+      disappointments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in the
+      darkness. Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong. It would be a bitter blow to
+      Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, it was pleasant where they sat. A hard floor was
+      soft to them, and as they leaned against the wall they could relax and
+      rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?&rdquo; asked Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't have to think,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They'll sit quiet as we're
+      doing and wait.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops came
+      from different points of the village. There were shrill cries of women and
+      children, and the sound of many running feet. After a while it began to
+      sink, and soon after that they heard no more noises than those of people
+      preparing for flight. Henry felt sure that the town would be abandoned on
+      the morrow, but his desire to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt
+      was as strong as ever. It was certain that the army could not overtake
+      Wyatt's band, but he might match his own against it. He was thinking of
+      making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their great amazement,
+      they heard the door of the Council House open and shut, and then footsteps
+      inside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky figures
+      near the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINAL FIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and the three
+      would have recognized those figures anywhere. The taller was Timmendiquas,
+      the other Thayendanegea. The thin light from the window fell upon their
+      faces, and Henry saw that both were sad. Haughty and proud they were
+      still, but each bore the look that comes only from continued defeat and
+      great disappointment. It is truth to say that the concealed three watched
+      them with a curiosity so intense that all thought of their own risk was
+      forgotten. To Henry, as well as his comrades, these two were the greatest
+      of all Indian chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the Mohawks
+      stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window, taking a last
+      look at the great Seneca Castle. It was Thayendanegea who spoke first,
+      using Wyandot, which Henry understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have
+      come far with your warriors, and you have been by our side in battle. The
+      Six Nations owe you much. You have helped us in victory, and you have not
+      deserted us in defeat. You are the greatest of warriors, the boldest in
+      battle, and the most skillful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots. We owe you much, and
+      some day we may repay. Here the Bostonians crowd us hard, and the Mohawks
+      may yet fight by your side to save your own hunting grounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas. &ldquo;There, too, we' must fight the
+      Americans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Victory was long with us here,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea, &ldquo;but the rebels have
+      at last brought an army against us, and the king who persuaded us to make
+      war upon the Americans adds nothing to the help that he has given us
+      already. Our white allies were the first to run at the Chemung, and now
+      the Iroquois country, so large and so beautiful, is at the mercy of the
+      invader. We perish. In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes. The
+      American army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca Castle, the
+      last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames. I know not how
+      our people will live through the Winter that is yet to come. Aieroski has
+      turned his face from us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Six Nations will regain their country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The great League of
+      the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so many generations,
+      cannot be destroyed. All the tribes from here to the Mississippi will
+      help, and will press down upon the settlements. I will return to stir them
+      anew, and the British posts will give us arms and ammunition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You raise my spirits again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We flee now, but we shall come
+      back again. The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit. We will ravage all their
+      settlements, and burn and destroy. We will make a wilderness where they
+      have been. The king and his men will yet give us more help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding Thayendanegea was
+      long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had refused the requested neutrality,
+      had lost their Country forever, save such portions as the victor in the
+      end chose to offer to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I give you
+      a last farewell,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the white
+      man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House, shutting the
+      door behind him. Thayendanegea lingered a while at the window, and the
+      look of sadness returned to his face. Henry could read many of the
+      thoughts that were passing through the Mohawk's proud mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the power
+      and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory of the Iroquois,
+      of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by Sir John Johnson, the half
+      brother of the children of Molly Brant, Thayendanegea's own sister, of the
+      Butlers and all the others who had said that the rebels would be easy to
+      conquer. He knew better now, he had long known better, ever since that
+      dreadful battle in the dark defile of the Oriskany, when the Palatine
+      Germans, with old Herkimer at their head, beat the Tories, the English,
+      and the Iroquois, and made the taking of Burgoyne possible. The Indian
+      chieftain was a statesman, and it may be that from this moment he saw that
+      the cause of both the Iroquois and their white allies was doomed.
+      Presently Thayendanegea left the window, walking slowly toward the door.
+      He paused there a moment or two, and then went out, closing it behind him,
+      as Timmendiquas had done. The three did not speak until several minutes
+      after he had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;that either of them thinks, despite their
+      brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Serves 'em right,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;I remember what I saw at Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whether they kin do it or not,&rdquo; said the practical Sol, &ldquo;it's time for us
+      to git out o' here, an' go back to our men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True words, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we'll go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened slightly,
+      they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. The preparations for
+      departure had probably ceased until morning. Forth stole the three,
+      passing swiftly among the houses, going, with silent foot toward the
+      orchard. An old squaw, carrying a bundle from a house, saw them, looked
+      sharply into their faces, and knew them to be white. She threw down her
+      bundle with a fierce, shrill scream, and ran, repeating the scream as she
+      ran.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. Wyatt caught
+      a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on each side, running
+      toward the orchard, and he knew it. Hate and the hope to capture or kill
+      swelled afresh. He put a whistle to his lip and blew shrilly. It was a
+      signal to his band, and they came from every point, leading the pursuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt who had
+      made the sound. A single glance backward confirmed him. He knew Wyatt's
+      figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark mass with him was certainly
+      composed of his own men. The other Indians and Tories, in all likelihood,
+      would turn back soon, and that fact would give him the chance he wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the orchard, and
+      Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don't want to dodge 'em,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's face he
+      understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad you thought uv it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They crossed the very corn field through which they had come, Braxton
+      Wyatt and his band in full cry after them. Several shots were fired, but
+      the three kept too far ahead for any sort of marksmanship, and they were
+      not touched. When they finally entered the woods they curved a little, and
+      then, keeping just far enough ahead to be within sight, but not close
+      enough for the bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of the
+      riflemen. As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered the long
+      shout of the forest runner. He shouted a second time, and now Shif'less
+      Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry penetrating far
+      through the woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and Tories
+      suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never knew, but the
+      pursuit came on with undiminished speed. There was a good silver moon now,
+      shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt still in the van, with his Tory
+      lieutenant close behind, and after them red men and white, spreading out
+      like a fan to inclose the fugitives in a trap. The blood leaped in his
+      veins. It was a tide of fierce joy. He had achieved both of the purposes
+      for which he had come. He had thoroughly scouted the Seneca Castle, and he
+      was about to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt and the band which
+      he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was startled. He
+      had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute, and so pitiless. He
+      seemed to remember as one single, fearful picture all the ruthless and
+      terrible scenes of the last year. Henry uttered again that cry which was
+      at once a defiance and a signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was
+      answered, signal for signal. The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim, and
+      Heemskerk at their head. They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw the
+      flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them. From the Indians and
+      Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and every one in either band knew
+      that the issue was now about to be settled by battle, and by battle alone.
+      They used all the tactics of the forest. Both sides instantly dropped down
+      among the trees and undergrowth, three or four hundred yards apart, and
+      for a few moments there was no sound save heavy breathing, heard only by
+      those who lay close by. Not a single human being would have been visible
+      to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight, which tipped boughs and bushes
+      with ghostly silver. Yet no area so small ever held a greater store of
+      resolution and deadly animosity. On one side were the riflemen, nearly
+      every one of whom had slaughtered kin to mourn, often wives and little
+      children, and on the other the Tories and Iroquois, about to lose their
+      country, and swayed by the utmost passions of hate and revenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Spread out,&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;Don't give them a chance to flank us. You,
+      Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you, Heemskerk, take ten and go
+      to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; whispered Heemskerk. &ldquo;You have a great head, Mynheer Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen remained in
+      the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim on one side of him,
+      and Silent Tom on the other. When he thought that the two flanking parties
+      had reached the right position, he uttered a low whistle, and back came
+      two low whistles, signals that all was ready. Then the line began its slow
+      advance, creeping forward from tree to tree and from bush to bush. Henry
+      raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see anything where the
+      hostile force lay hidden. They went a little farther, and then all lay
+      down again to look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. He was
+      almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling himself along by a
+      sort of muscular action of his whole body. Now he was so still that he did
+      not seem to breathe. Yet his eyes, uncommonly eager now, were searching
+      the thickets ahead. They rested at last on a spot of brown showing through
+      some bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure aim. The Iroquois
+      uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and then fell back prone.
+      Shots were fired in return, and a dozen riflemen replied to them. The
+      battle was joined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of the
+      Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack of the
+      rifles. The riflemen continued to advance in slow, creeping fashion,
+      always pressing the enemy. Every time they caught sight of a hostile face
+      or body they sent a bullet at it, and Wyatt's men did the same. The two
+      lines came closer, and all along each there were many sharp little jets of
+      fire and smoke. Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two were slain,
+      dying quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who continued to
+      press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and Shif'less Sol
+      and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a moment, and
+      which was now without the sound of voices, continued without a moment's
+      cessation in the dark forest. The fury of the combatants increased as the
+      time went on, and neither side was yet victorious. Closer and closer came
+      the lines. Meanwhile dark clouds were piling in a bank in the southwest.
+      Slow thunder rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at intervals by
+      lightning. But the combatants did not notice the heralds of storm. Their
+      attention was only for each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had culminated.
+      Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his pitiless resolve was
+      not relaxed a particle. The thunder and the lightning, although he did not
+      notice them, seemed to act upon him as an incitement, and with low words
+      he continually urged those about him to push the battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver on
+      boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire, pressed
+      down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees, and the moon was
+      partly hidden. But file combat did not relax because of the obscurity.
+      Wandering Indians, hearing the firing, came to Wyatt's relief, but,
+      despite their aid, he was compelled to give ground. His were the most
+      desperate and hardened men, red and white, in all the allied forces, but
+      they were faced by sharpshooters better than themselves. Many of them were
+      already killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and Coleman raged
+      and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so hard pressed were
+      they that the Iroquois could not perform the sacred duty of carrying off
+      their dead. No one sought to carry away the Tories, who lay with the rain,
+      that had now begun to fall, beating upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point where bodies
+      of their enemies lay. Again that fierce joy surged up in Henry's heart.
+      His friends and he were winning. But he wished to do more than win. This
+      band, if left alone, would merely flee from the Seneca Castle before the
+      advance of the army, and would still exist to ravage and slay elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep on, Tom! Keep on!&rdquo; he cried to Ross and the others. &ldquo;Never let them
+      rest!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won't! We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing,&rdquo; replied the
+      redoubtable one as he loaded and fired. &ldquo;Thar, I got another!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way faster. Some
+      sought to dart away to right or left, and bury themselves in the forest,
+      but they were caught by the flanking parties of Shif'less Sol and
+      Heemskerk, and driven back on the center. They could not retreat except
+      straight on the town, and the riflemen followed them step for step. The
+      moan of the distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell, but the
+      deadly crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note that claimed
+      the whole attention of both combatants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help. Twenty or more scouts
+      and others abroad in the forest were called by the rifle fire, and went at
+      once into the battle. Then Wyatt was helped a second time by a band of
+      Senecas and Mohawks, but, despite all the aid, they could not withstand
+      the riflemen. Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to them and
+      sometimes cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat could not be
+      stopped. Men fell fast. Every one of the riflemen was a sharpshooter, and
+      few bullets missed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field through
+      which Henry had passed. Here the retreat became faster, and, with shouts
+      of triumph, the riflemen followed after. Wyatt lost some men in the flight
+      through the field, but when he came to the orchard, having the advantage
+      of cover, he made another desperate stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks, pouring in a
+      destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth of his band, all that
+      survived, broke into a run for the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was impossible
+      to restrain their pursuit. Henry would have stopped here, knowing the
+      danger of following into the town, especially when the army was near at
+      band with an irresistible force, but he could not stay them. He decided
+      then that if they would charge it must be done with the utmost fire and
+      spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On, men! On!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Give them no chance to take cover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties, and the
+      riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of pursuit. Wyatt and his
+      men had no chance to turn and fire, or even to reload. Bullets beat upon
+      them as they fled, and here perished nearly all of that savage band.
+      Wyatt, Coleman, and only a half dozen made good the town, where a portion
+      of the Iroquois who had not yet fled received them. But the exultant
+      riflemen did not stop even there. They were hot on the heels of Wyatt and
+      the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who came to their relief.
+      So fierce was their rush that these new forces were driven back at once.
+      Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a dozen more, seeing no other escape, fled to
+      a large log house used as a granary, threw themselves into it, barred the
+      doors heavily, and began to fire from the upper windows, small openings
+      usually closed with boards. Other Indians from the covert of house, tepee,
+      or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a fresh battle began in the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation promptly.
+      Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into a house some forty
+      yards from that of Braxton Wyatt. Others seized another house, while the
+      rest remained outside, sheltered by little outhouses, trees, or
+      inequalities of the earth, and maintained rapid sharpshooting in reply to
+      the Iroquois in the town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the house. Now the
+      combat became fiercer than ever. The warriors uttered yells, and Wyatt's
+      men in the house sent forth defiant shouts. From another part of the town
+      came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on their fighting men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now about four o'clock in the morning. The thunder and lightning
+      had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling. The Indians had lighted
+      fires some distance away. Several carried torches. Helped by these, and,
+      used so long to the night, the combatants saw distinctly. The five lay
+      behind a low embankment, and they paid their whole attention to the big
+      house that sheltered Wyatt and his men. On the sides and behind they were
+      protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep low, Paul,&rdquo; said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. &ldquo;Those
+      fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose you. There,
+      didn't I tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's cap, but
+      clipped only his hair. Before the flash from the window passed, Long Jim
+      fired in return, and something fell back inside. Bullets came from other
+      windows. Shif'less Sol fired, and a Seneca fell forward banging half out
+      of the window, his naked body a glistening brown in the firelight. But he
+      hung only a few seconds. Then he fell to the ground and lay still. The
+      five crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity. Behind them, and on
+      either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and challenging cries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were still alive
+      in the strong log house. Two or three were wounded, but they scarcely
+      noticed it in the passion of conflict. The house was a veritable fortress,
+      and the renegade's hopes rose high as he heard the rifle fire from
+      different parts of the town. His own band had been annihilated by the
+      riflemen, led by Henry Ware, but he had a sanguine hope now that his
+      enemies had rushed into a trap. The Iroquois would turn back and destroy
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they crouched in the
+      room and fired from the two little windows. His clothes and those of the
+      white men had been torn by bushes and briars in their flight, and their
+      faces had been raked, too, until they bled, but they had paid no attention
+      to such wounds, and the blood was mingled with sweat and powder smoke. The
+      Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion, and streaked, too,
+      with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the muz'zles of their rifles at
+      the windows, seeking something human to kill. One and all, red and white,
+      they were now raging savages, There was not one among them who did not
+      have some foul murder of woman or child to his credit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt himself was mad for revenge. Every evil passion in him was up and
+      leaping. His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than a human being,
+      blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black. By the side of him the dark
+      Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses fully as fierce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To think of it!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;He led us directly into a trap, that
+      Ware! And here our band is destroyed! All the good men that we gathered
+      together, except these few, are killed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we may pay them back,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;We were in their trap, but now
+      they are in ours! Listen to that firing and the war whoop! There are
+      enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill every one of those rebels!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so! I believe so!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;Look out, Coleman! Ah, he's
+      pinked you! That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and he's the best
+      sharpshooter of them all except Ware!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a good aim at
+      something. He had disclosed only a little of his face, but in an instant a
+      bullet had seared his forehead like the flaming stroke of a sword, passing
+      on and burying itself in the wall. Fresh blood dripped down over his face.
+      He tore a strip from the inside of his coat, bound it about his head, and
+      went on with the defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window. Like a flash
+      came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the room, stone dead,
+      with a bullet through his bead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was Ware himself,&rdquo; said Wyatt. &ldquo;I told you he was the best shot of
+      them all. I give him that credit. But they're all good. Look out! There
+      goes another of our men! It was Ross who did that! I tell you, be careful!
+      Be careful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head on the
+      window sill until another Indian pulled him inside. A minute later a Tory,
+      who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a bullet through his head, and
+      sank down on the floor. A sort of terror spread among the others. What
+      could they do in the face of such terrible sharpshooting? It was uncanny,
+      almost superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one another. Smoke from
+      their own firing had gathered in the room, and it formed a ghastly veil
+      about their faces. They heard the crash of the rifles outside from every
+      point, but no help came to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're bound to do something!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;Here you, Jones, stick up
+      the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it I'll put a bullet in the
+      man who pulls the trigger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be taken in
+      by an old trick. The cap remained unhurt, but when Jones in his eagerness
+      thrust it higher until he exposed his arm, his wrist was smashed in an
+      instant by a bullet, and he fell back with a howl of pain. Wyatt swore and
+      bit his lips savagely. He and all of them began to fear that they were in
+      another and tighter trap, one from which there was no escape unless the
+      Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that they could as yet see
+      no sign. The sharpshooters held their place behind the embankment and the
+      little outhouse, and so little as a finger, even, at the windows became a
+      sure mark for their terrible bullets. A Seneca, seeking a new trial for a
+      shot, received a bullet through the shoulder, and a Tory who followed him
+      in the effort was slain outright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was coming.
+      Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened into red and yellow.
+      The beams reached the room where the beleaguered remains of Wyatt's band
+      fought, but, mingling with the smoke, they gave a new and more ghastly
+      tint to the desperate faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to fight!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;We can't sit here and be taken
+      like beasts in a trap! Suppose we unbar the doors below and make a rush
+      for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman shook his head. &ldquo;Every one of us would be killed within twenty
+      yards,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the Iroquois must come back,&rdquo; cried Wyatt. &ldquo;Where is Joe Brant?
+      Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John Johnson? Will
+      they come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't come,&rdquo; said Coleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which swayed
+      hither and thither. The smoke in the room thinned somewhat, and the
+      daylight broadened and deepened. As a desperate resort they resumed fire
+      from the windows, but three more of their number were slain, and, bitter
+      with chagrin, they crouched once more on the floor out of range. Wyatt
+      looked at the figures of the living and the dead. Savage despair tore at
+      his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this increased. It
+      was being served out to him and his band as they had served it out to many
+      a defenseless family in the beautiful valleys of the border. Despite the
+      sharpshooters, he took another look at the window, but kept so far back
+      that there was no chance for a shot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two of them are slipping away,&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;They are Ross and the one
+      they call Long Jim! I wish I dared a shot! Now they're gone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay again in silence for a time. There was still firing in the town,
+      and now and then they heard shouts. Wyatt looked at his lieutenant, and
+      his lieutenant looked at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw,&rdquo; said Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine,&rdquo; said Coleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed faces of each
+      other, and then laughed wildly. A wounded Seneca sitting with his back
+      against the wall began to chant a low, wailing death song.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut up! Stop that infernal noise!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued his chant.
+      Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. He knew that
+      everything was lost. The main force of the Iroquois would not come back to
+      his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. He sat down on the floor, and
+      muttered fierce words under his breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hark!&rdquo; suddenly exclaimed Coleman. &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+      instantly. It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood, and of
+      that wood was built the house they now held. Even as they listened they
+      could hear the flames leap and roar into new and larger life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+      &ldquo;We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in our trap!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I,&rdquo; said Coleman, &ldquo;I'm goin' to make a rush for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the only thing to be done,&rdquo; said Wyatt. &ldquo;Come, all of you that are
+      left!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca, who
+      sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant. Wyatt
+      glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed down the
+      stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were roaring.
+      They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower of bullets
+      met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up his arms, and
+      fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the smaller men,
+      and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the fire of his
+      foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man whom he held
+      was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he made the corner.
+      In an instant he put the burning building between him and his pursuers,
+      and ran as he had never run before in all his life, deadly fear putting
+      wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom of a cannon, and he
+      knew that the American army was entering the Seneca Castle. Ahead of him
+      he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the woods, and behind him the
+      burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping flames and sparks in
+      myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We didn't get Wyatt,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we did pretty well, nevertheless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
+      hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I guess
+      we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this morning's
+      work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never a doubt of it,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and here's the army now finishing up
+      the task.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
+      hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no part
+      in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had been
+      grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed. As they
+      rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by so much
+      material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes drifted
+      over all the forest beyond the fields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
+      British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
+      already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for two
+      or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its steps down the
+      Genesee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was finished.
+      Kentucky was calling to them. They had no doubt that Braxton Wyatt, now
+      that his band was destroyed, would return there, and he would surely be
+      plotting more danger. It was their part to meet and defeat him. They
+      wished, too, to see again the valley, the river, and the village in which
+      their people had made their home, and they wished yet more to look upon
+      the faces of these people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others of the
+      riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant Dutchman and his
+      comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends,&rdquo; said Heemskerk,
+      &ldquo;and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry; to you, Mynheer
+      Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom; and to you, Mynheer Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away to hide
+      his emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. When they
+      looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his hand to them. They
+      waved in return, and then disappeared in the forest. It was a long journey
+      to Pittsburgh, but they found it a pleasant one. It was yet deep autumn on
+      the Pennsylvania hills, and the forest was glowing with scarlet and gold.
+      The air was the very wine of life, and when they needed game it was there
+      to be shot. As the cold weather hung off, they did not hurry, and they
+      enjoyed the peace of the forest. They realized now that after their vast
+      labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed a great rest, and they took
+      it. It was singular, and perhaps not so singular, how their minds turned
+      from battle, pursuit, and escape, to gentle things. A little brook or
+      fountain pleased them. They admired the magnificent colors of the foliage,
+      and lingered over the views from the low mountains. Doe and fawn fled from
+      them, but without cause. At night they built splendid fires, and sat
+      before them, while everyone in his turn told tales according to his nature
+      or experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at the point
+      where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set sail down the Ohio.
+      It was winter now, but in their stout caravel they did not care. They had
+      ample supplies of all kinds, including ammunition, and their hearts were
+      light when they swung into the middle of the Ohio and moved with its
+      current.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now for a great voyage,&rdquo; said Paul, looking at the clear stream with
+      sparkling eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder what it will bring to us,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+  <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1078 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #1078 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1078)
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+Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, 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 Scouts of the Valley
+
+Author: Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+Posting Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #1078]
+Release Date: October, 1997
+Last Updated: March 10, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY
+
+by Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE LONE CANOE
+
+
+A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly
+up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and
+deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it
+lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and
+without noise.
+
+The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over
+the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun,
+which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft,
+piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank,
+fell directly upon the figure in the boat, as a hidden light illuminates
+a great picture, while the rest is left in shadow. It was no common
+forest runner who sat in the middle of the red beam. Yet a boy, in
+nothing but years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that
+the strongest man in the West might have envied. His rifle, with the
+stock carved beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of the
+border, lay by his side. He could bring the paddle into the boat,
+grasp the rifle, and carry it to his shoulder with a single, continuous
+movement.
+
+His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even would have
+noticed, was an extraordinary vitality. He created in the minds of those
+who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely every moment of his life.
+Born and-bred in the forest, he was essentially its child, a perfect
+physical being, trained by the utmost hardship and danger, and with
+every faculty, mental and physical, in complete coordination. It is only
+by a singular combination of time and place, and only once in millions
+of chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+
+The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light, and its
+occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle, held it steady in
+the current, while he listened. Every feature stood out in the glow, the
+firm chin, the straight strong nose, the blue eyes, and the thick yellow
+hair. The red blue, and yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned
+deerskin flashed in the brilliant rays. He was the great picture of
+fact, not of fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+
+He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into the
+shadow. His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern shore, where
+bushes and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. It would have taken
+a keen eye now to have seen either the canoe or its occupant, and
+Henry Ware paddled slowly and without noise in the darkest heart of the
+shadow.
+
+The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the stream. Then
+the red changed to pink. The pink, in its turn, faded, and the whole
+surface of the river was somber gray, flowing between two lines of black
+forest.
+
+The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy. He swung a little
+farther out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging boughs would
+not get in his way, and continued his course with some increase of
+speed.
+
+The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length of
+stroke was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster, and the
+muscles on his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were the play of
+a child. Henry was in waters unknown to him. He had nothing more than
+hearsay upon which to rely, and he used all the wilderness caution that
+he had acquired through nature and training. He called into use every
+faculty of his perfect physical being. His trained eyes continually
+pierced the darkness. At times, he stopped and listened with ears that
+could hear the footfall of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought
+report of anything unusual. The river flowed with a soft, sighing sound.
+Now and then a wild creature stirred in the forest, and once a deer
+came down to the margin to drink, but this was the ordinary life of the
+woods, and he passed it by.
+
+He went on, hour after hour. The river narrowed. The banks grew higher
+and rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the moon, flowed in
+a somewhat swifter current. Henry gave a little stronger sweep to the
+paddle, and the speed of the canoe was maintained. He still kept within
+the shadow of the northern bank.
+
+He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before the moon.
+The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind came out of the
+southwest. The touch of the air on, his face was damp. It was the token
+of rain, and he felt that it would not be delayed long.
+
+It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the Monongahela.
+Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might sink his frail canoe,
+and he looked for a refuge. The river was widening again, and the banks
+sank down until they were but little above the water. Presently he saw
+a place that he knew would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and
+weeds growing into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred
+yards or more along the shore.
+
+He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it in
+shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could scarcely see
+the main stream of the river. The water where he came to rest was not
+more than a foot deep, but he remained in the canoe, half reclining and
+wrapping closely around himself and his rifle a beautiful blanket woven
+of the tightest fiber.
+
+His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and his
+shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to him, and he
+awaited calmly whatever might come. Here and there were little spaces
+among the leaves overhead, and through them he saw a moon, now almost
+hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a sky that had grown dark and
+somber. The last timid star had ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind
+was wet and cold. He was glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner
+that he was, he never traveled without it. Henry remained perfectly
+still. The light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction
+of an inch. His upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed
+through the leaves grow darker and darker. The bushes about him were
+now bending before the wind, which blew steadily from the south, and
+presently drops of rain began to fall lightly on the water.
+
+The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness, surrounded by
+danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black midnight sky above him,
+felt neither fear nor awe. Being what nature and circumstance had made
+him, he was conscious, instead, of a deep sense of peace and comfort.
+He was at ease, in a nest for the night, and there was only the remotest
+possibility that the prying eye of an enemy would see him. The leaves
+directly over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as
+he heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof, that
+soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+
+Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled along the
+southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a rain, not hard, but
+cold and persistent, began to fall, coming straight down. Henry saw that
+it might last all night, but he merely eased himself a little in the
+canoe, drew the edges of the blanket around his chin, and let his
+eyelids droop.
+
+The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but he did
+not care. It could not penetrate the close fiber of the blanket, and the
+fur cap drawn far down on his head met the blanket. Only his face was
+uncovered, and when a cold drop fell upon it, it was to him, hardened by
+forest life, cool and pleasant to the touch.
+
+Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the tendency to
+sleep. It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with the body completely
+relaxed, but with the senses alert. The wind ceased to blow, and the
+rain came down straight with an even beat that was not unmusical. No
+other sound was heard in the forest, as the ripple of the river at the
+edges was merged into it. Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by
+and by, and, laying the paddle across the boat in such a way that it
+sheltered his face, he closed his eyes. In five minutes he would have
+been sleeping as soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with
+a quick motion he suddenly put the paddle aside and raised himself a
+little in the canoe, while one hand slipped down under the folds of the
+blanket to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the river. He
+heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a soft sound, long and
+sighing, but regular. He listened, and then he knew it. It was made by
+oars, many of them swung in unison, keeping admirable time.
+
+Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full of
+Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would be abroad
+upon these waters at such a time. He made no attempt to move. Where he
+lay it was black as the darkest cave, and his cool judgment told him
+that there was no need of flight.
+
+The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently as he
+looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a great war
+canoe came into view. It contained at least twenty warriors, of what
+tribe he could not tell, but they were wet, and they looked cold and
+miserable. Soon they were opposite him, and he saw the outline of every
+figure. Scalp locks drooped in the rain, and he knew that the warriors,
+hardy as they might be, were suffering.
+
+Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned toward
+a shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they beached it there.
+Then all sprang out, drew it up on the land, and, after turning it over,
+propped it up at an angle. When this was done they sat under it in a
+close group, sheltered from the rain. They were using their great canoe
+as a roof, after the habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+
+The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little openings
+in the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as they were all
+night, but presently he saw a movement among them, and a little flash
+of light. He understood it. They were trying to kindle a fire-with flint
+and steel, under the shelter of the boat. He continued to watch them
+'lazily and without alarm.
+
+Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light upon him
+in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against the flame, and
+he could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to tell to what tribe
+they belonged.
+
+He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered in
+a close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind, strove with
+flint and steel. Sparks sprang up and went out, but Henry at last saw a
+little blaze rise and cling to life. Then, fed with tinder and bark, it
+grew under the roof made by the boat until it was ruddy and strong. The
+boat was tilted farther back, and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled
+cheerfully, while the flames leaped higher.
+
+By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the thick
+blackness felt the influence of the fire, also. Its warmth was upon his
+face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow light victorious
+against the sodden background of the rain and dripping forest. The
+figures of the warriors passed and repassed before the fire, and the boy
+in the boat moved suddenly. His body was not shifted more than an inch,
+but his surprise was great.
+
+A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly against
+the red light. It was a splendid figure, young, much beyond the average
+height, the erect and noble head crowned with the defiant scalplock, the
+strong, slightly curved nose and the massive chin cut as clearly as if
+they had been carved in copper. The man who had laid aside a wet blanket
+was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play
+on chest and shoulders as he moved.
+
+The boy knew him. It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all the Western
+chiefs. Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight of his old foe and
+almost friend. As always, he felt admiration at the sight of the
+young chief. It was not likely that he would ever behold such another
+magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+
+The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of significance.
+The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry and his comrades in
+the van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. Thence the arms, ammunition,
+and other supplies were started on the overland journey for the American
+army, but the five lingered before beginning the return to Kentucky.
+A rumor came that the Indian alliance was spreading along the entire
+frontier, both west and north. It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to
+fiery energy by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the
+Iroquois, the famous Six Nations. These warlike tribes were friendly
+with the Wyandots, and the league would be a formidable danger to the
+Colonies, the full strength of which was absorbed already in the great
+war.
+
+But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol, and the
+others. The return to Kentucky was postponed. They could be of greater
+service here, and they plunged into the great woods to the north and,
+east to see what might be stirring among the warriors.
+
+Now Henry, as he looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had told
+the truth. The great chief would not be on the fringe of the Iroquois
+country, if he did not have such a plan, and he had the energy and
+ability to carry it through. Henry shuddered at the thought of the
+tomahawk flashing along every mile of a frontier so vast, and defended
+so thinly. He was glad in every fiber that he and his comrades had
+remained to hang upon the Indian hordes, and be heralds of their
+marches. In the forest a warning usually meant the saving of life.
+
+The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the trees
+everywhere. But the big fire made an area of dry earth about it, and the
+warriors replaced the long boat in the water. Then all but four or five
+of them lay beside the coals and went to sleep. Timmendiquas was one of
+those who remained awake, and Henry saw that he was in deep thought. He
+walked back and forth much like a white man, and now and then he folded
+his hands behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it.
+Henry could guess what was in his mind. He would draw forth the full
+power of the Six Nations, league them with the Indians of the great
+valley, and hurl them all in one mass upon the frontier. He was planning
+now the means to the end.
+
+The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the edge of
+the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable that he
+would conclude to search among them, but some accident, a chance, might
+happen, and Henry began to feel a little alarm. Certainly, the coming
+of the day would make his refuge insecure, and he resolved to slip away
+while it was yet light.
+
+The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost caution,
+because the slightest sound out of the common might arouse Timmendiquas
+to the knowledge of a hostile presence. The canoe must make no plash in
+the water. Gradually he unwrapped the blanket and tied it in a folded
+square at his back. Then he took thought a few moments. The forest was
+so silent now that he did not believe he could push the canoe through
+the bushes without being heard. He would leave it there for use another
+day and go on foot through the woods to his comrades.
+
+Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the bottom, and
+then he remained still. The chief had paused in his restless walk back
+and forth. Could it be possible that he had heard so slight a sound as
+that of a human foot sinking softly into the water? Henry waited with
+his rifle ready. If necessary he would fire, and then dart away among
+the bushes.
+
+Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his restless
+pacing. If he had heard, he had passed it by as nothing, and Henry
+raised the other foot out of the canoe. He was as delicate in his
+movement as a surgeon mending the human eye, and he had full cause, as
+not eye alone, but life as well, depended upon his success. Both feet
+now rested upon the muddy bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+
+The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher, his
+features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk back and
+forth before the flames. Henry took a final look at the lofty features,
+contracted now into a frown, then began to wade among the bushes,
+pushing his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of
+all. The water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes
+to rustle as he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and
+his feet were about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged
+in the mud broke under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the
+silence of the night.
+
+Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
+glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
+which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
+his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the
+protecting darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing
+and defiant, a cry of a quality that could come only from a white
+throat. The warriors would know it, and he intended for them to know it.
+Then, holding his rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly
+away through the black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came
+to his, the Indian yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the
+night would not check pursuit.
+
+Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
+places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
+then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
+grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
+clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
+dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
+and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity
+of Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness,
+but the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.
+
+He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
+thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
+under his arm.
+
+His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed
+its regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He
+thought at first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second
+thought convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the
+thicket, he saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking
+searchingly about him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a
+different direction, approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were
+of the party of Timmendiquas. They had followed him in some manner,
+perhaps by chance, and it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+
+A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. Henry
+realized that it was much lighter. Keen eyes under such a starry sky
+could see much, and they might strike his trail. The fear quickly became
+fact. One of the warriors, uttering a short cry, raised his head and
+beckoned to the others. He had seen broken twigs or trampled grass, and
+Henry, knowing that it was no time to hesitate, sprang from his covert.
+Two of the warriors caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the
+bullets cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that
+he was lost to view in an instant.
+
+The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements of
+danger. He was about to have another example of the tenacity and
+resource of the great young chief of the Wyandots, and he felt a certain
+anger. He, did not wish to be disturbed in his plans, he wished to
+rejoin his comrades and move farther east toward the chosen lands of
+the Six Nations; instead, he must spend precious moments running for his
+life.
+
+Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends. He was too wise,
+too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he curved away in a
+course that would take him to the south of them. He glanced up and saw
+that the heavens were lightening yet more. A thin gray color like a mist
+was appearing in the east. It was the herald of day, and now the Indians
+would be able to find his trail. But Henry was not afraid. His anger
+over the loss of time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of
+his moccasins making scarcely any noise as he passed.
+
+It was no unusual incident. Thousands of such pursuits occurred in
+the border life of our country, and were lost to the chronicler. For
+generations they were almost a part of the daily life of the frontier,
+but the present, while not out of the common in itself, had, uncommon
+phases. It was the most splendid type of white life in all the
+wilderness that fled, and the finest type of red life that followed.
+
+It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward Timmendiquas.
+In his place he would have done what he was doing. It was hard to give
+up these great woods and beautiful lakes and rivers, and the wild life
+that wild men lived and loved. There was so much chivalry in the boy's
+nature that he could think of all these things while he fled to escape
+the tomahawk or the stake.
+
+Up came the sun. The gray light turned to silver, and then to red and
+blazing gold. A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry of the pursuing
+warriors, rose behind him. Henry turned his head for one look. He saw
+a group of them poised for a moment on the crest of a low hill and
+outlined against the broad flame in the east. He saw their scalp locks,
+the rifles in their hands, and their bare chests shining bronze in the
+glow. Once more he sent back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs,
+and then, calling upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with
+a speed that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+
+Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to evade
+the pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs, and wading in
+brooks. He did not see the warriors again, but instinct warned him that
+they were yet following. At long intervals he would rest for a quarter
+of an hour or so among the bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the
+venison that he always carried. Three hours later he came to the river
+again, and swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern
+side. When the twilight was falling once more he sat still in dense
+covert for a long time. He neither saw nor heard a sign of human
+presence, and he was sure now that the pursuit had failed. Without an
+effort he dismissed it from his mind, ate a little more of the venison,
+and made his bed for the night.
+
+The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the forest
+was dry once more. As far as Henry could see it circled away on every
+side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and beech, maple and elm
+making a soft, sighing sound as they waved gently in the wind. It told
+Henry of nothing but peace. He had eluded the pursuit, hence it was no
+more. This was a great, friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe
+him, and to receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+
+He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year lay
+deep upon the ground. He drew up enough of them for a soft bed, because
+now and for the moment he was a forest sybarite. He was wise enough to
+take his ease when he found it, knowing that it would pay his body to
+relax.
+
+He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and spread
+the blanket over himself and the weapon. The twilight was gone, and the
+night, dark and without stars, as he wished to see it, rolled up, fold
+after fold, covering and hiding everything. He looked a little while at
+a breadth of inky sky showing through the leaves, and then, free from
+trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+
+
+Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves, fell upon
+his face. Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once more upon his back,
+and looked about him. Nothing had come in the night to disturb him,
+no enemy was near, and the morning sun was bright and beautiful. The
+venison was exhausted, but he bathed his face in the brook and resumed
+his journey, traveling with a long, swift stride that carried him at
+great speed.
+
+The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well, although
+nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to him. The country
+here was rougher than it usually is in the great valley to the west, and
+as he advanced it became yet more broken, range after range of steep,
+stony hills, with fertile but narrow little valleys between. He went
+on without hesitation for at least two hours, and then stopping under a
+great oak he uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+
+It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating, carrying far
+through the forest. A sound like an echo came back, but Henry knew that
+instead of an echo it was a reply to his own signal. Then he advanced
+boldly and swiftly and came to the edge of a snug little valley set deep
+among rocks and trees like a bowl. He stopped behind the great trunk of
+a beech, and looked into the valley with a smile of approval.
+
+Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals that
+gave forth no smoke. They appeared to be absorbed in some very pleasant
+task, and a faint odor that came to Henry's nostrils filled him with
+agreeable anticipations. He stepped forward boldly and called:
+
+“Jim, save that piece for me!”
+
+Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that he had
+toasted on a stick. Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his feet, Silent Tom
+Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+
+“Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast.”
+
+Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded him
+keenly.
+
+“I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot race,” he
+drawled.
+
+“And why do you think that?” asked Henry.
+
+“I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. Reckon
+that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry.”
+
+“You're right,” said Henry. “Now, Jim, you've been holding that venison
+in the air long enough. Give it to me, and after I've eaten it I'll tell
+you all that I've been doing, and all that's been done to me.”
+
+Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in the
+circle before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a powerful
+human creature whose food had been more than scanty for at least two
+days.
+
+“Take another piece,” said Long Jim, observing him with approval. “Take
+two pieces, take three, take the whole deer. I always like to see a
+hungry man eat. It gives him sech satisfaction that I git a kind uv
+taste uv it myself.”
+
+Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
+Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
+
+“Boys, I've got a lot to tell.”
+
+Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+
+“I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins.”
+
+“It has,” continued Henry with emphasis, “and I want to say to you boys
+that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.”
+
+“Timmendiquas!” exclaimed the others together.
+
+“No less a man than he,” resumed Henry. “I've looked upon his very face,
+I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
+pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you
+see those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol.”
+
+“Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to
+continued war,” said Paul Cotter, “and he will succeed. He is a mighty
+chief, and his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet.
+I'm glad that we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees
+and the Miamis; I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some
+people out of the way before the blow falls.”
+
+“Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?”
+ asked Long Jim.
+
+“Their name is as big as it sounds,” replied Henry. “They are the
+Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
+used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south
+and fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the
+league, as a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard,
+formed the league a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the
+grand sachem or high priest of them all, but the head chief of the
+Mohawks is the leading war chief.”
+
+“I've heard,” said Paul, “that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all
+these tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
+friendliness to Timmendiquas.”
+
+“Seems to me,” said Tom Ross, “that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
+job ahead.”
+
+“Then,” said Henry, “we must make a most tremendous big effort.”
+
+“That's so,” agreed all.
+
+After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
+remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on
+the leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have
+something worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but
+they always came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of
+a famous Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to
+the Americans as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense
+animosity against the white people, who encroached, every year, more and
+more upon the Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of
+Timmendiquas, and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater
+endeavor for the undoing of the white man. What more likely than that
+they intended to meet?
+
+“All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?” said Henry.
+
+They nodded.
+
+“It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him. I remember
+hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred miles to the
+east of this point was a Long House or Council House of the Six Nations.
+Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we must go, too. We must find out
+where they intend to strike. What do you say?”
+
+“We go there!” exclaimed four voices together.
+
+Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+
+As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and the others rose with him.
+Saying no more, he led toward the east, and the others followed him,
+also saying no more. Separately every one of them was strong, brave, and
+resourceful, but when the five were together they felt that they had the
+skill and strength of twenty. The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored
+them after the dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New
+Orleans.
+
+They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and bullet, and
+they did not fear any task.
+
+Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy forest,
+but often without undergrowth. They avoided the open spaces, preferring
+to be seen of men, who were sure to be red men, as little as possible.
+Their caution was well taken. They saw Indian signs, once a feather that
+had fallen from a scalp lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a
+deer recently thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it. The
+country seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky. Small settlements, so
+they had heard, were scattered at great distances through the forest,
+but they saw none. There was no cabin smoke, no trail of the plow, just
+the woods and the hills and the clear streams. Buffalo had never reached
+this region, but deer were abundant, and they risked a shot to replenish
+their supplies.
+
+They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula at the
+confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. Henry judged
+that they were well within the western range of the Six Nations, and
+they cooked their deer meat over a smothered fire, nothing more than
+a few coals among the leaves. When supper was over they arranged soft
+places for themselves and their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose
+turn it was to scout among the woods for a possible foe.
+
+“Don't be gone long, Jim,” said Henry as he composed himself in a
+comfortable position. “A circle of a half mile about us will do.”
+
+“I'll not be gone more'n an hour,” said Long Jim, picking up his rifle
+confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+
+“Not likely he'll see anything,” said Shif'less Sol, “but I'd shorely
+like to know what White Lightning is about. He must be terrible stirred
+up by them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an' they say that Mohawk,
+Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. They'll shorely make a heap
+of trouble.”
+
+“But both of them are far from here just now,” said Henry, “and we won't
+bother about either.”
+
+He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm under
+his head and his blanket over his body. He had a remarkable capacity for
+dismissing trouble or apprehension, and just then he was enjoying great
+physical and mental peace. He looked through half closed eyes at his
+comrades, who also were enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce
+Long Jim in the forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and
+finding no menace.
+
+“Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?” said the shiftless one. “I like a
+clean, bold country like this. No more plowin' around in swamps for me.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry sleepily, “it's a good country.”
+
+The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+
+“Time for Long Jim to be back.”
+
+“Jim don't do things by halves,” said the shiftless one. “Guess he's
+beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes. He'll be here soon.”
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half hour,
+and no sign of him. Henry cast off the blanket and stood up. The night
+was not very dark and he could see some distance, but he did not see
+their comrade.
+
+“I wonder why he's so slow,” he said with a faint trace of anxiety.
+
+“He'll be 'long directly,” said Tom Ross with confidence.
+
+Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim. Henry sent forth the low
+penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a signal.
+
+“He cannot fail to hear that,” he said, “and he'll answer.”
+
+No answer came. The four looked at one another in alarm. Long Jim had
+been gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue. His failure to
+reply to the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened
+or that--he had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
+
+The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while
+in silence.
+
+“What do you think it means?” asked Paul.
+
+“It must be all right,” said Shif'less Sol. “Mebbe Jim has lost the
+camp.”
+
+Henry shook his head.
+
+“It isn't that,” he said. “Jim is too good a woodsman for such a
+mistake. I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think
+something has happened to Jim.”
+
+“Suppose you an' me go an' look for him,” said Shif'less Sol, “while
+Paul and Tom stay here an' keep house.”
+
+“We'd better do it,” said Henry. “Come, Sol.”
+
+The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the
+darkness, while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of the
+trees and waited.
+
+Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about the
+camp in a great circle and then in another yet greater. They did not
+find Jim, and the dusk was so great that they saw no evidences of his
+trail. Long Jim had disappeared as completely as if he had left the
+earth for another planet. When they felt that they must abandon the
+search for the time, Henry and Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a
+dismay that the dusk could not hide.
+
+“Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it,” said the
+shiftless one hopefully. “If anything looked mysterious an' troublesome,
+Jim would want to hunt it down.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry, “but we've got to go back to the camp now and
+report failure. Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I don't like it,
+Sol, I don't like it!”
+
+“No more do I,” said Shif'less Sol. “'Tain't like Jim not to come back,
+ef he could. Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow.”
+
+They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out of the
+darkness.
+
+“You ain't seen him?” said Tom, noting that but two figures had
+returned.
+
+“Not a trace,” replied Henry. “It's a singular thing.”
+
+The four talked together a little while, and they were far from
+cheerful. Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch, sitting
+with his back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. All the peace
+and content that he had felt earlier in the evening were gone. He was
+oppressed by a sense of danger, mysterious and powerful. It did not seem
+possible that Long Jim could have gone away in such a noiseless manner,
+leaving no trace behind. But it was true.
+
+He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an enemy.
+He was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin figure coming
+among the bushes, and then hear the old pleasant drawl. But he did not
+see the figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+
+Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches. Paul, Sol, and
+Tom were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his life. He tried
+to put away the feeling of mystery and danger. He assured himself that
+Long Jim would soon come, delayed by some trail that he had sought to
+solve. Nothing could have happened to a man so brave and skillful. His
+nerves must be growing weak when he allowed himself to be troubled so
+much by a delayed return.
+
+But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none of them.
+The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but the light that it
+threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. Henry's feeling of mystery
+and danger deepened. Once he thought he heard a rustling in the thicket
+and, finger on the trigger of his rifle, he stole among the bushes to
+discover what caused it. He found nothing and, returning to his lonely
+watch, saw that Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly. But
+Henry was annoyed greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to
+trace its origin. After an hour's watching he looked a second time. The
+result was once more in vain, and he resumed his seat upon the leaves,
+with his back reclining against an oak. Here, despite the fact that the
+night was growing darker, nothing within range of a rifle shot could
+escape his eyes.
+
+Nothing stirred. The noise did not come a second time from the thicket.
+The very silence was oppressive. There was no wind, not even a stray
+puff, and the bushes never rustled. Henry longed for a noise of some
+kind to break that terrible, oppressive silence. What he really wished
+to hear was the soft crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and
+leaves.
+
+The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. Long
+Jim was still missing and their alarm was justified. Whatever trail lie
+might have struck, he would have returned in the night unless something
+had happened to him. Henry had vague theories, but nothing definite, and
+he kept them to himself. Yet they must make a change in their plans. To
+go on and leave Long Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable.
+No task could interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+
+“We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian countries,” said
+Henry. “We are on the fringe of the region over which the Six Nations
+roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a band of the Wyandots are here
+also. Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees have come, too.”
+
+“We've got to find Long Jim,” said Silent Tom briefly.
+
+They went about their task in five minutes. Breakfast consisted of cold
+venison and a drink from a brook. Then they began to search the forest.
+They felt sure that such woodsmen as they, with the daylight to help
+them, would find some trace of Long Jim, but they saw none at all,
+although they constantly widened their circle, and again tried all their
+signals. Half the forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held
+a council.
+
+“I think we'd better scatter,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' meet here again
+when the sun marks noon.”
+
+It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little hill
+crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy to remember.
+Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was so dense that in two
+minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. He went several miles,
+and his search was most rigid. He was amazed to find that the sense of
+mystery and danger that he attributed to the darkness of the night did
+not disappear wholly in the bright daylight. His spirit, usually so
+optimistic, was oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would
+find Long Jim.
+
+At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the black
+oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw Shif'less Sol coming
+from another. The shiftless one walked despondently. His gait was loose
+and shambling-a rare thing with him, and Henry knew that he, too,
+had failed. He realized now that he had not expected anything else.
+Shif'less Sol shook his head, sat down on a root and said nothing. Henry
+sat down, also, and the two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+
+“The others will be here directly,” said Henry, “and perhaps Long Jim
+will be with one of them.”
+
+But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the shiftless one
+knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+
+“If not,” said Henry, resolved to see the better side, “we'll stay
+anyhow until we find him. We can't spare good old Long Jim.”
+
+Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie saw
+the bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+
+“There comes Tom,” he said, after a single comprehensive glance, “and
+he's alone.”
+
+Tom Ross was also a dejected figure. He looked at the two on the hill,
+and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was not with them,
+became more dejected than before.
+
+“Paul's our last chance,” he said, as he joined them. “He's gen'rally a
+lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry fervently. “He ought to be along in a few
+minutes.”
+
+They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that Paul
+would bring in the missing man, but Paul was late. The noon hour was
+well past. Henry took a glance at the sun. Noon was gone at least a half
+hour, and he stirred uneasily.
+
+“Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight,” he said.
+
+“No,” said Shif'less Sol, “he couldn't get lost!”
+
+Henry noticed his emphasis on the word “lost,” and a sudden fear sprang
+up in his heart. Some power had taken away Long Jim; could the same
+power have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and he paled under his
+brown, turning away lest the others see his face. All three now examined
+the whole circle of the horizon for a sight of moving bushes that would
+tell of the boy's coming.
+
+The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over everything, and
+Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an hour past due, and the
+three, oppressed already by Long jim's disappearance, were convinced
+that he would not return. But they gave him a half hour longer. Then
+Henry said:
+
+“We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever happens we
+three must stay together.”
+
+“I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself,” said the
+shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw trace of
+footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly,
+lost on hard ground, and after that there was nothing. They stopped
+shortly before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
+
+“What do you think of it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I don't know what to think,” replied the youth, “but it seems to me
+that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also.”
+
+“Looks like it,” said Sol, “an' I guess it follers that we're in the
+same kind o' danger.”
+
+“We three of us could put up a good fight,” said Henry, “and I propose
+that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here.”
+
+“Yes, an' watch good,” said Tom Ross.
+
+Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the
+low boughs of a tree. Their supper was a little venison, and then they
+watched the coming of the darkness. It was a heavy hour for the three.
+Long Jim was gone, and then Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the
+pet of the little band.
+
+“Ef we could only know how it happened,” whispered Shif'less Sol, “then
+we might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim back. But you
+can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. In all them fights o'
+ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed what wuz ag'inst us, but
+here we don't know nothin'.”
+
+“It is true, Sol,” sighed Henry. “We were making such big plans, too,
+and before we can even start our force is cut nearly in half. To-morrow
+we'll begin the hunt again. We'll never desert Paul and Jim, so long as
+we don't know they're dead.”
+
+“It's my watch,” said Tom. “You two sleep. We've got to keep our
+strength.”
+
+Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest spots
+under the tree sat down. Tom Ross took his place about ten feet in front
+of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands clasped around his knees,
+and his rifle resting on his arm. Henry watched him idly for a little
+while, thinking all the time of his lost comrades. The night promised to
+be dark, a good thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+
+Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away, knew by
+his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was still wide-eyed.
+
+The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping slowly,
+and the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small circle. Within this
+area the distinctive object was the figure of Tom Ross, sitting with
+his rifle across his knees. Tom had an infinite capacity for immobility.
+Henry had never seen another man, not even an Indian, who could remain
+so long in one position contented and happy. He believed that the silent
+one could sit as he was all night.
+
+His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for him. Would
+he remain absolutely still? He would certainly shift an arm or a leg.
+Henry's interest in the question kept him awake. He turned silently
+on the other side, but, no matter how intently he studied the sitting
+figure of his comrade, he could not see it stir. He did not know how
+long he had been awake, trying thus to decide a question that should be
+of no importance at such a time. Although unable to sleep, he fell into
+a dreamy condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent
+sentinel.
+
+He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. The
+exciting question was solved at last. The man would not sit all night
+absolutely immovable. There could be no doubt of the fact that he had
+raised an arm, and that his figure had straightened. Then he stood
+up, full height, remained motionless for perhaps ten seconds, and then
+suddenly glided away among the bushes.
+
+Henry knew what this meant. Tom had heard something moving in the
+thickets, and, like a good sentinel, he had gone to investigate. A
+rabbit, doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. Henry rose to a
+sitting position, and drew his own rifle across his knees. He would
+watch while Tom was gone, and then lie would sink quietly back, not
+letting his comrade know that lie had taken his place.
+
+The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets. Light clouds
+drifted before the moon. Henry, sitting with his rifle across his knees,
+and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were invisible, but Henry saw
+beyond the circle of darkness that enveloped them into the grayish light
+that fell over the bushes. He marked the particular point at which he
+expected Tom Ross to appear, a slight opening that held out invitation
+for the passage of a man.
+
+He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the
+sentinel did not return. Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy state.
+He felt with all the terrible thrill of certainty that what happened to
+Long Jim and Paul had happened also to Silent Tom Ross. He stood erect,
+a tense, tall figure, alarmed, but not afraid. His eyes searched the
+thickets, but saw nothing. The slight movement of the bushes was made by
+the wind, and no other sound reached his ears.
+
+But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions
+were sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank
+down in a crouching position, where he would offer the least target for
+the eye.
+
+The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
+of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
+that he had seen.
+
+“Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him,” whispered the shiftless one
+at once.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+“An' we're bound to look for him right now,” continued Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
+Sol, we must follow 'em together.”
+
+“It would be safer,” said Sol. “I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an'
+I want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves.”
+
+It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
+the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
+same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
+But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too,
+had vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
+strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
+to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
+stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost
+like walls.
+
+“It will be daylight soon,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' I think we'd better
+lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything,
+so we'd better wait an' see what will find us.”
+
+“It looks like the best plan to me,” said Henry, “but I think we might
+first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
+over there.”
+
+“That's so,” replied Shif'less Sol, “but the water is at least seven
+feet deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose
+you go up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin
+give a signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four
+hundred yards.”
+
+Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
+stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
+soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred
+yards lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he
+uttered the low cry that was their signal, and went back to meet
+Shif'less Sol. He reached the exact point at which they had parted, and
+waited. The shiftless one did not come. The last of his comrades was
+gone, and he was alone in the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+
+
+Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the
+exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had
+parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming.
+The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had
+taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and
+with all the five senses developed to the highest pitch. Yet his powers
+had availed him nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running
+down his spine.
+
+Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his
+instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the
+forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly
+hidden that no one could see him ten feet away. There he lay down
+and rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four
+disappearances. They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his
+duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the
+greater. Such a thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own
+life never entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would
+penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+
+It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and method. To
+approach an arduous task right one must possess freshness and vigor, and
+one could have neither without sleep. His present place of hiding seemed
+to be as secure as any that could be found. So composing himself he took
+all chances and sought slumber. Yet it needed a great effort of the will
+to calm his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any
+of the soothing effect that precedes sleep. But fall asleep he did at
+last, and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the morning.
+
+Henry did not awake to a bright day. The sun had risen, but it was
+obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. A cold wind
+began to blow, and with it came drops of rain. He shivered despite the
+enfolding blanket. The coming of the morning had invariably brought
+cheerfulness and increase of spirits, but now he felt depression. He
+foresaw heavy rain again, and it would destroy any but the deepest
+trail. Moreover, his supplies of food were exhausted and he must
+replenish them in some manner before proceeding further.
+
+A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have despaired.
+He had found his comrades, only to lose them again, and the danger that
+had threatened them, and the elements as well, now threatened him, too.
+An acute judge of sky and air, he knew that the rain, cold, insistent,
+penetrating, would fall all day, and that he must seek shelter if he
+would keep his strength. The Indians themselves always took to cover at
+such times.
+
+He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well from neck
+to ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but with his hand
+upon it, ready for instant use if it should be needed. Then he started,
+walking straight ahead until he came to the crown of a little hill.
+The clouds meanwhile thickened, and the rain, of the kind that he had
+foreseen and as cold as ice, was blown against him. The grass and bushes
+were reeking, and his moccasins became sodden. Despite the vigorous
+walking, lie felt the wet cold entering his system. There come times
+when the hardiest must yield, and he saw the increasing need of refuge.
+
+He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill. All around was a
+dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped everywhere. There was
+no open country. All was forest, and the heavy rolling masses of foliage
+dripped with icy water, too.
+
+Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised that in
+a valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that he craved. He
+needed it badly. As he stood there he shivered again and again from
+head to foot, despite the folds of the blanket. So he started at once,
+walking fast, and feeling little fear of a foe. It was not likely that
+any would be seeking him at such a time. The rain struck him squarely
+in the face now. Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was
+pressed against the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds
+of the blanket, little streams of it, like ice to the touch, flowed down
+his neck and made their way under his clothing. He could not remember a
+time when he had felt more miserable.
+
+He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised, was the
+edge of a considerable valley. He ran down the slope, and looked all
+about for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak in the lee of a hill,
+or an outcropping of stone, but he saw neither, and, as he continued
+the search, he came to marshy ground. He saw ahead among the weeds and
+bushes the gleam of standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when
+he noticed three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one
+another, projecting slightly above the black muck. It struck him that
+the stones would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity
+aroused, he stepped lightly from one stone to another. When he came to
+the last stone that he had seen from the hard ground he beheld several
+more that had been hidden from him by the bushes. Sure now that he had
+happened upon something not created by nature alone, he followed these
+stones, leading like steps into the very depths of the swamp, which was
+now deep and dark with ooze all about him. He no longer doubted that the
+stones, the artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest
+eye and most logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he was
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and the
+last thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. Then he came
+to a bit of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire, upon which he could
+stand without sinking at all. He looked back from there, and he could
+not see his point of departure. Bushes, weeds, and saplings grew out of
+the swamp to a height of a dozen or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed
+completely. All the vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place
+was one of the most dismal that he had ever seen. But he had no thought
+of turning back.
+
+Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he inferred
+from the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from the fact that
+an odd one here and there had sunk completely out of sight-that they had
+not been used in a long time, perhaps for years. He found on the other
+side of the islet a second line of stones, and they led across a marsh,
+that was almost like a black liquid, to another and larger island.
+
+Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of large
+trees. It seemed to Henry that this island might be seventy or eighty
+yards across, and he began at once to explore it. In the center,
+surrounded so closely by swamp oaks that they almost formed a living
+wall, he found what he had hoped to find, and his relief was so great
+that, despite his natural and trained stoicism, he gave a little cry of
+pleasure when he saw it.
+
+A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois
+fashion, stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost the
+whole of the space. It was apparently abandoned long ago, and time
+and weather had done it much damage. But the bark walls, although they
+leaned in places at dangerous angles, still stood. The bark roof was
+pierced by holes on one side, but on the other it was still solid, and
+shed all the rain from its slope.
+
+The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark cunningly
+joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw that he could
+make use of it. He stepped inside. The hut had a bark floor which was
+dry on one side, where the roof was solid, but dripping on the other.
+Several old articles of Indian use lay about. In one corner was a basket
+woven of split willow and still fit for service. There were pieces of
+thread made of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm. There were
+also a piece of pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon
+such as every Iroquois carried. In the corner farthest from the door
+was a rude fireplace made of large flat stones, although there was no
+opening for the smoke.
+
+Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion that
+it was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an inquiring mind who
+had found this secret place, and who had recognized its possibilities.
+Here after an expedition for game he could lie hidden from enemies and
+take his comfort without fear. Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy
+days like the present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm
+of which the Indian is capable.
+
+Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and carved
+beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf. Henry picked it tip and
+examined the bowl. It was as dry as a bone, and not a particle of
+tobacco was left there. He believed that it had not been used for at
+least a year. Doubtless the Indian who had built this hunting lodge had
+fallen in some foray, and the secret of it had been lost until Henry
+Ware, seeking through the cold and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+
+It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark, all
+a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry was strong
+and skillful. He covered the holes in the roof with fallen pieces of
+bark, laying heavy pieces of wood across them to hold them in place.
+Then he lifted the bark shutter into position and closed the door. Some
+drops of rain still came in through the roof, but they were not many,
+and he would not mind them for the present. Then he opened the door and
+began his hardest task.
+
+He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing fallen
+wood, he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the inside. It was
+slow work and he was very cold, his wet feet sending chills through
+him, but he persevered, and the little heap of dry splinters grew to
+a respectable size. Then he cut larger pieces, laying them on one side
+while he worked with his flint and steel on the splinters.
+
+Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful, and
+Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it finally
+took hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. He watched it
+as it ran along the little piece of wood and ignited another and then
+another, the beautiful little red and yellow flames leaping up half a
+foot in height. Already he felt the grateful warmth and glow, but he
+would not let himself indulge in premature joy. He fed it with larger
+and larger pieces until the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and
+yellow, rose at least two feet, and big coals began to form. He left
+the door open a while in order that the smoke might go out, but when the
+fire had become mostly coals he closed it again, all except a crack of
+about six inches, which would serve at once to let any stray smoke out,
+and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+
+Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected, proceeded to
+luxuriate. He spread the soaked blanket out on the bark floor, took off
+the sodden moccasins and placed them at one angle of the fire, while
+he sat with his bare feet in front. What a glorious warmth it was! It
+seemed to enter at his toes and proceed upward through his body, seeking
+out every little nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full
+of new glow and life.
+
+He sat there a long time, his being radiating with physical comfort. The
+moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the other. Finally they dried
+all over and all through, and he put them on again. Then he hung the
+blanket on the bark wall near the fire, and it, too, would be dry in
+another hour or so. He foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and
+sleep. Now if one only had food! But he must do without that for the
+present.
+
+He rose and tested all his bones and muscles. No stiffness or soreness
+had come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. He was fit for
+any physical emergency. He looked out through the crevice. Night was
+coming, and on the little island in the swamp it looked inexpressibly
+black and gloomy. His stomach complained, but he shrugged his shoulders,
+acknowledging primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire.
+There he sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+
+In the last hour or two Henry did not move. He remained before the fire,
+crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed the flame of life
+in him. A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice at the door, fell on the
+earth outside, but it did not pass beyond the close group of circling
+trees. The rain still fell with uncommon steadiness and persistence,
+but at times hail was mingled with it. Henry could not remember in his
+experience a more desolate night. It seemed that the whole world dwelt
+in perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it.
+Yet within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm
+and bright, and he was not unhappy.
+
+He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the dry
+blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first raked ashes
+over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of his life. All
+night long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it, at intervals, came
+gusts of hail that rattled like bird shot on the bark walls of the hut.
+Some of the white pellets blew in at the door, and lay for a moment or
+two on the floor, then melted in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+
+But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry. He was as safe, for the
+time, in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at Pittsburgh
+or behind the palisades at Wareville. Dawn came, the sky still heavy and
+dark with clouds, and the rain still falling.
+
+Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became
+conscious of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now keep
+quiet. His was a powerful system, needing much nourishment, and he must
+eat. That hunger became so great that it was acute physical pain. He
+was assailed by it at all points, and it could be repelled by only one
+thing, food. He must go forth, taking all risks, and seek it.
+
+He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it might not
+blaze too high, and left the islet. The stepping stones were slippery
+with water, and his moccasins soon became soaked again, but he forgot
+the cold and wet in that ferocious hunger, the attacks of which became
+more violent every minute. He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or
+even a squirrel, but the animals themselves were likely to keep under
+cover in such a rain. He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended
+also by much danger--these woods must be full of Indians--but he thought
+little of the risk. His hunger was taking complete possession of his
+mind. He was realizing now that one might want a thing so much that it
+would drive away all other thoughts.
+
+Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
+through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce
+as a famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to
+anything. The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his
+hollow tree, and the deer did not leave his covert.
+
+Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so
+fearfully long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that
+it must be about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished
+panther to which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the
+circle of the dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and
+he knew that he could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he
+had no idea of returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else
+could resist was pushing him on his search.
+
+Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a
+thin and darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with
+certainty, that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation,
+turned his course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and
+containing the deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived
+beside himself in this wilderness.
+
+He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
+Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
+warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
+bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
+roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
+bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils.
+But it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible
+pang of hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+
+The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels,
+and they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they
+wanted. Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them
+as they ate strip after strip of the delicate, tender meat with the
+wonderful appetite that the Indian has after long fasting. A fierce,
+unreasoning anger and jealousy laid hold of him. He was starving, and
+they rejoiced in plenty only fifty yards away. He began to form plans
+for a piratical incursion upon them. Half the body of a deer lay near
+the edge of the opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away.
+It might be possible to escape with such spoil.
+
+Then he recalled his prudence. Such a thing was impossible. The whole
+band of warriors would be upon him in an instant. The best thing that he
+could do was to shut out the sight of so much luxury in which he could
+not share, and he crept away among the bushes wondering what he could
+do to drive away those terrible pains. His vigorous system was crying
+louder than ever for the food that would sustain it. His eyes were
+burning a little too brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+
+Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the feasting
+Indians under the bark shelters. He saw a warrior raise a bone, grasping
+it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender flesh that clothed it.
+The sight inflamed him into an anger almost uncontrollable. He clenched
+his fist and shook it at the warrior, who little suspected the proximity
+of a hatred so intense. Then he bent his head down and rushed away among
+the wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him across
+the face.
+
+Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. The aspect
+of air and sky had not changed. The heavens still dripped icy water,
+and there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. The game remained well
+hidden.
+
+It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing weak he
+made no haste. He came to dense clumps of bushes, and plowing his way
+through them, he saw a dark opening under some trees thrown down by an
+old hurricane. Having some vague idea that it might be the lair of a
+wild animal, he thrust the muzzle of his rifle into the darkness. It
+touched a soft substance. There was a growl, and a black form shot out
+almost into his face. Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his
+powers and faculties returned. He had stirred up a black bear, and
+before the animal, frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far
+the boy, careless how many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle and
+fired.
+
+His aim was good. The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was dead.
+Henry, transformed, ran up to him. Bear life had been given up to
+sustain man's. Here was food for many days, and he rejoiced with a great
+joy. He did not now envy those warriors back there.
+
+The bear, although small, was very fat. Evidently he had fed well on
+acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks which, to one with
+Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare. He calculated that it was
+more than a mile to the swamp, and, after a few preliminaries, he flung
+the body of the bear over his shoulder. Through some power of the mind
+over the body his full strength had returned to him miraculously, and
+when he reached the stepping stones he crossed from one to another
+lightly and firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+
+He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. The
+night had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the ashes, and
+there was plenty of dry wood. He did everything decently and in order.
+He took the pelt from the bear, carved the body properly, and then, just
+as the Indians had done, he broiled strips over the coals. He ate them
+one after another, slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as
+was the mere physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness.
+Not only was the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain the
+strength to seek his comrades.
+
+When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in
+several portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which evidently
+had been placed there by the former owner of the hut for this very
+purpose. Then, sure that the savor of the food would draw other wild
+animals, he brought one of the stepping stones and placed it on the
+inside of the door. The door could not be pushed aside without arousing
+him, and, secure in the knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE RED CHIEFS
+
+
+Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between midnight and
+morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even in sleep, warned
+him that something was at the door. He rose cautiously upon his arm, saw
+a dark muzzle at the crevice, and behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming
+eyes. He knew at once that it was a panther, probably living in the
+swamp and drawn by the food. It must be very hungry to dare thus the
+smell of man. Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the
+other end of which was a glowing coal. Then he seized it and hurled it
+directly at the inquisitive head.
+
+The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. There
+was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the big cat's
+feet as it fled into the swamp. Then he turned over on his side, and
+laughed in genuine pleasure at what was to him a true forest joke. He
+knew the panther would not come, at least not while he was in the hut,
+and he calmly closed his eyes once more. The old Henry was himself
+again.
+
+He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still falling. It
+seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever, but he was resolved,
+nevertheless, now that he had food and the strength that food brings, to
+begin the search for his comrades. The islet in the swamp would serve as
+his base-nothing could be better-and he would never cease until he found
+them or discovered what had become of them.
+
+A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet to lose
+itself quickly in the swamp. Henry drank there after his breakfast, and
+then felt as strong and active as ever. As he knew, the mind may triumph
+over the body, but the mind cannot save the body without food. Then
+he made his precious bear meat secure against the prowling panther or
+others of his kind, tying it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and
+too slender to support the weight of a large animal. This task finished
+quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie had
+seen the Mohawks.
+
+The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as the
+whole forest was enveloped in a sort of gloom, and he was less likely to
+be seen. But when he had gone about half the distance he heard Indians
+signaling to one another, and, burying himself as usual in the wet
+bushes, he saw two small groups of warriors meet and talk. Presently
+they separated, one party going toward the east and the other toward the
+west. Henry thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took
+little care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no
+matter how great the supply might be.
+
+When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these were
+traveling directly south. He was quite sure now that his theory was
+correct. They were sending out hunters in every direction, in order that
+they might beat up the woods thoroughly for game, and his own position
+anywhere except on the islet was becoming exceedingly precarious.
+Nevertheless, using all his wonderful skill, he continued the hunt. He
+had an abiding faith that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant
+to prove it.
+
+In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain decreased,
+though it did not cease. The Indian signs multiplied, and Henry felt
+sure that the forest within a radius of twenty miles of his islet
+contained more than one camp. Some great gathering must be in progress
+and the hunters were out to supply it with food. Four times he heard
+the sound of shots, and thrice more he saw warriors passing through
+the forest. Once a wounded deer darted past him, and, lying down in the
+bushes, he saw the Indians following the fleeing animal. As the day grew
+older the trails multiplied. Certainly a formidable gathering of bands
+was in progress, and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in a
+net, he returned to the islet, which had now become a veritable fort for
+him.
+
+It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had been
+except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which he
+had fastened the big pieces of bear meat. Henry felt a malicious
+satisfaction at the disappointment of the panthers.
+
+“Come again, and have the same bad luck,” he murmured.
+
+At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey in the
+night. He examined his powder carefully to see that no particle of it
+was wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and then examined the skies.
+There was a little moon, not too much, enough to show him the way, but
+not enough to disclose him to an enemy unless very near. Then he left
+the islet and went swiftly through the forest, laying his course a third
+time toward the Indian camp. He was sure now that all the hunters had
+returned, and he did not expect the necessity of making any stops for
+the purpose of hiding. His hopes were justified, and as he drew near the
+camp he became aware that its population had increased greatly. It was
+proved by many signs. New trails converged upon it, and some of them
+were very broad, indicating that many warriors had passed. They
+had passed, too, in perfect confidence, as there was no effort at
+concealment, and Henry surmised that no white force of any size could
+be within many days' march of this place. But the very security of the
+Indians helped his own design. They would not dream that any one of the
+hated race was daring to come almost within the light of their fires.
+
+Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs. If the Indians had
+any of their mongrel curs with them, they would quickly scent him
+out and give the alarm with their barking. But he believed that the
+probabilities were against it. This, so he thought then, was a war or
+hunting camp, and it was likely that the Indians would leave the dogs
+at their permanent villages. At any rate he would take the risk, and
+he drew slowly toward the oak opening, where some Indians stood about.
+Beyond them, in another dip of the valley, was a wider opening which
+he had not seen on his first trip, and this contained not only bark
+shelters, but buildings that indicated a permanent village. The second
+and larger opening was filled with a great concourse of warriors.
+
+Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many trees
+and thickets everywhere. Henry crept to the very rim, where, lying in
+the blackest of the shadows, and well hidden himself, he could yet see
+nearly everything in the camp. The men were not eating now, although it
+was obvious that the hunters had done well. The dressed bodies of deer
+and bear hung in the bark shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the
+fires, and it seemed to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At
+least two hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint,
+although there were several styles of paint. There was a difference
+in appearance, too, in the warriors, and Henry surmised that
+representatives of all the tribes of the Iroquois were there, coming to
+the extreme western boundary or fringe of their country.
+
+While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing and
+manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him and talked
+together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward the forest, and
+he was quite sure that they were expecting somebody, a person of
+importance. He became deeply interested. He was lying in a dense clump
+of hazel bushes, flat upon his stomach, his face raised but little above
+the ground. He would have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet
+away, but the faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight
+were so clearly visible to him that he could see every change of
+expression. They were fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall, lean,
+their noses hooked, features cut clean and strong, and their heads
+shaved, all except the defiant scalp lock, into which the feather of
+an eagle was twisted. Their bodies were draped in fine red or blue
+blankets, and they wore leggins and moccasins of beautifully tanned
+deerskin.
+
+They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing note
+from the west. Some one in the camp replied with a cry in kind, and then
+a silence fell upon them all. The chiefs stood erect, looking toward the
+west. Henry knew that he whom they expected was at hand.
+
+The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into the
+opening, in the full blaze of the firelight. He was entirely naked save
+for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild and savage figure.
+He stood for a moment or two, then faced the chiefs, and, bowing before
+them, spoke a few words in the Wyandot tongue-Henry knew already by his
+paint that he was a Wyandot.
+
+The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning, leaped
+back into the forest. In two or three minutes six men, including the
+herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a little when he saw the
+first of the six, all of whom were Wyandots. It was Timmendiquas, head
+chief of the Wyandots, and Henry had never seen him more splendid in
+manner and bearing than he was as he thus met the representatives of the
+famous Six Nations. Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was
+its valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only as
+an equal, in his heart a superior.
+
+It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment, burrowing
+in the earth that he might not lose his life at the hands of either, was
+an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas. It was the young Wyandot chief
+whom he wished to be first, to make the greatest impression, and he was
+pleased when he heard the low hum of admiration go round the circle of
+two hundred savage warriors. It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that
+the Iroquois had looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+
+Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the chiefs, and
+the Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois. Henry could tell by the manner
+of the chiefs that the reputation of the famous White Lightning had
+preceded him, and that they had already found fact equal to report.
+
+The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the fire,
+and all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance, where they stood
+and watched in silence. The oldest chief took his long pipe, beautifully
+carved and shaped like a trumpet, and filled it with tobacco which he
+lighted with a coal from the fire. Then he took two or three whiffs and
+passed the pipe to Timmendiquas, who did the same. Every chief smoked
+the pipe, and then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+
+Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a spectacle
+and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and that he was an
+enemy. He wondered now at their silence. If this was a council surely
+they would discuss whatever question had brought them there! But he was
+soon enlightened. That low far cry came again, but from the east. It
+was answered, as before, from the camp, and in three or four minutes a
+warrior sprang from the forest into the opening. Like the first, he was
+naked except for the breech cloth and moccasins. The chiefs rose at his
+coming, received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. Then
+he returned to the forest, and all waited in the splendid calm of the
+Indian.
+
+Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle. Who was coming now? It must be
+some man of great importance, or they would not wait so silently.
+There was the same air of expectancy that had preceded the arrival of
+Timmendiquas. All the warriors looked toward the eastern wall of the
+forest, and Henry looked the same way. Presently the black foliage
+parted, and a man stepped forth, followed at a little distance by seven
+or eight others. The stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to
+Timmendiquas, but he, too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it
+was evident to anyone versed at all in forest lore that here was a great
+chief. He was lean but sinewy, and he moved with great ease and grace.
+He reminded Henry of a powerful panther. He was dressed, after the
+manner of famous chiefs, with the utmost care. His short military coat
+of fine blue cloth bore a silver epaulet on either shoulder. His
+head was not bare, disclosing the scalp lock, like those of the other
+Indians; it was covered instead with a small hat of felt, round and
+laced. Hanging carelessly over one shoulder was a blanket of blue cloth
+with a red border. At his side, from a belt of blue leather swung a
+silver-mounted small sword. His leggins were of superfine blue cloth and
+his moccasins of deerskin. Both were trimmed with small beads of many
+colors.
+
+The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence that still
+held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet him. These two held
+the gaze of everyone, and what they and they alone did had become of
+surpassing interest. Each was haughty, fully aware of his own dignity
+and importance, but they met half way, looked intently for a moment or
+two into the eyes of each other, and then saluted gravely.
+
+All at once Henry knew the stranger. He had never seen him before, but
+his impressive reception, and the mixture of military and savage attire
+revealed him. This could be none other than the great Mohawk war chief,
+Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white men, terrible name on the border.
+Henry gazed at him eagerly from his covert, etching his features forever
+on his memory. His face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of
+Timmendiquas, and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the fire,
+and once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. The two young
+chiefs received the seats of favor, and others sat about them. But they
+were not the only great chiefs present, though all yielded first place
+to them because of their character and exploits.
+
+Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important council,
+although its extent exceeded even his surmise. Delegates and head chiefs
+of all the Six Nations were present to confer with the warlike Wyandots
+of the west who had come so far east to meet them. Thayendanegea was the
+great war chief of the Mohawks, but not their titular chief. The latter
+was an older man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.
+The other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled); the
+Oneida, O-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver); the Cayuga, Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He
+Who Looks Both Ways); the Seneca, Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake); and
+the Tuscarora, Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a
+Tree). The names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had
+formed the great confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council,
+and were also the high priests and titular head of the Six Nations. But
+the Mohawks were first on-the war path.
+
+All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan, camping in
+its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+
+Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their wonderful
+league, and their wonderful history. He knew that according to the
+legend the league had been formed by Hiawatha, an Onondaga. He was
+opposed in this plan by Tododaho, then head chief of the Onondagas,
+but he went to the Mohawks and gained the support of their great
+chief, Dekanawidah. With his aid the league was formed, and the solemn
+agreement, never broken, was made at the Onondaga Lake. Now they were a
+perfect little state, with fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs,
+fifty-six.
+
+Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn
+many of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he
+little dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the
+meeting of the fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike
+power of the Six Nations.
+
+Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
+listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the
+trope, allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the
+unseen deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic
+dreams. He spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which
+to the Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit,
+which was Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in
+the Iroquois belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was
+so mighty that he did not need body.
+
+“This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
+brave Wyandots,” he said to Timmendiquas. “Once there was no land, only
+the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam.
+Then he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls
+grew the Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined
+us and other tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave
+Wyandots.”
+
+Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker
+at this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other
+tribes. A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished
+to unite the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio
+valley. The coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense
+heat. Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back,
+revealing a bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of
+the Mohawks, a flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and
+Seneca head chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest
+of the Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great
+pipe, and the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.
+
+“We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,”
+ said Thayendanegea, “and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
+Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
+Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
+all our brethren of the Six Nations. All the land from the salt water to
+the setting sun was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not
+defend it we cannot keep it.”
+
+“It is so,” said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time. “We have
+fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come with their
+rifles and axes. The whole might of the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the
+Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the Ottawas has gone forth
+against them. We have slain many of them, but we have failed to drive
+them back. Now we have come to ask the Six Nations to press down upon
+them in the east with all your power, while we do the same in the west.
+Surely then your Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not
+refuse us success.”
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+
+“You speak well, Timmendiquas,” he said. “All the red men must unite to
+fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised above the sea, and
+we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to lead them to battle.”
+
+“It is so,” said Timmendiquas gravely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+
+
+Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes. He had forgotten about the dogs
+that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his surmise that the
+camp contained none. Nothing disturbed him while he stared at what was
+passing by the firelight. There could be no doubt that the meeting of
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not
+be stirred from his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their
+fate.
+
+They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse. Others-older men,
+chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them. But these two, proud,
+dominating, both singularly handsome men of the Indian type, were always
+there. Henry was almost ready to steal away when he saw a new figure
+approaching the two chiefs. The walk and bearing of the stranger were
+familiar, and HENRY knew him even before his face was lighted tip by
+the fire. It was Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great
+battles on both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. Henry
+felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could inspire in
+him. They fought for their own land and their own people, but Braxton
+Wyatt had violated everything that an honest man should hold sacred.
+
+Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him. Such a chance was
+sure to draw Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, the war, so far as it pertained to
+the border, seemed to be sweeping toward the northeast, and it bore many
+stormy petrels upon its crest.
+
+He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires. There the
+renegade sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the best
+of terms. He was presently joined by two more renegades, whom Henry
+recognized as Blackstaffe and Quarles. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+rose after a while, and walked toward the center of the camp, where
+several of the bark shelters had been enclosed entirely. Henry judged
+that one had been set apart for each, but they were lost from his view
+when they passed within the circling ring of warriors.
+
+Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a fortified
+camp here, a place from which they would make sudden and terrible forays
+upon the settlements. He based his opinion upon the good location and
+the great number of saplings that had been cut down already. They would
+build strong lodges and then a palisade around them with the saplings.
+He was speedily confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to
+the forest with hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings. He knew
+then that it was time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him at
+any time.
+
+He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. His limbs
+were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position, but that soon
+wore away, and he was comparatively fresh when he came once more to the
+islet in the swamp. A good moon was now shining, tipping the forest with
+a fine silvery gray, and Henry purveyed with the greatest satisfaction
+the simple little shelter that he had found so opportunely. It was a
+good house, too, good to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry.
+It was made of nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all
+that long, penetrating rain of the last three or four days, and when he
+lifted the big stone aside and opened the door it seemed as snug a place
+as he could have wished.
+
+He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat stones,
+having no fear that it would be seen through the dense curtain that shut
+him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the coals. When he had eaten
+and the fire had died he went out and sat beside the hut. He was well
+satisfied with the day's work, and he wished now to think with all
+the concentration that one must put upon a great task if he expects to
+achieve it. He intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well
+that it was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted.
+Yet scouts and hunters had done such things and had escaped with their
+lives. He must not shrink from the path that others had trodden.
+
+He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of
+operations. Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament that he
+began to regard the deed itself as almost achieved. Decision is always
+soothing after doubt, and he fell into a pleasant dreamy state. A gentle
+wind was blowing, the forest was dry and the leaves rustled with the low
+note that is like the softest chord of a violin. It became penetrating,
+thrillingly sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew.
+It was the same voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling
+him to be of heart and courage. He would triumph over hardships and
+dangers, and he would see his friends again.
+
+Henry started up from his vision. The song was gone, and he heard only
+the wind softly moving the leaves. It had been vague and shadowy as
+gossamer, light as the substance of a dream, but it was real to him,
+nevertheless, and the deep glow of certain triumph permeated his being,
+body and mind. It was not strange that he had in his nature something
+of the Indian mysticism that personified the winds and the trees
+and everything about him. The Manitou of the red man and the ancient
+Aieroski of the Iroquois were the same as his own God. He could not
+doubt that he had a message. Down on the Ohio he had had the same
+message more than once, and it had always come true.
+
+He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting perfectly
+still, he saw a black bear emerge into the open. It had gained the islet
+in some manner, probably floundering through the black mire, and the
+thought occurred to him that it was the mate of the one he had slain,
+drawn perhaps by instinct on the trail of a lost comrade. He could
+have shot the bear as he sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food
+soon-but he did not have the heart to do it.
+
+The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the human odor
+away from him, and sat back on his haunches. Henry did not believe that
+the animal had seen him or was yet aware of his presence, although he
+might suspect. There was something humorous and also pathetic in the
+visitor, who cocked his head on one side and looked about him. He made
+a distinct appeal to Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that
+the little bear could not be sure at first that he was a human being.
+A minute passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy. Henry
+felt pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain friendly
+relations only by remaining quiet.
+
+“If I have eaten your comrade, my friend,” he said to himself, “it is
+only because of hard necessity.” The bear, little, comic, and yet with
+that touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little further over on
+one side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell upon him Henry could
+see one red eye gleaming. It was a singular fact, but the boy, alone
+in the wilderness, and the loser of his comrades, felt for the moment a
+sense of comradeship with the bear, which was also alone, and doubtless
+the loser of a comrade, also. He uttered a soft growling sound like the
+satisfied purr of a bear eating its food.
+
+The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and looked in
+astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered sounds so familiar.
+Yet the figure was not familiar. He had never seen a human being before,
+and the shape and outline were very strange to him. It might be some new
+kind of animal, and he was disposed to be inquiring, because there was
+nothing in these forests which the black bear was afraid of until man
+came.
+
+He advanced a step or two and growled gently. Then he reared up again
+on his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his amusing manner.
+Henry, still motionless, smiled at him. Here, for an instant at least,
+was a cheery visitor and companionship. He at least would not break the
+spell.
+
+“You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow,” he said to himself,
+“and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of questions.”
+
+The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. It
+certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or twenty yards
+before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to solve the mystery
+of this creature. But caution held him back.
+
+There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze. It shifted about and
+brought the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest black bear.
+It was something entirely new to him, but it contained the quality of
+fear. That still strange figure was his deadliest foe. Dropping down
+upon his four paws, he fled among the trees, and then scrambled somehow
+through the swamp to the mainland.
+
+Henry sighed. Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned by
+instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
+himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into
+the hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left
+the islet once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he
+found it a most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting.
+As he had judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking
+in several directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the
+thickets, willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was
+advisable, moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was
+going to succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there
+through the forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed
+so numerous in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+
+He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
+distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
+cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
+would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected.
+He waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer.
+He knew that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first
+opinion.
+
+Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
+hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its
+discovery. Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness
+came, hiding his trail, to double back and regain the hut.
+
+He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
+It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as
+possible, annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along,
+stopping at intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had
+drawn near, but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the
+sky, willing that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+
+His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was
+setting. The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the
+east the forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and
+went back toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much
+closer to the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over
+the curve of the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs
+melted into a solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and
+with it its petty annoyances. He directed his course boldly now for the
+stepping stones, and traveled fast. Soon the first of them would be less
+than a hundred yards away.
+
+But the incident was not over. Wary and skillful though the young forest
+runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and it led to great
+consequences. As he skirted the edge of the swamp in the darkness, now
+fully come, a dusky figure suddenly appeared. It was a stray warrior
+from some small band, wandering about at will. The meeting was probably
+as little expected by him as it was by Henry, and they were so close
+together when they saw each other that neither had time to raise his
+rifle. The warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching
+out a knife, sprang at once upon his enemy.
+
+Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an immense
+effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of the Indian's
+knife hand, exerted all his great strength. The warrior wished to change
+the weapon from his right band, but he dared not let go with the other
+lest he be thrown down at once, and with great violence. His first
+rush having failed, he was now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not
+generally a wrestler. Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter
+and tighter around the red wrist. He wished to tear the knife from it,
+but he, too, was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two
+remained locked fast. Neither uttered a cry after the first contact, and
+the only sounds in the dark were their hard breathing, which turned to a
+gasp now and then, and the shuffle of their feet over the earth.
+
+Henry felt that it must end soon. One or the other must give way. Their
+sinews were already strained to the cracking point, and making a supreme
+effort he bore all his weight upon the warrior, who, unable to sustain
+himself, went down with the youth upon him. The Indian uttered a groan,
+and Henry, leaping instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen
+antagonist, who did not stir. He knew the cause. As they fell the point
+of the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's
+heart.
+
+Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the slain
+man in a sort of pity. He had not wished to take anyone's life, and, in
+reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. But it was a stern time
+and the feeling soon passed. The Wyandot, for such he was by his paint,
+would never have felt a particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+
+The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully at the
+still face. Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up in his brain,
+with such an impulse that it carried conviction. He would take this
+warrior's place and go to the Indian camp. So eager was he, and so
+full of his plan, that he did not feel any repulsion as he opened the
+warrior's deerskin shirt and took his totem from a place near his heart.
+It was a little deerskin bag containing a bunch of red feathers. This
+was his charm, his magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had
+failed him so woefully this time. Henry, not without a touch of the
+forest belief, put it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although
+he laughed at himself, that if the red man's medicine had any potency it
+should be on his own side.
+
+Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his war
+paint and the feather brush with which he put it on. The next hour
+witnessed a singular transformation. A white youth was turned into a red
+warrior. He cut his own hair closely, all except a tuft in the center,
+with his sharp hunting knife. The tuft and the close crop he stained
+black with the Indian's paint. It was a poor black, but he hoped that
+it would pass in the night. He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and
+intertwined it with a feather from the Indian's own tuft. Then he
+stained his face, neck, hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood
+forth a powerful young warrior of a western nation.
+
+He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the brush.
+Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge of the swamp and
+dropped it in. His object was not alone concealment, but burial as well.
+He still felt sorry for the unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him
+until he sank completely from sight in the mire. Then he turned away and
+traveled a straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+
+He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the bright
+moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection. By night, at least,
+it was certainly that of an Indian, and, summoning all his confidence,
+he continued upon his chosen and desperate task.
+
+Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his disguise,
+but he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was prepared to incur
+all risks and to endure all penalties. He even felt a certain lightness
+of heart as he hurried on his way, and at length saw through the forest
+the flare of light from the Indian camp.
+
+He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a good
+look into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In a single
+day the village had been enlarged much more. It seemed to him that it
+contained at least twice as many warriors. Women and children, too, had
+come, and he heard a stray dog barking here and there. Many more fires
+than usual were burning, and there was a great murmur of voices.
+
+Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about to
+plunge into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a time,
+too, when something of extreme importance was going on, but a little
+reflection showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many people, and so
+much ferment it was not at all likely that he would be noticed closely.
+It was his intention, if the necessity came, to pass himself off as a
+warrior of the Shawnee tribe who had wandered far eastward, but he meant
+to avoid sedulously the eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size
+and stature, divine his identity.
+
+As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether to wait
+a little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he became aware
+that all sounds in the village-for such it was instead of a camp-had
+ceased suddenly, except the light tread of feet and the sound of many
+people talking low. He saw through the bushes that all the Iroquois, and
+with them the detachment of Wyandots under White Lightning, were going
+toward a large structure in the center, which he surmised to be the
+Council House. He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west
+that the Iroquois built such structures.
+
+He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest importance
+was about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he left the bushes
+and entered the village, going with the crowd toward the great pole
+building, which was, indeed, the Council House.
+
+But little attention was paid to Henry. He would have drawn none at all,
+had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two glanced at him
+he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he had wandered far,
+and was glad to come to the hospitable Iroquois. One who could speak
+a little Shawnee bade him welcome, and they went on, satisfied, their
+minds more intent upon the ceremony than upon a visitor.
+
+The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles and
+thatch, was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet wide, with a
+large door on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other
+sides. As Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois
+were entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and
+women, and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and,
+knowing the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the
+ceremony, whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He
+himself drew to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow,
+but he was using to its utmost power every faculty of observation that
+Nature had given him.
+
+Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with
+great brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and
+investing with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive
+this ceremony, held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the
+primeval forest. Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which
+was at once a mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east
+with his own people and the election and welcome of their successors.
+
+The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was
+more generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
+Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient
+and undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of
+the Six Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were:
+Atotarho (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons
+(Looking Both Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The
+Scattered). They were men of stature and fine countenance, proud of
+the titular primacy that belonged to them because it was the Onondaga,
+Hiawatha, who had formed the great confederacy more than four hundred
+years before our day, or just about the time Columbus was landing on the
+shores of the New World.
+
+Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
+nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
+were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
+should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
+was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
+(Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+
+Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih
+(The Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+
+These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed the
+three senior nations. After them, in order of precedence, came
+the chiefs of the three junior nations, the Oneidas, Cayugas, and
+Tuscaroras. All of the great chiefs had assistant chiefs, usually
+relatives, who, in case of death, often succeeded to their places. But
+these assistants now remained in the crowd with other minor chiefs and
+the mass of the warriors. A little apart stood Timmendiquas and his
+Wyandots. He, too, was absorbed in the ceremony so sacred to him, an
+Indian, and he did not notice the tall figure of the strange Shawnee
+lingering in the deepest of the shadows.
+
+The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched across the
+clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where two young warriors
+had kindled a little fire of sticks as a signal of welcome. The chiefs
+gathered around the fire and spoke together in low tones. This was
+Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means “The Reception at the Edge of the Wood.”
+
+Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see, and his
+interest increased. He shared the spiritual feeling which was impressed
+upon the red faces about him. The bright moonlight, too, added to the
+effect, giving it the tinge of an old Druidical ceremony.
+
+The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. Then
+rose the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a procession of
+young and inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas, appeared, slowly approaching
+the fire. Behind them were warriors, and behind the warriors were many
+women and children. All the women were in their brightest attire, gay
+with feather headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the
+British posts.
+
+The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from the
+chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon, formed the men
+in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women and children grouped
+in an irregular mass behind them. The singing meanwhile had stopped. The
+two groups stood facing each other, attentive and listening.
+
+Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth in the
+space between the two groups, chanting a welcome. Like all Indian songs
+it was monotonous. Every line he uttered with emphasis and a rising
+inflection, the phrase “Haih-haih” which may be translated “Hail to
+thee!” or better, “All hail!” Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the
+wilderness and with rapt faces about him, it was deeply impressive.
+Henry found it so.
+
+Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the fire.
+Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his hands beautifully
+beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward and made a speech of
+condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. Then the head chiefs and
+the minor chiefs smoked pipes together, after which the head chiefs,
+followed by the minor chiefs, and these in turn by the crowd, led the
+way back to the village.
+
+Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still very
+grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by the sacred nature of
+this ancient rite. The chief entered the great door of the Long House,
+and all who could find places not reserved followed. Henry went in with
+the others, and sat in a corner, making himself as small as possible.
+Many women, the place of whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in
+the Long House.
+
+The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great room.
+In front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of the three
+older nations on the left, and of the three younger nations on the
+right. In front of these, but sitting on the bark floor, was a group of
+warriors. At the east end, on both high and low seats, were warriors,
+and facing them on the western side were women, also on both high
+and low seats. The southern side facing the chiefs was divided into
+sections, each with high and low seats. The one on the left was occupied
+by men, and the one on the right by women. Two small fires burned in the
+center of the Long House about fifteen feet apart.
+
+It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes that
+Henry had ever beheld. When all had found their seats there was a deep
+silence. Henry could hear the slight crackling made by the two fires as
+they burned, and the light fell faintly across the multitude of dark,
+eager faces. Not less than five hundred people were in the Long House,
+and here was the red man at his best, the first of the wild, not the
+second or third of the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins
+brings to the white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it
+does when that blood belongs to some other races.
+
+The effect upon Henry was singular. He almost forgot that he was a foe
+among them on a mission. For the moment he shared in their feelings, and
+he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+
+Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great chiefs.
+The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho, the Onondaga,
+but the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion to Thayendanegea, and
+there was no objection. Thayendanegea was an educated man, he had been
+in England, he was a member of a Christian church, and he had translated
+a part of the Bible from English into his own tongue, but now he was all
+a Mohawk, a son of the forest.
+
+He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six Nations, how
+Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired Hiawatha to form the
+Great Confederacy of the Five Nations, afterwards the Six; how they had
+held their hunting grounds for nearly two centuries against both English
+and French; and how they would hold them against the Americans. He
+stopped at moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long
+House. The eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator spoke of
+their glory and greatness. Timmendiquas, in a place of honor, nodded
+approval. If he could he would form such another league in the west.
+
+The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. It seemed
+to have in it a touch of fire. The orator's words burned. Swift and deep
+impressions were left upon the excited brain. The tall figure of the
+Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the half light, and the spell that he threw
+over all was complete.
+
+He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit down.
+Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long House that
+something more was coming from Thayendanegea. Suddenly the red chief
+began to sing in a deep, vibrant voice, and this was the song that he
+sung:
+
+
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+There was the same incessant repetition of “Haih haih!” that Henry had
+noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it seemed to give a
+cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and at every slight pause
+that deep breath of approval ran through the crowd in the Long House.
+The effect of the song was indescribable. Fire ran in the veins of all,
+men, women, and children. The great pulses in their throats leaped up.
+They were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the English
+since first a white man was seen in the land, and that would keep back
+the Americans now.
+
+Henry glanced at Timmendiquas. The nostrils of the great White Lightning
+were twitching. The song reached to the very roots of his being, and
+aroused all his powers. Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he
+saw that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than
+English or French had ever been. The Americans were upon the ground, and
+incessantly pressed upon the red man, eye to eye. Only powerful leagues
+like those of the Iroquois could withstand them.
+
+Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period
+lasting about two minutes. These silences seemed to be a necessary part
+of all Iroquois rites. When it closed two young warriors stretched an
+elm bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling,
+but between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs. Then they hung dressed
+skins all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the
+view of each other. This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a
+silence. The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little
+was to be seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. Then a
+slender man of middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation,
+arose and sang:
+
+
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song
+was sad. At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd
+in the Long House. Grief for the dead held them all. When he finished,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum,
+uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to
+which they listened patiently. The chant over, he handed the belts to
+an attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few
+moments and looked at them gravely.
+
+One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was
+purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace.
+They were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+
+When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a
+lake supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man
+tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the
+shore he found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred
+to him to use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He
+strung them on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league
+was formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For
+four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.
+
+Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
+returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once
+more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now
+he did not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and
+the time became faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow
+to exultation and menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and
+victory. The song sung as it was now became a genuine battle song,
+rousing and thrilling. The Long House trembled with the mighty chorus,
+and its volume poured forth into the encircling dark woods.
+
+All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
+holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
+attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now
+went to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires,
+asked who were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.
+
+The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among
+their own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and
+Henry was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of
+the brave Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as
+a great sign of friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the
+Mohawks, Keepers of the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the
+Iroquois tribes.
+
+As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
+than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long
+House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons
+of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among
+the Iroquois.
+
+The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened
+in grave silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was
+concluded. Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside--although
+that was much--and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the
+Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest
+two red chiefs on all the American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+
+
+Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping
+somewhat and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. But there
+was little danger now that any one would notice him, as long as he
+behaved with prudence, because all grief and solemnity were thrown
+aside, and a thousand red souls intended to rejoice. A vast banquet was
+arranged. Great fires leaped up all through the village. At every fire
+the Indian women, both young and old, were already far forward with the
+cooking. Deer, bear, squirrel, rabbit, fish, and every other variety
+of game with which the woods and rivers of western New York and
+Pennsylvania swarmed were frying or roasting over the coals, and the air
+was permeated with savory odors. There was a great hum of voices and
+an incessant chattering. Here in the forest, among themselves, and in
+complete security, the Indian stoicism was relaxed. According to their
+customs everybody fell to eating at a prodigious rate, as if they had
+not tasted anything for a month, and as if they intended to eat enough
+now to last another month.
+
+It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a long
+time, but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting crowd, and the
+flames of the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped and danced. This was
+an oasis of light and life. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together
+before the largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the
+others. Even at the banquet they would not relax their dignity as
+great chiefs. Old Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs
+though they were of the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as
+the rich Romans of the Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all
+kinds of meat, and drinking a sort of cider that the women made. Several
+warriors ate and drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires.
+The same warriors on the hunt or the war path would go for days without
+food, enduring every manner of hardship. Now and then a warrior would
+leap up and begin a chant telling of some glorious deed of his. Those at
+his own fire would listen, but elsewhere they took no notice.
+
+In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face
+suddenly uttered a sharp cry: “Hehmio!” which he rapidly repeated twice.
+Two score voices instantly replied, “Heh!” and a rush was made for him.
+At least a hundred gathered around him, but they stood in a respectful
+circle, no one nearer than ten feet. He waved his hand, and all sat down
+on the ground. Then, he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and
+with expectancy.
+
+He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and honored
+among the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than Hiawatha. He
+began at once the story of the warrior who learned to talk with the
+deer and the bear, carrying it on through many chapters. Now and then a
+delighted listener would cry “Hah!” but if anyone became bored and fell
+asleep it was considered an omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he
+was chased ignominiously to his tepee. The Iroquois romancer was better
+protected than the white one is. He could finish some of his stories in
+one evening, but others were serials. When he arrived at the end of the
+night's installment he would cry, “Si-ga!” which was equivalent to our
+“To be continued in our next.” Then all would rise, and if tired would
+seek sleep, but if not they would catch the closing part of some other
+story-teller's romance.
+
+At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden flute of
+their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not without a certain
+sweetness. In a corner a half dozen warriors hurt in battle were bathing
+their wounds with a soothing lotion made from the sap of the bass wood.
+
+Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the feasting,
+hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a space to the
+story-tellers and the enthusiastic “Hahs!” They were so full of feasting
+and merrymaking now that one could almost do as he pleased, and he stole
+toward the southern end of the village, where he had noticed several
+huts, much more strongly built than the others. Despite all his natural
+skill and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the first.
+He was about to achieve the great exploration upon which he had ventured
+so much. Whether he would find anything at the end of the risk he ran,
+he was soon to see.
+
+The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was built
+strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a clapboard door
+fastened stoutly on the outside with withes. The hut was well in the
+shadow of tepees, and all were still at the feasting and merrymaking.
+He cut the withes with two sweeps of his sharp hunting knife, opened the
+door, bent his head, stepped in and then closed the door behind him, in
+order that no Iroquois might see what had happened.
+
+It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between the
+poles, and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of bark. They
+revealed also a figure lying full length on one side of the hut. A great
+pulse of joy leaped up in Henry's throat, and with it was a deep pity,
+also. The figure was that of Shif'less Sol, but he was pale and thin,
+and his arms and legs were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+
+Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he did not
+stir. Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually so sensitive to
+the lightest movement, he perceived nothing now, and, had he not found
+him bound, Henry would have been afraid that he was looking upon his
+dead comrade. The hands of the shiftless one, when the hands were cut,
+had fallen limply by his side, and his face looked all the more pallid
+by contrast with the yellow hair which fell in length about it. But it
+was his old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the
+five to vanish so mysteriously.
+
+Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder. The captive yawned,
+stretched himself a little, and lay still again with closed eyes.
+Henry shook him a second time and more violently. Shif'less Sol sat up
+quickly, and Henry knew that indignation prompted the movement. Sol held
+his arms and legs stiffly and seemed to be totally unconscious that they
+were unbound. He cast one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the
+tall warrior bending over him.
+
+“I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever name you
+like better!” he exclaimed. “I won't show you how to surprise the white
+settlements. You can burn me at the stake or tear me in pieces first.
+Now go away and let me sleep.”
+
+He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. It was
+then that he noticed for the first time that his hands were unbound.
+He held them up before his face, as if they were strange objects wholly
+unattached to himself, and gazed at them in amazement. He moved his legs
+and saw that they, too, were unbound. Then he turned his startled gaze
+upward at the face of the tall warrior who was looking down at him.
+Shif'less Sol was wholly awake now. Every faculty in him was alive, and
+he pierced through the Shawnee disguise. He knew who it was. He knew
+who had come to save him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the one
+word:
+
+“Henry!”
+
+The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which only many
+dangers endured together can give.
+
+“How did you get here?” asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+
+“I met an Indian in the forest,” replied Henry, “and well I am now he.”
+
+Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+
+“I see,” said he, “but how did you get through the camp? It's a big
+one, and the Iroquois are watchful. Timmendiquas is here, too, with his
+Wyandots.”
+
+“They are having a great feast,” replied Henry, “and I could go about
+almost unnoticed. Where are the others, Sol?”
+
+“In the cabins close by.”
+
+“Then we'll get out of this place. Quick! Tie up your hair! In the
+darkness you can easily pass for an Indian.”
+
+The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two slipped
+from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly retying the
+thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape might occur as late
+as possible. Then they stood a few moments in the shadow of the hut and
+listened to the sounds of revelry, the monotone of the story-tellers,
+and the chant of the singers.
+
+“You don't know which huts they are in, do you?” asked Henry, anxiously.
+
+“No, I don't,” replied the shiftless one.
+
+“Get back!” exclaimed Henry softly. “Don't you see who's passing out
+there?”
+
+“Braxton Wyatt,” said Sol. “I'd like to get my hands on that scoundrel.
+I've had to stand a lot from him.”
+
+“The score must wait. But first we'll provide you with weapons. See,
+the Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while they're at the
+feast.”
+
+A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by, and
+Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best, with its
+ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his semi-civilized attire,
+still remained in the shadow of the other hut.
+
+“Why not take four?” whispered the shiftless one. “We'll need them for
+the other boys.”
+
+Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily
+slipped back to the other side of the hut. A Wyandot and a Mohawk were
+passing, and they had eyes of hawks. Henry and Sol waited until the
+formidable pair were gone, and then began to examine the huts, trying to
+surmise in which their comrades lay.
+
+“I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall,” said Sol, “but I reckon from the
+talk that they are here. I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. A half
+dozen reds jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to draw a weepin.
+Timmendiquas was at the head uv 'em an' he just grinned. Well, he is a
+great chief, if he did truss me up like a fowl. I reckon the same thing
+happened to the others.”
+
+“Come closer, Sol! Come closer!” whispered Henry. “More warriors are
+walking this way. The feast is breaking up, and they'll spread all
+through the camp.”
+
+A terrible problem was presented to the two. They could no longer search
+among the strong huts, for their comrades. The opportunity to save had
+lasted long enough for one only. But border training is stern, and these
+two had uncommon courage and decision.
+
+“We must go now, Sol,” said Henry, “but we'll come back.”
+
+“Yes,” said the shiftless one, “we'll come back.”
+
+Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the forest
+before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence of an enemy.
+Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not pause. Henry led the
+way, and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair degree of speed.
+
+“You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry,” said
+Sol in a tone of humility. “When I wuz layin' thar in the lodge with my
+hands an' feet tied I wuz about eighty years old, jest ez stiff ez could
+be from the long tyin'. When I reached the edge o' the woods the blood
+wuz flowin' lively enough to make me 'bout sixty. Now I reckon I'm
+fifty, an' ef things go well I'll be back to my own nateral age in two
+or three hours.”
+
+“You shall have rest before morning,” said Henry, “and it will be in a
+good place, too. I can promise that.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say anything.
+Like the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most implicit confidence
+in their bold young leader. He had every reason to feel good. That
+painful soreness was disappearing from his ankles. As they advanced
+through the woods, weeks dropped from him one by one. Then the months
+began to roll away, and at last time fell year by year. As they
+approached the deeps of the forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde,
+the so called shiftless one, and wholly undeserving of the name, was
+young again.
+
+“I've got a fine little home for us, Sol,” said Henry. “Best we've had
+since that time we spent a winter on the island in the lake. This is
+littler, but it's harder to find. It'll be a fine thing to know you're
+sleeping safe and sound with five hundred Iroquois warriors only a few
+miles away.”
+
+“Then it'll suit me mighty well,” said Shif'less Sol, grinning broadly.
+“That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble servant, which is
+me.”
+
+They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+
+“Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?” he asked.
+
+“I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to,” he replied. “Jest you
+jump on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me only one jump
+behind you!”
+
+Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and behind
+him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one. It was now past midnight,
+and the moon was obscured. The keenest eyes twenty yards away could
+not have seen the two dusky figures as they went by leaps into the very
+heart of the great, black swamp. They reached the solid ground, and then
+the hut.
+
+“Here, Sol,” said Henry, “is my house, and yours, also, and soon, I
+hope, to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too.”
+
+“Henry,” said Shif'less Sol, “I'm shorely glad to come.”
+
+They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall, and
+soon were sound asleep.
+
+Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. They had
+eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily. Many times had they told the
+glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League, and many times had they
+gladly acknowledged the valor and worth of Timmendiquas and the brave
+little Wyandot nation. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side
+by side throughout the feast, but often other great chiefs were with
+them-Skanawati, Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the
+Mohawk; Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+
+Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges, and soon
+the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on the ground, wrapped
+in their blankets. The fires were allowed to sink low, and at last the
+older chiefs withdrew, leaving only Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+
+“You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois,” said
+Thayendanegea. “We can bring many more warriors than are here into the
+field, and we will strike the white settlements with you.”
+
+“The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great League,” said
+Timmendiquas proudly, “but no one has ever been before them in battle.”
+
+“You speak truth, as I have often heard it,” said Thayendanegea
+thoughtfully. Then he showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor, the
+finest in the village, and retired to his own.
+
+The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous
+decision. Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they would make
+a new and formidable attack upon the white settlements, and Timmendiquas
+and his fierce Wyandots would help them. All of them, from the oldest
+to the youngest, rejoiced in the decision, and, not least, the famous
+Thayendanegea. He hated the Americans most because they were upon
+the soil, and were always pressing forward against the Indian. The
+Englishmen were far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the
+march of the American would be less rapid. He would strike once more
+with the Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on the
+American rearguard. He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the Western
+Gate, would lead in the onset. Thayendanegea considered it a good
+night's work, and he slept peacefully.
+
+The great camp relapsed into silence. The warriors on the ground
+breathed perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the fires
+were permitted to smolder down to coals. Wolves and panthers drawn by
+the scent of food crept through the thickets toward the faint firelight,
+but they were afraid to draw near. Morning came, and food and drink
+were taken to the lodges in which four prisoners were held, prisoners
+of great value, taken by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his
+urgent insistence as hostages.
+
+Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were
+loosened they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty. The one who
+spoke in a slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to be the most
+dangerous of them all, was gone. Henry and Sol had taken the severed
+thongs with them, and there was nothing to show how the prisoner had
+disappeared, except that the withes fastening the door had been cut.
+
+The news spread through the village, and there was much excitement.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at the empty hut.
+Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol had gone, but he said
+nothing. Others believed that it was the work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The
+Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh (The Spirit of the Winds) had taken
+him away.
+
+“It is well to keep a good watch on the others,” said Timmendiquas, and
+Thayendanegea nodded.
+
+That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a great war
+council. A string of white wampum about a foot in length was passed
+to every chief, who held it a moment or two before handing it to his
+neighbors. It was then laid on a table in the center of the room, the
+ends touching. This signified harmony among the Six Nations. All the
+chiefs had been summoned to this place by belts of wampum sent to the
+different tribes by runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this
+honor belonged. All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of
+belts, and now this was done by the assembled chiefs.
+
+Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the real head
+of a brave and allied nation, was present throughout the council. His
+advice was asked often, and when he gave it the others listened with
+gravity and deference. The next day the village played a great game of
+lacrosse, which was invented by the Indians, and which had been played
+by them for centuries before the arrival of the white man. In this case
+the match was on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas
+and Senecas.
+
+The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great natural
+meadow surrounded by forest. The rival sides assembled opposite each
+other and bet heavily. All the stakes, under the law of the game, were
+laid upon the ground in heaps here, and they consisted of the articles
+most precious to the Iroquois. In these heaps were rifles, tomahawks,
+scalping knives, wampum, strips of colored beads, blankets, swords,
+belts, moccasins, leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in
+forays on the white settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of
+various kinds, boots, shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast
+assortment.
+
+These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older
+chiefs sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
+
+The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five hundred
+on each side, and already they began to show an excitement approaching
+that which animated them when they would go into battle. Their eyes
+glowed, and the muscles on their naked backs and chests were tense for
+the spring. In order to leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they
+wore no clothing at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist
+to the knee.
+
+The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of “byes” like
+those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart. But the goals of
+each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+
+At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants arranged
+themselves in two parallel lines facing each other, inside the area and
+about ten rods apart. Every man was armed with a strong stick three and
+a half to four feet in length, and curving toward the end. Upon
+this curved end was tightly fastened a network of thongs of untanned
+deerskin, drawn until they were rigid and taut. The ball with which they
+were to play was made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about
+the size of an ordinary apple.
+
+At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the chiefs,
+who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also score keepers.
+They kept tally of the game by cutting notches upon sticks. Every time
+one side put the ball through the other's goal it counted one, but there
+was an unusual power exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to
+the games of white men. If one side got too far ahead, its score was
+cut down at the discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more
+even, and also to protract it sometimes over three or four days. The
+warriors of the leading side might grumble among one another at the
+amount of cutting the chiefs did, but they would not dare to make any
+protest. However, the chiefs would never cut the leading side down to an
+absolute parity with the other. It was always allowed to retain a margin
+of the superiority it had won.
+
+The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became intense. Even
+the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness, while the brown bodies
+of the warriors shone in the sun, and the taut muscles leaped up under
+the skin. Fifty players on each side, sticks in hand, advanced to the
+center of the ground, and arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion
+of football players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their
+goals. Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+
+There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+beautiful of these appeared. She was not more than sixteen or seventeen
+years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer, and she was
+dressed in the finest and most richly embroidered deerskin. Her head was
+crowned with a red coronet, crested with plumes, made of the feathers of
+the eagle and heron. She wore silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+
+The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very center of
+the arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors, she placed it upon
+the ground. Then she sprang back and joined the throng of spectators.
+Two of the players, one from each side, chosen for strength and
+dexterity, advanced. They hooked the ball together in their united bats
+and thus raised it aloft, until the bats were absolutely perpendicular.
+Then with a quick, jerking motion they shot it upward. Much might
+be gained by this first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two
+players were equal, and it shot almost absolutely straight into the air.
+The nearest groups made a rush for it, and the fray began.
+
+Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually twenty or
+thirty on each side struck for the ball, and when they became exhausted
+or disabled were relieved by similar groups. All eventually came into
+action.
+
+The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity, assuming
+sometimes the aspect of a battle. Blows with the formidable sticks were
+given and received. Brown skins were streaked with blood, heads were
+cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. Such killings were not unusual in
+these games, and it was always considered the fault of the man who fell,
+due to his own awkwardness or unwariness. The body of the dead Cayuga
+was taken away in disgrace.
+
+All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and zeal,
+party relieving party. The meadow and the surrounding forest resounded
+with the shouts and yells of combatants and spectators. The old squaws
+were in a perfect frenzy of excitement, and their shrill screams of
+applause or condemnation rose above every other sound.
+
+On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one day, the
+chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. The game closed
+at sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas triumphant, and richer by far
+than they were in the morning. The Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped
+of their goods and crestfallen.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the game
+closely to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe. They and Quarles had wandered eastward with some Delawares,
+and had afterward joined the band of Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave
+them no very warm welcome. Quarles had left on some errand a few days
+before. They had rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by
+one, in the deep bush. But they had felt anger and disappointment when
+the fifth was not taken, also. Now both were concerned and alarmed over
+the escape of Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew apart from the
+Indians to discuss it.
+
+“I think,” said Wyatt, “that Hyde did not manage it himself, all alone.
+How could he? He was bound both hand and foot; and I've learned, too,
+Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles have been taken. That
+means one apiece for Hyde and the three prisoners that are left.”
+
+The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+
+“It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away,” said
+Blackstaffe, “and their taking of the rifles means that he and Hyde
+expect to rescue the other three in the same way. You think so, too?”
+
+“Of course,” replied Wyatt. “What makes the Indians, who are so
+wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so careless when
+they have a great feast?”
+
+Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“It is their way,” he replied. “You cannot change it. Ware must have
+noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of it. But I don't
+think any of the others will go that way.”
+
+“The boy Cotter is in here,” said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the side of a
+small hut. “Let's go in and see him.”
+
+
+“Good enough,” said Blackstaffe. “But we mustn't let him know that Hyde
+has escaped.”
+
+Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. He, too,
+was pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon him heavily-but
+Paul's spirit could never be daunted. He looked at the two renegades
+with hatred and contempt.
+
+“Well, you're in a fine fix,” said Wyatt sneeringly. “We just came in to
+tell you that we took Henry Ware last night.”
+
+Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that the
+renegade was lying.
+
+“I know better,” he said.
+
+“Then we will get him,” said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, “and all of you
+will die at the stake.”
+
+“You, will not get him,” said Paul defiantly, “and as for the rest of
+us dying at the stake, that's to be seen. I know this: Timmendiquas
+considers us of value, to be traded or exchanged, and he's too smart
+a man to destroy what he regards as his own property. Besides, we may
+escape. I don't want to boast, Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're
+hard to hold.”
+
+Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if he were
+through with them. They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said sulkily:
+
+“Nothing to be got out of him.”
+
+“No,” said Blackstaffe, “but we must urge that the strictest kind of
+guard be kept over the others.”
+
+The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all their
+forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had in mind. The
+Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum belts of purple shells,
+sign of war, to distant villages of the tribes, and parties of warriors
+were still coming in. A band of Cayugas arrived that night, and with
+them they brought a half starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had
+picked up near the camp. The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might
+have been when in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had
+reached him through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the
+Iroquois on the white settlements, and the spirits would not let him
+rest unless he bore his part in it. He prayed therefore to be accepted
+among them.
+
+Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to a
+lodge to rest. To-morrow he would be well, and he would be welcomed to
+the ranks of the Cayugas, a Younger nation. But when the morning came,
+the lodge was empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was gone, and with him the
+boy, Paul, the youngest of the prisoners. Guards bad been posted all
+around the camp, but evidently the two had slipped between. Brave
+and advanced as were the Iroquois, superstition seized upon them.
+Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work among them, coming in the form of the
+famished Lenni-Lenape. He had steeped them in a deep sleep, and then
+he had vanished with the prisoner in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had
+taken away the boy, who was one of a hated race, for some sacrifice or
+mystery of his own. The fears of the Iroquois rose. If the Spirit of
+Evil was among them, greater harm could be expected.
+
+But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did not
+believe in the interference of either good spirits or bad spirits, and
+just now their special hatred was a famished Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+
+“Why on earth didn't I think of it?” exclaimed Wyatt. “I'm sure now by
+his size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he slipped to the lodge,
+let Cotter out, and they dodged about in the darkness until they escaped
+in the forest. I'll complain to Timmendiquas.”
+
+He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both Iroquois and
+Wyandots. The great White Lightning regarded him with an icy stare.
+
+“You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?” he asked.
+
+“I do,” exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+“Then why did you not prevent it?”
+
+Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+
+“Since when,” continued Timmendiquas, “have you, a deserter front your
+own people, had the right to hold to account the head chief of the
+Wyandots?” Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly was, trembled yet
+more. He knew that Timmendiquas did not like him, and that the Wyandot
+chieftain could make his position among the Indians precarious.
+
+“I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in particular,”
+ he exclaimed hastily, “but I've been hearing so much talk about the
+Spirit of Evil having a hand in this that I couldn't keep front saying
+something. Of course, it was Henry Ware and Hyde who did it!”
+
+“It may be,” said Timmendiquas icily, “but neither the Manitou of the
+Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me the eyes to
+see everything that happens in the dark.”
+
+Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more. He and
+Blackstaffe held many conferences through the day, and they longed for
+the presence of Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+
+That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest villages
+of the Mohawks, far east toward Albany. He had been sent from a farther
+village, and was not known personally to the warriors in the great camp,
+but he bore a wampum belt of purple shells, the sign of war, and he
+reported directly to Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and
+satisfactory words. After ample feasting, as became one who had come
+so far, he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought
+sleep.
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep. His evil spirit warned
+him to rise and go to the huts, where the two remaining prisoners were
+kept. It was then about one o'clock in the morning, and as he passed he
+saw the Onondaga runner at the door of one of the prison lodges. He was
+about to cry out, but the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent
+blow with the butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic,
+that he fell senseless. When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him
+an hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the
+prisoners, the one called Ross, was gone.
+
+Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil was
+among them. When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+were deceived, how could a common warrior hope to escape its wicked
+influence!
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a bed of
+skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him no comfort.
+
+The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, wind and rain. Many of the lodges were thrown
+down, and when the storm finally whirled itself away, it was found that
+the last of the prisoners, he of the long arms and long legs, had gone
+on the edge of the blast.
+
+Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. CATHARINE MONTOUR
+
+
+The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of content.
+The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his comrades, had
+disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward. The lightning was flaring
+its last on the distant horizon, but the rain still pattered in the
+great woods.
+
+It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it. They were
+dry, warm, and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and the
+wilderness. The four after their imprisonment and privations were
+recovering their weight and color. Paul, who had suffered the most,
+had, on the other hand, made the quickest recovery, and their present
+situation, so fortunate in contrast with their threatened fate a few
+days before, made a great appeal to his imagination. The door was
+allowed to stand open six inches, and through the crevice he watched the
+rain pattering on the dark earth. He felt an immense sense of security
+and comfort. Paul was hopeful by nature and full of courage, but when he
+lay bound and alone in a hut in the Iroquois camp it seemed to him that
+no chance was left. The comrades had been kept separate, and he had
+supposed the others to be dead. But here he was snatched from the very
+pit of death, and all the others had been saved from a like fate.
+
+“If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry,” he said, “I'd
+never have given up hope. It was a wonderful thing you did to start the
+chain that drew us all away.”
+
+“It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done,” said
+Henry.
+
+“We might have tried it,” said Long Jim Hart, “but I ain't sure that
+we'd have done it. Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me my scalp
+would be dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a Mohawk village. Say,
+Sol, how wuz it that you talked Onondaga when you played the part uv
+that Onondaga runner. Didn't know you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo.”
+
+Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a thoughtful hand
+once or twice across his forehead.
+
+“Jim,” he said, “I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the instincts
+uv the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty strong hold on me.
+Ef I'd had the chance, I might be a purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin'
+poetry. I ain't told you about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I
+moved with the settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk
+Iroquois a heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been
+now. Ain't it funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an' it gits
+all covered with rust and mold, the time comes when that same forgot
+little thing is the most vallyble article in the world to you.”
+
+“Weren't you scared, Sol,” persisted Paul, “to face a man like Brant,
+an' pass yourself off as an Onondaga?”
+
+“No, I wuzn't,” replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, “I've been wuss
+scared over little things. I guess that when your life depends on jest
+a motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word, Natur' somehow comes to
+your help an' holds you up. I didn't get good an' skeered till it wuz
+all over, an' then I had one fit right after another.”
+
+“I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin',” said Tom Ross; “jest
+beginnin' to git over it. I tell you, Henry, it wuz pow'ful lucky fur
+us you found them steppin' stones, an' this solid little place in the
+middle uv all that black mud.”
+
+“Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island in
+the lake,” said Long Jim. “That waz shorely a nice place an' pow'ful
+comf'table we wuz thar. But we're a long way from it now. That island uv
+ours must be seven or eight hundred miles from here, an' I reckon it's
+nigh to fifteen hundred to New Orleans, whar we wuz once.”
+
+“Shet up,” said Tom Ross suddenly. “Time fur all uv you to go to sleep,
+an' I'm goin' to watch.”
+
+“I'll watch,” said Henry.
+
+“I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time,” said Tom.
+
+“Needn't quarrel with me about it,” said Shif'less Sol. “A lazy man like
+me is always willin' to go to sleep. You kin hev my watch, Tom, every
+night fur the next five years.”
+
+He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was sound
+asleep. Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they, too, soon
+slept. Tom sat at the door, one of the captured rifles across his knees,
+and watched the forest and the swamp. He saw the last flare of the
+distant lightning, and he listened to the falling of the rain drops
+until they vanished with the vanishing wind, leaving the forest still
+and without noise.
+
+Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although
+powerful in action, he was singularly chary of speech. Henry was the
+leader, but somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other
+four, a sort of elder brother. As the moon came out a little in the wake
+of the retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
+
+“One, two, three, four, five,” he murmured to himself. “We're all here,
+an' Henry come fur us. That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez
+ever seed. Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal that Paul talks about
+couldn't hev been knee high to Henry. Besides, ef them old Greeks an'
+Romans hed hed to fight Wyandots an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've
+done, whar'd they hev been?”
+
+Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of that
+sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. Then he went
+outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for the tenth time what
+a wonderful little refuge it was. He was about to return to the hut when
+he saw a dozen dark blots along the high bough of a tree. He knew them.
+They were welcome blots. They were wild turkeys that had found what had
+seemed to be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+
+Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted, and here
+was more food come to their hand. “We're five pow'ful feeders, an' we'll
+need you,” he murmured, looking up at the turkeys, “but you kin rest
+thar till nearly mornin'.”
+
+He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the hut to
+resume his watch. Just before the first dawn he awoke Henry.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest on the
+limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv ourn. 'Pears
+to me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers like us to eat. Kin
+we risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too dangerous?”
+
+“I think we can risk the shots,” said Henry, rising and taking his
+rifle. “We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely that Indians
+are anywhere near.”
+
+They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound asleep,
+and stepped noiselessly among the trees. The first pale gray bar that
+heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+
+“Thar they are,” said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots on the
+high bough.
+
+“We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull trigger,”
+ said Henry.
+
+He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but he noticed when
+he drew the bead that a second turkey just behind the first was directly
+in his line of fire. The fact aroused his ambition to kill both with
+one bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display
+marksmanship, but they needed the extra turkey for food.
+
+“Are you ready, Tom?” he asked. “Then fire.”
+
+They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
+under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
+turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
+and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+
+Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+
+“Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!” he cried in tense
+tones.
+
+“Why, what's the matter?” asked the boy in surprise.
+
+“Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot?
+An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv
+them turkeys at the same time we did.”
+
+Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+
+“There's no Indian about,” he said. “I killed two turkeys with one shot,
+and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the
+line of the bullet, and it went through both.”
+
+Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.
+
+“I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry,” he said. “Now when I saw
+that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe
+more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that
+we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind
+just natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I
+want to eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight,
+'though I 'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the
+woods?”
+
+They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found
+them large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to
+their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life
+of the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
+westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures,
+all three with leveled rifles.
+
+“All right, boys,” sang out Henry. “It's nobody but Tom and myself,
+bringing in our breakfast.”
+
+The three dropped their rifles.
+
+“That's good,” said Shif'less Sol. “When them shots roused us out o'
+our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot,
+artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned
+we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.
+
+“But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I
+reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down
+with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and
+Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.
+But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!”
+
+“You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde,” said Long Jim.
+“Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you
+back.”
+
+But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued
+on the turkeys.
+
+“I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin',” he said, “but I'm goin'
+to help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The
+quicker they are cooked the better it'll suit me.”
+
+While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the
+sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and
+scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence,
+and, relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.
+
+Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a contented
+five that worked on one of the turkeys--the other two being saved for
+further needs.
+
+“What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?”
+ asked Long Jim as they ate.
+
+“We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us,” replied the boy.
+“It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that
+they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has
+told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea,
+and from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a
+big army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named
+the Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river,
+and they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by
+British from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but
+shall we go and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?”
+
+“Of course,” said the four together.
+
+“Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference,” said
+Shif'less Sol. “We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we
+sent word back from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while
+here in the east on mighty important business.”
+
+“Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,”
+ said Henry. “That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans,
+Sol?”
+
+“They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to
+a place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv
+'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our
+Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our
+people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole
+ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John
+Butler is to command 'em.”
+
+Paul shuddered.
+
+“I've heard of him,” he said. “They called him 'Indian' Butler at
+Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the
+Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is
+as bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the
+Johnsons and Claus.”
+
+“'Pears ez ef we would be needed,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“I don't think we ought to hurry,” said Henry. “The more we know about
+the Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a
+safe and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the
+Indian movements.”
+
+“Suits me,” drawled Shif'less Sol. “My legs an' arms are still stiff
+from them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I
+guess I'll take a rest from travelin.”
+
+“You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself,” rejoined Long Jim; “an' I'm
+afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal
+better than you deserve.”
+
+They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch
+on the Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting
+parties, as the region was far from any settled portion of the country,
+and the Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence.
+But the hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy
+jerking meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great
+campaign, but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting
+was done by Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick
+brushwood and watched, by the light of the fires, what was passing in
+the Indian camp.
+
+On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and Shif'less Sol
+lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned
+in the Indian camp, warriors were polishing their weapons, and the women
+were cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard
+from a point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a
+kind of chant.
+
+“Another war party comin',” whispered Shif'less Sol, “an' singin' about
+the victories that they're goin' to win.”
+
+“But did you notice that voice?” Henry whispered back. “It's not a
+man's, it's a woman's.”
+
+“Now that you speak of it, you're right,” said Shif'less Sol. “It's
+funny to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into
+camp. That's the business o' warriors.”
+
+“Then this is no ordinary woman,” said Henry.
+
+“They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and
+we want to see her.”
+
+“So we do,” said Sol, “but I ain't breathin' while they pass.”
+
+They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could
+not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing
+louder, and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman.
+The trail was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The
+fierce Indian chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that
+either had ever seen came into view.
+
+The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most
+of her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a
+strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and
+moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European
+cloth with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright
+feathers, thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her
+back. She held in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung
+fiercely in time to her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression
+of one who had taken some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked
+neither to right nor to left as she strode on, chanting a song of blood,
+and swinging the keen blade.
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human
+figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength
+of a man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and
+awful in the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian
+chant. Brave as they were, Henry and the shiftless one felt fear, as
+perhaps they had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might!
+They were destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the
+most awful of which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery
+almost unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know
+it, but they were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French
+Governor General of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the
+Iroquois, and of a memory infamous forever on the border, where she was
+known as “Queen Esther.”
+
+Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+
+“I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians.”
+
+A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and
+their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every
+sense. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great
+Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois.
+In her youth she had been treated as a white woman, educated and dressed
+as a white woman, and she had played a part in colonial society at
+Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned
+toward the savage half of herself, had become wholly a savage, had
+married a savage chief, bad been the mother of savage children, and here
+she was, at midnight, striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness,
+her head aflame with visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+
+The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
+still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol
+was so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to
+see her entry.
+
+Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
+and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
+welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
+stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he
+received her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest,
+though an ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the
+Six Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame
+the Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+
+After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village
+died down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they
+had been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
+formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
+be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
+their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+shivered slightly.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
+comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
+afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think
+she is a witch?”
+
+“There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
+Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to happen is
+right.”
+
+It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the islet. Tom
+Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered peacefully on. They told Tom
+what they had seen, and he told them the identity of the terrible woman.
+
+“I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about her
+afore I went to Kentucky to live. She's got a tre-men-jeous power over
+the Iroquois. They think she ken throw spells, an' all that sort of
+thing-an' mebbe she kin.”
+
+Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets, and then
+they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. Now they were
+white men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir John Johnson's Royal
+Greens, as Henry afterward learned; and with them was the infamous John
+Butler, or “Indian” Butler, as he was generally known on the New York
+and Pennsylvania frontier, middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant
+of appearance, but energetic, savage and cruel in nature. He was a
+descendant of the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the
+terrible battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year
+before.
+
+Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council around
+one of the fires. In this group were Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea, Queen
+Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations, and the white men, John
+Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy, Braxton Wyatt. It seemed to
+Henry that Timmendiquas, King of the Wyandots, was superior to all the
+other chiefs present, even to Thayendanegea. His expression was nobler
+than that of the great Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+
+Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they felt sure
+the Iroquois were about to break up their village and march on the great
+campaign they had planned. The two and their comrades could render no
+greater service than to watch their march, and then warn those upon whom
+the blow was to fall.
+
+The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well
+equipped with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois dismantle
+their village, all except the Long House and two or three other of the
+more solid structures, and begin the march. Henry and his comrades went
+parallel with them, watching their movements as closely as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+
+
+The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to keep
+with the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to observe what
+was going on, and to divine what was intended from what they observed.
+Fortunately it, was early summer, and the weather being very beautiful
+they could sleep without shelter. Hence they found it convenient to
+sleep sometimes by daylight, posting a watch always, and to spy upon the
+Indian camp at night. They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian
+army, particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war
+chiefs of theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of Tories.
+
+Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga, preparatory
+to their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. About four hundred
+white men, English Canadians and Tories, were present, and eight hundred
+picked warriors of the Six Nations under Thayendanegea, besides the
+little band of Wyandots led by the resolute Timmendiquas. “Indian”
+ Butler was in general command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the
+high priestess of the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and
+chanting songs that made the warriors see red. Upon the rear of this
+extraordinary army hung a band of fierce old squaws, from whom every
+remnant of mercy and Gentleness had departed.
+
+From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw “Indian” Butler's
+force start for its final march upon Wyoming. It was composed of many
+diverse elements, and perhaps none more bloodthirsty ever trod the soil
+of America. In some preliminary skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been
+slain, and now her fury knew no limits. She took her place at the
+very head of the army, whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and
+neither “Indian” Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in
+anything great or small.
+
+Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened toward the
+valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into contact with the
+great war itself. They had looked upon a uniformed enemy for the first
+time, and they might soon see the colonial buff and blue of the eastern
+army. Their hearts thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+
+They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of the four
+in the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the Wyoming Valley
+and the direction in which it lay, and, taking one last look at the
+savage army, they sped toward it. The time was the close, of June, and
+the foliage was still dark green. It was a land of low mountain, hill,
+rich valley, and clear stream, and it was beautiful to every one of the
+five. Much of their course lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they
+saw signs of a more extended cultivation than any that was yet to be
+witnessed in Kentucky. From the brow of a little hill they beheld a
+field of green, and in another field a man plowing.
+
+“That's wheat,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“But we can't leave the man to plow,” said Henry, “or he'll never
+harvest that wheat. We'll warn him.”
+
+The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into his
+field. He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay across
+the plow handles. Neither Henry nor his companions realized that their
+forest garb and long life in the wilderness made them look more like
+Indians than white men. But Henry threw up a hand as a sign of peace.
+
+“We're white like yourselves,” he cried, “and we've come to warn you!
+The Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!”
+
+The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little wood,
+where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising. He could not doubt on a
+near view that these were white like himself, and the words rang true.
+
+“My house is strong,” he said, “and I can beat them off. Maybe you will
+help me.”
+
+“We'd help you willingly enough,” said Henry, “if this were any ordinary
+raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen Esther are coming at
+the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. How could we hold a house, no
+matter how thick its walls, against such an army as that? Don't hesitate
+a moment! Get up what you can and gallop.”
+
+The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his plow in
+the furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted his wife and
+children on other horses, and, taking only food and clothing, fled to
+Stroudsburg, where there was a strong fort. At a later day he gave Henry
+heartfelt thanks for his warning, as six hours afterward the vanguard
+of the horde burned his home and raged because its owner and his family
+were gone with their scalps on their own heads.
+
+The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the Lenni-Lenape,
+until they were pushed westward by other tribes, had had their village
+Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language Wyoming. It was a beautiful
+valley running twenty miles or more along the Susquehanna, and about
+three miles broad. On either side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in
+height, and further away were peaks with mists and vapors around their
+crests. The valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river
+sparkled, now in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and fell.
+
+More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs, appeared,
+and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery beacon. Simon Jennings
+was not the only man who lived to thank them for the warning. Others
+were incredulous, and soon paid the terrible price of unbelief.
+
+The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them with
+wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated fields, and
+so many signs of a numerous population. They had emerged almost for the
+first time from the wilderness, excepting their memorable visit to New
+Orleans, although this was a very different region. Long Jim spoke of
+it.
+
+“I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns,” he said. “We
+found some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the ground feels
+firmer under my feet here.”
+
+“The ground feels firmer,” said Paul, who had some of the prescience of
+the seer, “but the skies are no brighter. They look red to me sometimes,
+Jim.”
+
+Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously. A woodsman, he
+had his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon his mind. He began
+to fear a great disaster, and his experienced eye perceived at once the
+defenseless state of the valley. He remembered the council of the great
+Indian force in the deep woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther
+was again before him.
+
+“These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em,” he said.
+“It ain't no time to be plowin' land.”
+
+Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley. It was a fine river,
+beautiful with changing colors. The soil on either side was as deep and
+fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the mountains cut the sky
+sharp and clear. Hills and slopes were dark green with foliage.
+
+“It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and scouts
+came in, confirming it. Panic seized the settlers, and they began to
+crowd toward Forty Fort on the west side of the river. Henry and his
+comrades themselves arrived there toward the close of evening, just as
+the sun had set, blood red, behind the mountains. Some report of them
+had preceded their coming, and as soon as they had eaten they were
+summoned to the presence of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the
+military force in the valley. Singularly enough, he was a cousin of
+“Indian” Butler, who led the invading army.
+
+The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and moccasins,
+and everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife, entered a large low
+room, dimly lighted by some wicks burning in tallow. A man of middle
+years, with a keen New England face, sat at a little table, and several
+others of varying ages stood near.
+
+The five knew instinctively that the man at the table was Colonel
+Butler, and they bowed, but they did not show the faintest trace of
+subservience. They had caught suspicious glances from some of the
+officers who stood about the commander, and they stiffened at once.
+Colonel Butler looked involuntarily at Henry-everybody always took him,
+without the telling, for leader of the group.
+
+“We have had report of you,” he said in cool noncommittal tones, “and
+you have been telling of great Indian councils that you have seen in the
+woods. May I ask your name and where you belong?”
+
+“My name,” replied Henry with dignity, “is Henry Ware, and I come from
+Kentucky. My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde, Tom Ross, and
+Jim Hart. They, too, come from Kentucky.”
+
+Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances. Certainly they
+were wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. It would
+seem strange that new settlers in that far land should be here in
+Pennsylvania. Henry saw clearly that his story was doubted.
+
+“Kentucky, you tell me?” said Colonel Butler. “Do you mean to say
+you have come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an attack by
+Indians and Tories?”
+
+Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a little, but
+he saw that the commander was not unreasonable. It was a time when
+men might well question the words of strangers. Remembering this, he
+replied:
+
+“No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you. In fact, we
+came from a point much farther than that. We came from New Orleans to
+Pittsburgh with a fleet loaded with supplies for the Continental armies,
+and commanded by Adam Colfax of New Hampshire.”
+
+The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+
+“What!” he exclaimed, “you were on that expedition? It seems to me that
+I recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some independent
+scouts.”
+
+“When we reached Pittsburgh,” continued Henry, “it was our first
+intention to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war movement
+was in progress to the eastward, and we thought that we would see what
+was going on. Four of us have been captives among the Iroquois. We know
+much of their plans, and we know, too, that Timmendiquas, the great
+chief of the Wyandots, whom we fought along the Ohio, has joined them
+with a hand of his best warriors. We have also seen Thayendanegea, every
+one of us.”
+
+“You have seen Brant?” exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the great
+Mohawk by his white name.
+
+“Yes,” replied Henry. “We have seen him, and we have also seen the woman
+they call Queen Esther. She is continually urging the Indians on.”
+
+Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. He also
+introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John Durkee, Colonel
+Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garrett,
+Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+
+“Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw,” continued Colonel Butler
+courteously. “You will pardon so many questions, but we must be careful.
+You will see that yourselves. But I am a New England man myself, from
+Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. I recall now that we have heard
+of you, also, and we are grateful for your coming. Will you and your
+comrades tell us all that you have seen and heard?”
+
+The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere. They were no longer
+possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one point when it
+should be dreaded at another. The men drew closely around them, and
+listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the dim room. Henry spoke
+first, and the others in their turn. Every one of them spoke tersely but
+vividly in the language of the forest. They felt deeply what they had
+seen, and they drew the same picture for their listeners. Gradually the
+faces of the Wyoming men became shadowed. This was a formidable tale
+that they were hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+
+“It is worse than I thought it could be,” said Colonel Butler at last.
+“How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?”
+
+“Close to fifteen hundred.”
+
+“All trained warriors and soldiers. And at the best we cannot raise more
+than three hundreds including old men and boys, and our men, too, are
+farmers.”
+
+“But we can beat them. Only give us a chance, Colonel!” exclaimed
+Captain Ransom.
+
+“I'm afraid the chance will come too soon,” said Colonel Butler, and
+then turning to the five: “Help us all you can. We need scouts and
+riflemen. Come to the fort for any food and ammunition you may need.”
+
+The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay, and
+do all in their power. In fact, they had come for that very purpose.
+Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had implicit faith in
+them they went forth to find that, despite the night and the darkness,
+fugitives were already crossing the river to seek refuge in Forty Fort,
+bringing with them tales of death and devastation, some of which were
+exaggerated, but too many true in all their hideous details. Men had
+been shot and scalped in the fields, houses were burning, women and
+children were captives for a fate that no one could foretell. Red ruin
+was already stalking down the valley.
+
+The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and dugouts
+across the river. Here and there a torch light flickered on the surface
+of the stream, showing the pale faces of the women and children, too
+frightened to cry. They had fled in haste, bringing with them only the
+clothes they wore and maybe a blanket or two. The borderers knew too
+well what Indian war was, with all its accompaniments of fire and the
+stake.
+
+Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night. They secured a
+large boat and crossed the river again and again, guarding the fugitives
+with their rifles, and bringing comfort to many a timid heart. Indian
+bands had penetrated far into the Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure
+that none were yet in the neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+
+It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the fugitives
+who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors of the five, had
+they so chosen, were over for the time. But their nerves were tuned to
+so high a pitch, and they felt so powerfully the presence of danger,
+that they could not rest, nor did they have any desire for sleep.
+
+
+The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of oars. It
+had been detailed for their service, and they decided to pull up the
+river. They thought it possible that they might see the advance of the
+enemy and bring news worth the telling. Long Jim and Tom Ross took the
+oars, and their powerful arms sent the boat swiftly along in the shadow
+of the western bank. Henry and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at
+the fort and a few on either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall,
+and everything else were merged in obscurity.
+
+Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger, not for
+themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs, yet so new,
+few people lived beyond the palisades, but here were rich and scattered
+settlements; and men, even in the face of great peril, are always loth
+to abandon the homes that they have built with so much toil.
+
+Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long strokes
+that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and houses sank out
+of sight. Before them lay the somber surface of the rippling river, the
+shadowy hills, and silence. The world seemed given over to the night
+save for themselves, but they knew too well to trust to such apparent
+desertion. At such hours the Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt
+that they were already near, gathering news of their victims for the
+Indian and Tory horde. Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+
+They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks and
+bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross drawing their
+oars so carefully through the water that there was never a plash to
+tell of their passing. Henry was in the prow of the boat, bent forward
+a little, eyes searching the surface of the river, and ears intent upon
+any sound that might pass on the bank. Suddenly he gave a little signal
+to the rowers and they let their oars rest.
+
+“Bring the boat in closer to the bank,” he whispered. “Push it gently
+among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above.”
+
+Tom and Jim obeyed. The boat slid softly among tall bushes that shadowed
+the water, and was hidden completely. Then Henry stepped out, crept
+cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here very low, and lay pressed
+closely against the earth, but supported by the exposed root of a tree.
+He had heard voices, those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to
+see. Peering through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great oak.
+The face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his element, with a
+better prospect of success than any that he had ever known before. Henry
+shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life
+when he might have taken it.
+
+
+But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might be
+saying, not to slay. Two of the warriors, as he saw by their paint, were
+Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. Moreover, his slight
+knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and gradually he gathered the
+drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
+the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed
+that his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with
+his wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid
+the place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He
+slid back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+
+“Pull back down the river as gently as you can,” he whispered, “and then
+I'll tell you.”
+
+The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
+yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish
+plan that he had heard.
+
+“I know that man,” said Shif'less Sol. “His name is Standish. I was
+there nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his
+family an' run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't
+afraid, an' now he's got to pay the price.”
+
+“No, he mustn't do that,” said Henry. “It's too much to pay for just
+being foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet
+save that man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?”
+
+“Why, course,” said Long Jim. “Like ez not Standish will shoot at us
+when we knock on his door, but let's try it.”
+
+The others nodded assent.
+
+“How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?” asked Henry.
+
+“'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down.”
+
+“Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
+Jim give Sol and me the oars now.”
+
+Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
+down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
+ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house
+that they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come,
+but as they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The
+shiftless one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+
+“I hated to do it, but I had to,” he murmured. The next moment Henry was
+knocking at the door.
+
+“Up! Up!” he cried, “the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
+lives!”
+
+How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!
+
+The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
+then they heard him at the door.
+
+“Who are you?” he cried. “Why are you beating on my door at such a
+time?”
+
+“We are friends, Mr. Standish,” cried Henry, “and if you would save your
+wife and children you must go at once! Open the door! Open, I say!”
+
+The man inside was in a terrible quandary. It was thus that renegades
+or Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes bade a door to be
+opened, in order that they might find an easy path to slaughter. But the
+voice outside was powerfully insistent, it had the note of truth; his
+wife and children, roused, too, were crying out, in alarm. Henry knocked
+again on the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+earnestness, to open and flee. Standish could resist no longer. He took
+down the bar and flung open the door, springing back, startled at the
+five figures that stood before him. In the dusk he did not remember
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Mr. Standish,” Henry said, speaking rapidly, “we are, as you can see,
+white. You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades within half
+an hour. We know that, because we heard them talking from the bushes.
+We have a boat in the river; you can reach it in five minutes. Take your
+wife and children, and pull for Forty Fort.”
+
+Standish was bewildered.
+
+“How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?” he
+asked.
+
+“If we had been that you'd be a dead man already,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish recognized
+the fact. His wife had felt the truth in the tones of the strangers,
+and was begging him to go. Their children were crying at visions of the
+tomahawk and scalping knife now so near.
+
+“We'll go,” said Standish. “At any rate, it can't do any harm. We'll get
+a few things together.”
+
+“Do not wait for anything!” exclaimed Henry. “You haven't a minute to
+spare! Here are more blankets! Take them and run for the boat! Sol and
+Jim, see them on board, and then come back!”
+
+Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his family ran
+for the boat. Jim and the shiftless one almost threw them on board,
+thrust a pair of oars into the bands of Standish, another into the hands
+of his wife, and then told them to pull with all their might for the
+fort.
+
+“And you,” cried Standish, “what becomes of you?”
+
+Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed Henry's
+plan.
+
+“Don't you trouble about us,” said the shiftless one. “We will come
+later. Now pull! pull!”
+
+Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the boat and
+its occupants were lost in the darkness. Tom Ross and Sol did not pause
+to watch them, but ran swiftly back to the house. Henry was at the door.
+
+“Come in,” he said briefly, and they entered. Then he closed the door
+and dropped the bar into place. Shif'less Sol and Paul were already
+inside, one sitting on the chair and the other on the edge of the bed.
+Some coals, almost hidden under ashes, smoldered and cast a faint light
+in the room, the only one that the house had, although it was divided
+into two parts by a rough homespun curtain. Henry opened one of the
+window shutters a little and looked out. The dawn had not yet come, but
+it was not a dark night, and he looked over across the little clearing
+to the trees beyond. On that side was a tiny garden, and near the wall
+of the house some roses were blooming. He could see the glow of pink and
+red. But no enemy bad yet approached. Searching the clearing carefully
+with those eyes of his, almost preternaturally keen, he was confident
+that the Indians were still in the woods. He felt an intense thrill of
+satisfaction at the success of his plan so far.
+
+He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the borderer alone
+knew what the border suffered, and only those who never saw or felt the
+torture could turn the other cheek to be smitten. The Standish house had
+made a sudden and ominous change of tenants.
+
+“It will soon be day,” said Henry, “and farmers are early risers. Kindle
+up that fire a little, will you, Sol? I want some smoke to come out of
+the chimney.”
+
+The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three pieces
+of wood that lay on the hearth. Little flames and smoke arose. Henry
+looked curiously about the house. It was the usual cabin of the
+frontier, although somewhat larger. The bed on which Shif'less Sol sat
+was evidently that of the father and mother, while two large ones behind
+the curtain were used by the children. On the shelf stood a pail half
+full of drinking water, and by the side of it a tin cup. Dried herbs
+hung over the fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners.
+The clothing of the children was scattered about. Unprepared food for
+breakfast stood on a table. Everything told of a hasty flight and its
+terrible need. Henry was already resolved, but his heart hardened within
+him as he saw.
+
+He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for the
+door bar nearly in two. The others said not a word. They had no need
+to speak. They understood everything that he did. He opened the window
+again and looked out. Nothing yet appeared. “The dawn will come in three
+quarters of an hour,” he said, “and we shall not have to wait long for
+what we want to do.”
+
+He sat down facing the door. All the others were sitting, and they, too,
+faced the door. Everyone had his rifle across his knees, with one hand
+upon the hammer. The wood on the hearth sputtered as the fire spread,
+and the flames grew. Beyond a doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising
+from the chimney, and a watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful
+and unsuspecting mind.
+
+“I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door,” said
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I wouldn't be sorry,” said Henry.
+
+Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. He hoped
+the waiting would be very short. The light was sufficient for him to see
+the faces of his comrades, and he noticed that they were all very tense.
+This was no common watch that they kept. Shif'less Sol remained on the
+bed, Henry sat on another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the
+chests with his back to the wall. Long Jim was near the curtain. Close
+by Paul was a home-made cradle. He put down his hand and touched it. He
+was glad that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his heart
+anew for the task that lay before them.
+
+Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. He did
+not open it, but there was a crack through which he could see. The
+others said nothing, but watched his face. When he turned away they knew
+that the moment was at hand.
+
+“They've just come from the woods,” he said, “and in a minute they'll be
+at the door. Now, boys, take one last look at your rifles.”
+
+A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no answer
+came from within. The knock was repeated, sharper and louder, and Henry,
+altering his voice as much as possible, exclaimed like one suddenly
+awakened from sleep:
+
+“Who is it? What do you want?”
+
+Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+
+“We've come from farther up the valley. We're scouts, we've been up to
+the Indian country. We're half starved. Open and give us food!”
+
+“I don't believe you,” replied Henry. “Honest people don't come to my
+door at this time in the morning.”
+
+Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his vivid
+fancy, thought he heard whispering on the other side of the door.
+
+“Open!” cried Wyatt, “or we'll break your door down!” Henry said
+nothing, nor did any of the others. They did not stir. The fire crackled
+a little, but there was no other sound in the Standish house. Presently
+they heard a slight noise outside, that of light feet.
+
+“They are going for a log with which to break the door in,” whispered
+Henry. “They won't have to look far. The wood pile isn't fifty feet
+away.”
+
+“An' then,” said Shif'less Sol, “they won't have much left to do but to
+take the scalps of women an' little children.”
+
+Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless one's
+significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. Henry went
+to the door, put his ear to the line where it joined the wall, and
+listened.
+
+“They've got their log,” he said, “and in half a minute they'll rush it
+against the door.”
+
+He came back to his old position. Paul's heart began to thump, and his
+thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. Then they
+heard rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew open. A half dozen
+Iroquois and a log that they held between them were hurled into the
+middle of the room. The door had given away so easily and unexpectedly
+that the warriors could not check themselves, and two or three fell
+with the log. But they sprang like cats to their feet, and with their
+comrades uttered a cry that filled the whole cabin with its terrible
+sound and import.
+
+The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at once.
+The five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, all waiting
+silent and motionless were far different from what they expected. Here
+could be no scalps, with the long, silky hair of women and children.
+
+There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their foes.
+Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five muzzles, and in an
+instant the cabin was filled with smoke and war shouts, but the warriors
+never had a chance. They could only strike blindly with their tomahawks,
+and in a half minute three of them, two wounded, rushed through the door
+and fled to the woods. They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt,
+who had hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. WYOMING
+
+
+The five made no attempt to pursue. In fact, they did not leave the
+cabin, but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen, hideous with
+war paint, but now at the end of their last trail. Their tomahawks lay
+upon the floor, and glittered when the light from the fire fell upon
+them. Smoke, heavy with the odor of burned gunpowder, drifted about the
+room.
+
+Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of air
+poured into the room. Over the mountains in the east came the first
+shaft of day. The surface of the river was lightening.
+
+“What shall we do with them?” asked Paul, pointing to the silent forms
+on the floor.
+
+“Leave them,” said Henry. “Butler's army is burning everything before
+it, and this house and all in it is bound to go. You notice, however,
+that Braxton Wyatt is not here.”
+
+“Trust him to escape every time,” said Shif'less Sol. “Of course he
+stood back while the Indians rushed the house. But ez shore ez we live
+somebody will get him some day. People like that can't escape always.”
+
+They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and not long
+after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort again, where they
+found Standish and his family. Henry replied briefly to the man's
+questions, but two hours later a scout came in and reported the grim
+sight that he had seen in the Standish home. No one could ask for
+further proof of the fealty of the five, who sought a little sleep, but
+before noon were off again.
+
+They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go farther up
+the valley. But not willing to turn back, they ascended the mountains
+that hem it in, and from the loftiest point that they could find sought
+a sight of the enemy.
+
+It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer. The blue of the heavens
+showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and the hills and
+mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark green. The river, a
+beautiful river at any time, seemed from this height a great current of
+quicksilver. Henry pointed to a place far up the stream where black dots
+appeared on its surface. These dots were moving, and they came on in
+four lines.
+
+“Boys,” he said, “you know what those lines of black dots are?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Shif'less Sol, “it's Butler's army of Indians, Tories,
+Canadians, an' English. They've come from Tioga Point on the river, an'
+our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon.”
+
+The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the
+distance, with startling clearness. The five, watching from their peak,
+saw them turn in toward the land, where they poured forth a motley
+stream of red men and white, a stream that was quickly swallowed up in
+the forest.
+
+“They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom Ross.
+
+“And they're coming fast,” said Henry. “It's for us to carry the
+warning.”
+
+They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they passed,
+and once more they were in the council room with Colonel Zebulon Butler
+and his officers around him.
+
+“So they are at hand, and you have seen them?” said the colonel.
+
+“Yes,” replied Henry, the spokesman, “they came down from Tioga Point
+in boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through the woods. They
+will be here today.”
+
+There was a little silence in the room. The older men understood the
+danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for battle.
+
+“Why should we stay here and wait for them?” exclaimed one of the
+younger captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. “Why
+not go out, meet them, and beat them?”
+
+“They outnumber us about five to one,” said Henry. “Brant, if he is
+still with them, though he may have gone to some other place from Tioga
+Point, is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, and they say
+that the Tory leader is energetic and capable.”
+
+“It is all true!” exclaimed Colonel Butler. “We must stay in the fort!
+We must not go out to meet them! We are not strong enough!”
+
+A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger officers.
+
+“And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be scalped,
+while we stay behind log walls!” said one of them boldly.
+
+The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely militia,
+farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+
+Colonel Butler flushed.
+
+“We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge,” he said. “It hurts
+me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we sit quiet here.
+But I know that we have no chance against so large a force, and if we
+fall what is to become of the hundreds whom we now protect?”
+
+But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were indignant. They
+would not seek shelter for themselves while others were suffering. A
+young lieutenant saw from a window two fires spring up and burn like
+torch lights against the sky. They were houses blazing before the Indian
+brand.
+
+“Look at that!” he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, “and we are
+here, under cover, doing nothing!”
+
+A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler, although
+the flush remained on his face, still shook his head. He glanced at Tom
+Ross, the oldest of the five.
+
+“You know about the Indian force,” he exclaimed. “What should we do?”
+
+The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was his
+wont.
+
+“It's a hard thing to set here,” he exclaimed, “but it will be harder to
+go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four or five to one.”
+
+“We must not go out,” repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+
+The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+
+“A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family has
+been killed and scalped,” he said.
+
+A deep, angry cry went up. Colonel Butler and the few who stood with
+him were overborne. Such things as these could not be endured, and
+reluctantly the commander gave his consent. They would go out and
+fight. The fort and its enclosures were soon filled with the sounds of
+preparation, and the little army was formed rapidly.
+
+“We will fight by your side, of course,” said Henry, “but we wish to
+serve on the flank as an independent band. We can be of more service in
+that manner.”
+
+The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+
+“Act as you think best,” he said.
+
+The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force formed
+in ranks. Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon going into
+battle. They had seen the strength of that army of Indians, renegades,
+Tories, Canadians, and English advancing under the banner of England,
+and they knew the power and fanaticism of the Indian leaders. They
+believed that the terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had
+continually chanted to them her songs of blood as they came down the
+river. It was now the third of July, and valley and river were beautiful
+in the golden sunlight. The foliage showed vivid and deep green on
+either line of high hills. The summer sun had never shown more kindly
+over the lovely valley.
+
+The time was now three o'clock. The gates of the fort were thrown open,
+and the little army marched out, only three hundred, of whom seventy
+were old men, or boys so young that in our day they would be called
+children. Yet they marched bravely against the picked warriors of the
+Iroquois, trained from infancy to the forest and war, and a formidable
+body of white rovers who wished to destroy the little colony of
+“rebels,” as they called them.
+
+Small though it might be, it was a gallant army. Young and old held
+their heads high. A banner was flying, and a boy beat a steady insistent
+roll upon a drum. Henry and his comrades were on the left flank, the
+river was on the right. The great gates had closed behind them, shutting
+in the women and the children. The sun blazed down, throwing everything
+into relief with its intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces
+of the borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes. Colonel
+Butler and two or three of his officers were on horseback, leading the
+van. Now that the decision was to fight, the older officers, who had
+opposed it, were in the very front. Forward they went, and spread out
+a little, but with the right flank still resting on the river, and the
+left extended on the plain.
+
+The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from the
+others, searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was already so
+near. Their gloom did not decrease. Neither the rolling of the drum nor
+the flaunting of the banner had any effect. Brave though the men might
+be, this was not the way in which they should meet an Indian foe who
+outnumbered them four or five to one.
+
+“I don't like it,” muttered Tom Ross.
+
+“Nor do I,” said Henry, “but remember that whatever happens we all stand
+together.”
+
+“We remember!” said the others.
+
+On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the main
+force some hundred yards. They swung in a little toward the river. The
+banks here were highland off to the left was a large swamp. The five now
+checked speed and moved with great wariness. They saw nothing, and they
+heard nothing, either, until they went forty or fifty yards farther.
+Then a low droning sound came to their ears. It was the voice of one yet
+far away, but they knew it. It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther,
+in this moment the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+continuously for the combat.
+
+The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a little. The
+chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they saw the ominous
+figure approaching. She was much as she had been on that night when they
+first beheld her. She wore the same dress of barbaric colors, she swung
+the same great tomahawk about her head, and sang all the time of fire
+and blood and death.
+
+They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech cloth for
+battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war paint, and bright
+feathers gleaming in their hair. Henry recognized the tall form of
+Timmendiquas, notable by his height, and around him his little band of
+Wyandots, ready to prove themselves mighty warriors to their eastern
+friends the Iroquois. Back of these was a long line of Indians and their
+white allies, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers
+in the center, bearing the flag of England. The warriors, of whom the
+Senecas were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on their
+right flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. Sangerachte and
+Hiokatoo, who had taken two English prisoners at Braddock's defeat, and
+who had afterwards burned them both alive with his own hand, were the
+principal leaders of the Senecas. Henry caught a glimpse of “Indian”
+ Butler in the center, with a great blood-red handkerchief tied around
+his head, and, despite the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of
+the heart how far the hostile line extended. It could wrap itself like a
+python around the defense.
+
+“It's a tale that will soon be told,” said Paul.
+
+They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy was
+at band. Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing chant of Queen
+Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from a thousand throats,
+swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a wounded beast. The
+farmers, the boys, and the old men, most of whom had never been in
+battle, might well tremble at this ominous sound, so great in volume
+and extending so far into the forest. But they stood firm, drawing
+themselves into a somewhat more compact body, and still advancing with
+their banners flying, and the boy beating out that steady roll on the
+drum.
+
+The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed his
+force in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank of the river
+and his left against the swamp. Forward pressed the motley army of the
+other Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame, and the bulk of his
+force came into view, the sun shining down on the green uniforms of the
+English and the naked brown bodies of the Iroquois.
+
+The American commander gave the order to fire. Eager fingers were
+already on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the entire rank.
+The Royal Greens and Rangers, although replying with their own fire,
+gave back before the storm of bullets, and the Wyoming men, with a shout
+of triumph, sprang forward. It was always a characteristic of the border
+settler, despite many disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and
+cunning, to rush straight at his foe whenever he saw him. His, unless
+a trained forest warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this
+gallant little force asked for nothing but to come to close grips with
+the enemy.
+
+The men in the center with “Indian” Butler gave back still more. With
+cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing rapidly, and
+continuing to drive the mongrel white force. The rifles were cracking
+rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. The wind caught wisps of it
+and carried them off down the river.
+
+“It goes better than I thought,” said Paul as he reloaded his rifle.
+
+“Not yet,” said Henry, “we are fighting the white men only. Where are
+all the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than two to one?”
+
+“Here they come,” said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of the
+swamp, which was supposed to protect the left flank of the Wyoming
+force.
+
+The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of dark
+figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth, armed with
+rifle and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the unprotected side of their
+foe. The swamp had been but little obstacle to them.
+
+Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once. As many as possible were
+called off immediately from the main body, but they were not numerous
+enough to have any effect. The Indians came through the swamp in
+hundreds and hundreds, and, as they uttered their triumphant yell,
+poured a terrible fire into the Wyoming left flank. The defenders were
+forced to give ground, and the English and Tories came on again.
+
+The fire was now deadly and of great volume. The air was filled with
+the flashing of the rifles. The cloud of smoke grew heavier, and faces,
+either from heat or excitement, showed red through it. The air was
+filled with bullets, and the Wyoming force was being cut down fast, as
+the fire of more than a thousand rifles converged upon it.
+
+The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as they
+could at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping closer and
+closer, and that the hail of bullets it sent in was cutting away
+the whole left flank of the defenders. They saw the tall figure of
+Timmendiquas, a very god of war, leading on the Indians, with his
+fearless Wyandots in a close cluster around him. Colonel John Durkee,
+gathering up a force of fifty or sixty, charged straight at the
+warriors, but he was killed by a withering volley, which drove his men
+back.
+
+Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which often
+decide the fate of a battle. The company of Captain Whittlesey, on the
+extreme left, which was suffering most severely, was ordered to fall
+back. The entire little army, which was being pressed hard now, seeing
+the movement of Whittlesey, began to retreat. Even without the mistake
+it is likely they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+
+The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and renegades,
+uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward. Colonel Zebulon Butler,
+seeing the crisis, rode up and down in front of his men, shouting:
+“Don't leave me, my children! the victory is ours!” Bravely his officers
+strove to stop the retreat. Every captain who led a company into action
+was killed. Some of these captains were but boys. The men were falling
+by dozens.
+
+All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading force,
+were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their unloaded rifles,
+threw themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the defense. Not more than two
+hundred of the Wyoming men were left standing, and the impact of seven
+or eight hundred savage warriors was so great that they were hurled back
+in confusion. A wail of grief and terror came from the other side of
+the river, where a great body of women and children were watching the
+fighting.
+
+“The battle's lost,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Beyond hope of saving it,” said Henry, “but, boys, we five are alive
+yet, and we'll do our best to help the others protect the retreat.”
+
+They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such a
+terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more than one
+soldier ere the tomahawk fell. Shif'less Sol took a shot at “Indian”
+ Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet missed him.
+
+“I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,”
+ exclaimed the shiftless one.
+
+But the invading force came in between and he did not get another shot.
+There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the crashing fire
+of hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians, and the cries of the
+wounded. Over them all hovered smoke and dust, and the air was heavy,
+too, with the odor of burnt gunpowder. The division of old men and very
+young boys stood next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand,
+but in the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy
+of the best of soldiers. Three fourths of them died that day, before
+they were driven back on the fort.
+
+The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp, which had
+been some protection to the left, and they were now assailed from all
+sides except that of the river. “Indian” Butler raged at the head of his
+men, who had been driven back at first, and who had been saved by the
+Indians. Timmendiquas, in the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon
+this field, became by valor and power of intellect the leader of all the
+Indians for this moment. The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them, unconsciously
+obeyed him. Nor did the fierce woman, Queen Esther, shirk the battle.
+Waving her great tomahawk, she was continually among the warriors,
+singing her song of war and death.
+
+They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little band
+crumbled away beneath the deadly fire. Soon none would be left unless
+they ran for their lives. The five drew away toward the forest. They
+saw that the fort itself could not hold out against such a numerous and
+victorious foe, and they had no mind to be trapped. But their retreat
+was slow, and as they went they sent bullet after bullet into the Indian
+flank. Only a small percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now
+broke. Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached
+the fort. Some of the men jumped into the river, swam to the other shore
+and escaped. Some swam to a little island called Monocacy, and hid, but
+the Tories and Indians hunted them out and slew them. One Tory found his
+brother there, and killed him with his own hand, a deed of unspeakable
+horror that is yet mentioned by the people of that region. A few fled
+into the forest and entered the fort at night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE BLOODY ROCK
+
+
+Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the woods.
+They were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite the tan. They
+had never before looked upon so terrible a scene. The Indians, wild with
+the excitement of a great triumph and thirsting for blood, were running
+over the field scalping the dead, killing some of the wounded, and
+saving others for the worst of tortures. Nor were their white allies one
+whit behind them. They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+conquered. Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to show
+nobility. Several of the wounded he saved from immediate death, and he
+tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws who rushed forward
+and began to practice cruelties at which even the most veteran warrior
+might shudder. But Queen Esther urged them on, and “Indian” Butler
+himself and the chiefs were afraid of her.
+
+Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from
+the lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The
+sun was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the
+field as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors
+rushed about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous
+trophies about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping
+to the far bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the
+fugitives in their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+
+The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending
+in a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
+seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then
+a massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they
+had known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be
+full of the scalps of white men.
+
+All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
+impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
+but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
+good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he
+saw the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror
+of those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss
+from his mind as long as he lived.
+
+“Look!” he exclaimed, “look at that!”
+
+A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
+might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought
+in the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when
+everything else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the
+friendly shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of
+Iroquois, four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians
+were gaining fast.
+
+“I reckon we ought to save them,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“No doubt of it,” said Henry. “Paul, you and Sol move off to the right
+a little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
+four.”
+
+The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol
+having the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four
+Indians at closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and,
+turning at an angle, they ran forward to intercept the three Indians. It
+would have seemed to anyone who was not aware of the presence of friends
+in the forest that the old man and the boy would surely be overtaken and
+be tomahawked, but three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage. Two
+of the warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell
+of pain. Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group of
+three. One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but Paul only
+grazed his man. Nevertheless, the whole pursuit stopped, and the boy
+and the old man escaped to the forest, and subsequently to safety at the
+Moravian towns.
+
+Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say something
+to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon him, and he was
+thrown to the ground. His comrade was served in the same way, but the
+shiftless one was uncommonly strong and agile. He managed to writhe half
+way to his knees, and he shouted in a tremendous voice:
+
+“Run, Henry, run! You can't do anything for us now!”
+
+Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth. The blood came,
+but the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked curiously at the
+renegade.
+
+“I've often wondered about you, Braxton,” he said calmly. “I used to
+think that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in him, but I
+reckon you ain't got none.”
+
+Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the others.
+But Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished. A powerful party
+of warriors had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and Paul, while they were
+absorbed in the chase of the old man and the boy, and now they were
+prisoners, bound securely. Braxton Wyatt came back from the fruitless
+search for the three, but his face was full of savage joy as he looked
+down at the captured two.
+
+“We could have killed you just as easily,” he said, “but we didn't
+want to do that. Our friends here are going to have their fun with you
+first.”
+
+Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but
+Shif'less Sol faced them boldly. Several white men in uniform had come
+up, and among them was an elderly one, short and squat, and with a great
+flame colored handkerchief tied around his bead.
+
+“You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to us,
+all under the English flag,” said Shif'less Sol, “but I'm thinkin' that
+a lot o' people in England will be ashamed uv it when they hear the
+news.”
+
+“Indian” Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving
+Shif'less Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the Iroquois.
+The two prisoners were jerked to their feet and told to march.
+
+
+“Come on, Paul,” said Shif'less Sol. “'Tain't wuth while fur us to
+resist. But don't you quit hopin', Paul. We've escaped from many a tight
+corner, an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in.”
+
+“Shut up!” said Braxton Wyatt savagely. “If you say another word I'll
+gag you in a way that will make you squirm.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye. Solomon Hyde, who was not
+shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not afraid now in the
+face of death preceded by long torture.
+
+“I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt,” he said, “an' I reckon he wuz the
+meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived. He liked to live on dirt, the
+dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather steal his food
+than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he wuz afeard o' a
+rabbit, but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd nip you in the ankle.
+But bad ez that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a gentleman 'longside o' you.”
+
+Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it. He snatched
+a pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with the butt of it,
+but a tall figure suddenly appeared before him, and made a commanding
+gesture. The gesture said plainly: “Do not strike; put that pistol
+back!” Braxton Wyatt, whose soul was afraid within him, did not strike,
+and he put the pistol back.
+
+It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots, who
+with his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the Wyandot
+warriors were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks, the Keepers of
+the Western Gate. He was bare to the waist. One shoulder was streaked
+with blood from a slight wound, but his countenance was not on fire with
+passion for torture and slaughter like those of the others.
+
+“There is no need to strike prisoners,” he said in English. “Their fate
+will be decided later.”
+
+Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the great
+Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+
+“I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you didn't
+capture me yourself. I'm glad to say that you're a great warrior.”
+
+Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak out,
+although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and casual ally,
+and had little authority in that army. Yet he was overawed, and so were
+the Indians with him.
+
+“We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler,” he said. “That
+is all.”
+
+Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell. But he and the
+Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas looked after them
+until they were out of sight.
+
+“I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured,” whispered
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I think so, too,” Paul whispered back.
+
+They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven rapidly
+now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to the fort,
+and here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy company, fellow
+captives, all bound tightly, and many wounded. No help, no treatment of
+any kind was offered for hurts. The Indians and renegades stood about
+and yelled with delight when the agony of some man's wound wrung from
+him a groan. The scene was hideous in every respect. The setting sun
+shone blood red over forest, field, and river. Far off burning houses
+still smoked like torches. But the mountain wall in the east, was
+growing dusky with the coming twilight. From the island, where they were
+massacring the fugitives in their vain hiding places, came the sound
+of shots and cries, but elsewhere the firing had ceased. All who could
+escape had done so already, and of the others, those who were dead were
+fortunate.
+
+The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness swept
+down over the earth. Fires began to blaze up here and there, some for
+terrible purpose. The victorious Iroquois; stripped to the waist and
+painted in glaring colors, joined in a savage dance that would remain
+forever photographed on the eye of Paul Cotter. As they jumped to and
+fro, hundreds of them, waving aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both
+of which dripped red, they sang their wild chant of war and triumph.
+White men, too, as savage as they, joined them. Paul shuddered again
+and again from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of
+mankind escapes, even in dreams.
+
+The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder. It was like a carnival
+of demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch. A singular
+figure, one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the
+midst of the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose
+above all the others. The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some
+monstrous creature out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with
+blood, her eyes bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders. Paul would
+have covered his eyes had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his
+head away. He could not bear to see more. But the horrible chant came to
+his ears, nevertheless, and it was reinforced presently by other sounds
+still more terrible. Fires sprang up in the forest, and cries came from
+these fires. The victorious army of “Indian” Butler was beginning to
+burn the prisoners alive. But at this point we must stop. The details
+of what happened around those fires that night are not for the ordinary
+reader. It suffices to say that the darkest deed ever done on the soil
+of what is now the United States was being enacted.
+
+Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken. He could not
+close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came from the fires, but
+he shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. Nevertheless, he opened
+them again in a moment. The horrible fascination was too great. He saw
+Queen Esther still shaking her tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly
+darted through the circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and
+disappeared in the darkness. The scalp dance went on, but it had lost
+some of its fire and vigor.
+
+Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+
+“She's gone,” he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his
+eyes. The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors,
+was becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.
+
+Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there
+on the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt
+thrust a violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:
+
+“Get up! You're wanted!”
+
+A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of
+resistance. The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton
+Wyatt led. The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them,
+tomahawks in their hands. Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the
+impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure
+that they were marching to their fate. Death he did not fear so greatly,
+although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one
+of the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.
+Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that
+he might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.
+Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder
+gently against Paul's.
+
+“Paul,” he whispered, “I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways,
+I still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but
+oncet.”
+
+“I'll remember, Sol,” Paul whispered back.
+
+“Silence, there!” exclaimed Braxton Wyatt. But the two had said all they
+wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled. They
+had passed through so much that they were like those who are under the
+influence of opiates. The path was now dark, although both torches and
+fires burned in the distance. Presently they heard that chant with which
+they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and
+they knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose
+they could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one.
+As they approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of
+frenzy, and Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.
+
+“Get up there!” exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both
+a push. Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space
+seized them and threw them forward with much violence. When they
+struggled into a sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a
+broad flat rock and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something
+Oriental. She still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be
+in her hand. Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red
+dress gleamed in the dusk. Surely no more terrible image ever appeared
+in the American wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were
+twenty bound Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a
+sprinkling of their white allies.
+
+What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor
+Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois,
+and so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came
+the refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+
+“Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six
+Nations, greatest of men.”
+
+“What under the sun is she about?” whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+“It is a fearful face,” was Paul's only reply.
+
+Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to
+the warriors. Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners,
+dragged him to his feet, and held him up before her. She uttered a
+shout, whirled the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering
+in the moonlight, and struck with all her might. The skull of the
+prisoner was cleft to the chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of
+the woman who had killed him. Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it
+was lost in the joyful yells of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the
+woman, offered a second victim. Again the tomahawk descended, and again
+a man fell dead without a sound.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move
+them. Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud. It was strange to see how fast one
+with a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before
+him. Now he was as cruel as the Indians themselves. Wilder and shriller
+grew the chant of the savage queen. She was intoxicated with blood. She
+saw it everywhere. Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth,
+a sixth, a seventh, and eighth. As fast as they fell the warriors at her
+command brought up new victims for her weapon. Paul shut his eyes, but
+he knew by the sounds what was passing. Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+
+“Hold, woman! Enough of this! Will your tomahawk never be satisfied?”
+
+Paul understood it, the meaning, but not the words. He opened his eyes
+and saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding forward, his hand
+upraised in protest.
+
+The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. “Timmendiquas,”
+ she said, “we are the Iroquois, and we are the masters. You are far from
+your own land, a guest in our lodges, and you cannot tell those who have
+won the victory how they shall use it. Stand back!”
+
+A loud laugh came from the Iroquois. The fierce old chiefs, Hiokatoo and
+Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves before Timmendiquas.
+The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred throats pealed out with her
+the chorus:
+
+Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six Nations,
+greatest of men.
+
+She gave the signal anew. The ninth victim stood before her, and then
+fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
+twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
+the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
+minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
+straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken
+them, and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
+impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
+Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two,
+Joseph Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men,
+feeling that life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful
+as that scene at “The Bloody Rock.”
+
+A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the
+Indians pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for
+the fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would
+come under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did
+not see a form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended
+once, then twice, and the bands of both fell free.
+
+“Run! run!” exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. “I
+would save you from this!”
+
+Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not
+seen by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look
+of gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a
+course that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying
+fugitives.
+
+At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being
+noticed, had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were
+first in cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing
+fingers of the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At
+the same time several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the
+fugitives.
+
+“I hate to hit a woman,” breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, “but I'm goin'
+to do it now.”
+
+A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
+hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although
+she clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side.
+Shots were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a
+look backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit,
+silent and deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly,
+were only a few hundred yards away. They carried rifle, tomahawk, and
+knife, and Paul and Shif'less Sol were unarmed. Moreover, they were
+coming fast, spreading out slightly, and the shiftless one, able even
+at such a time to weigh the case coolly, saw that the odds were against
+them. Yet he would not despair. Anything might happen. It was night.
+There was little organization in the army of the Indians and of their
+white allies, which was giving itself up to the enjoyment of scalps and
+torture. Moreover, he and Paul were, animated by the love of life, which
+is always stronger than the desire to give death.
+
+Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. Only once
+did the pursuers give tongue. Paul tripped over a root, and a triumphant
+yell came from the Mohawks. But it merely gave him new life. He
+recovered himself in an instant and ran faster. But it was terribly hard
+work. He could hear Shif'less Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he
+was sure that his own must have the same sound for his comrade.
+
+“At any rate one uv 'em is beat,” gasped Shif'less Sol. “Only four are
+ban-in' on now.”
+
+The ground rose a little and became rougher. The lights from the Indian
+fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a dense thicket lay
+before them. Something stirred in the thicket, and the eyes of Shif'less
+Sol caught a glimpse of a human shoulder. His heart sank like a plummet
+in a pool. The Indians were ahead of them. They would be caught, and
+would be carried back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+
+The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a rifle was
+projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+
+But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell. They heard a cry
+behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance backward he saw
+one of the Mohawks fall. The three who were left hesitated and stopped.
+When a second shot was fired from the bushes and another Mohawk went
+down, the remaining two fled.
+
+Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes, dragging
+Paul after him. Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to receive them.
+
+“So you wuz watchin' over us!” exclaimed the shiftless one joyously. “It
+wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we didn't even notice the
+shot.”
+
+“Thank God, you were here!” exclaimed Paul. “You don't know what Sol and
+I have seen!”
+
+Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+
+
+Paul revived in a few minutes. They were still lying in the bushes,
+and when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an angle several
+hundred yards before they stopped. One pistol was thrust into Paul's
+hand and another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Keep those until we can get rifles for you,” said Henry. “You may need
+'em to-night.”
+
+They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the Indian
+camp. The warriors whom they had repulsed were not returning with help,
+and, for the moment, they seemed to have no enemy to fear, yet they
+could still see through the woods the faint lights of the Indian camps,
+and to Paul, at least, came the echoes of distant cries that told of
+things not to be written.
+
+“We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry,” said Henry.
+“There was nothing to do but run. Then we hid and waited a chance for
+rescue.”
+
+“It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas,” said
+Paul.
+
+“Timmendiquas!” exclaimed Henry.
+
+“Yes, Timmendiquas,” said Paul, and then he told the story of “The
+Bloody Rock,” and how, in the turmoil and excitement attending the
+flight of the last four, Timmendiquas had cut the bonds of Shif'less Sol
+and himself.
+
+“I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is,” said Shif'less
+Sol, “jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter an' torture o'
+prisoners.”
+
+“I'm sure you're right,” said Henry.
+
+“'Pears strange to me,” said Long Jim Hart, “that Timmendiquas was made
+an Injun. He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be white, an' he'd be
+pow'ful useful, too. I don't jest eggzactly understan' it.”
+
+“He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us,” said Henry.
+“I hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full.”
+
+“But he's the only one,” said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that he had
+seen that night. “The Iroquois an' the white men that's allied with 'em
+won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em happen to come under
+my thumb. I don't think the like o' this day an' night wuz ever done on
+this continent afore. I'm for revenge, I am, like that place where the
+Bible says, 'an eye for an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin'
+to stay in this part o' the country till we git it!”
+
+It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and energy.
+
+“We're all going to stay with you, Sol,” said Henry. “We're needed here.
+I think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in if we can, and fight
+with the defense.”
+
+“Yes, we'll do that,” said Shif'less Sol, “but the Wyoming fort can't
+ever hold out. Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to fight, an'
+thar are more than than a thousand howlin' devils outside ready to
+attack it. Thar may be worse to come than anything we've yet seen.”
+
+“Still, we'll go in an' help,” said Henry. “Sol, when you an' Paul have
+rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in the woods, and
+come up to the fort on the other side.”
+
+They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where they
+lay completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy, they
+undertook to reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the palisades.
+Paul was still weak from shock, but Shif'less Sol had fully recovered.
+Neither bad weapons, but they were sure that the want could be supplied
+soon. They curved around toward the west, intending to approach the fort
+from the other side, but they did not wholly lose sight of the fires,
+and they heard now and then the triumphant war whoop. The victors were
+still engaged in the pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death.
+Little did the five, seeing and feeling only their part of it there in
+the dark woods, dream that the deeds of this day and night would soon
+shock the whole civilized world, and remain, for generations, a crowning
+act of infamy. But they certainly felt it deeply enough, and in each
+heart burned a fierce desire for revenge upon the Iroquois.
+
+It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort, which
+was filled with grief and wailing. That afternoon more than one hundred
+and fifty women within those walls had been made widows, and six hundred
+children had been made orphans. But few men fit to bear arms were left
+for its defense, and it was certain that the allied British and Indian
+army would easily take it on the morrow. A demand for its surrender
+in the name of King George III of England had already been made, and,
+sitting at a little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the
+room lighted only by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel
+Dennison were writing an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next
+day, with what it should contain. But Colonel Butler put his wife on a
+horse and escaped with her over the mountains.
+
+Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in, only
+to be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in a stream,
+seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest, preferring any
+dangers that might be found there to the mercies of the victors.
+
+When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, he said:
+
+“It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to beg 'em
+to take us back.”
+
+“I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are bein'
+surrendered,” said Long Jim Hart.
+
+“I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands an' feet
+tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul,” said Henry.
+“Of course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be captured again.
+Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the women and children that are
+going.”
+
+Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort. It was far better to let
+Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. They were
+able to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern, long and
+slender barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and also excellent
+double-barreled pistols. The other three now had double-barreled
+pistols, too. In addition they resupplied themselves with as much
+ammunition as scouts and hunters could conveniently carry, and toward
+morning left the fort.
+
+Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the flank
+of a frightened crowd of fugitives. It was composed of one hundred women
+and children and a single man, James Carpenter, who was doing his best
+to guide and protect them. They were intending to flee through the
+wilderness to the Delaware and Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn,
+built by Jacob Stroud, where Stroudsburg now is.
+
+When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like Indians
+themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and raised his rifle.
+A cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line, a cry so intensely bitter
+that it cut Henry to the very heart. He threw up his hand, and exclaimed
+in a loud voice:
+
+“We are friends, not Indians or Tories! We fought with you yesterday,
+and we are ready to fight for you now!”
+
+Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle. He had fought in the battle,
+too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades who had been
+there with him.
+
+“What do you want of us?” asked he.
+
+“Nothing,” replied Henry, “except to help you.”
+
+Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+
+“You don't belong here in Wyoming,” he said, “and there's nothing to
+make you stick to us. What are you meaning to do?”
+
+“We will go with you wherever you intend to go,” replied Henry; “do
+fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which you are
+certain to need.”
+
+The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+
+“I thought God had clean deserted us,” he said, “but I'm ready to take
+it back. I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with all these
+women and little ones.”
+
+It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for this
+very purpose, but he replied simply:
+
+“You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to watch for
+the Indians. Draw into the woods, where we'll be hidden.”
+
+Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on toward
+the woods. The long line of women and children followed. Some of the
+women carried in their arms children too small to walk. Yet they were
+more hopeful now when they saw that the five were friends. These lithe,
+active frontiersmen, so quick, so skillful, and so helpful, raised their
+courage. Yet it was a most doleful flight. Most of these women had
+been made widows the day before, some of them had been made widows and
+childless at the same time, and wondered why they should seek to live
+longer. But the very mental stupor of many of them was an aid. They
+ceased to cry out, and some even ceased to be afraid.
+
+Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear. Paul and Long
+Jim were on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward the
+mountains.
+
+“'Pears to me,” said Tom, “that the thing fur us to do is to hurry 'em
+up ez much ez possible.”
+
+“So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain,” said Henry. “We
+couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would merely be a
+massacre. We must persuade them to walk faster.”
+
+Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis. He could talk forever in
+his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement, mild sarcasm, and
+anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had known, he soon had them
+moving faster.
+
+Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear. They could see ahead of them
+the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but they could
+also see to right and left towers of smoke rising in the clear morning
+sunlight. These, they knew, came from burning houses, and they knew,
+also, that the valley would be ravaged from end to end and from side
+to side. After the surrender of the fort the Indians would divide into
+small bands, going everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+
+The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if the
+black tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen recognized their
+greatest danger in this brilliant morning. Objects could be seen at a
+great distance, and they could be seen vividly.
+
+Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry, Sol, and
+Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. They caught a
+distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot among some trees, and
+they saw the sunlight glancing off the opposite mountains, but for the
+present they saw nothing that seemed hostile.
+
+They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to grow
+until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have let it grow
+farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay down in the grass.
+
+
+“You see 'em, don't you!” the youth whispered to his comrade.
+
+“Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock,” replied Shif'less Sol;
+“two o' em, an' Senecas, I take it.”
+
+“They've seen that crowd of women and children,” said Henry.
+
+It was obvious that the flying column was discovered. The two Indians
+stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands. It was too far
+away for the three to see their faces, but they knew the joy that would
+be shown there. The two could return with a few warriors and massacre
+them all.
+
+“They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,”
+ whispered Henry. “I hate to shoot men from ambush, but it's got to be
+done. Wait, they're coming a little closer.”
+
+The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+
+“S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry,” said Tom, “an' me an'
+Sol will take the one to the left.”
+
+“All right,” said Henry. “Fire!”
+
+They wasted no time, but pulled trigger. The one at whom Henry had aimed
+fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded, but evidently
+with plenty of strength left.
+
+“We mustn't let him escape! We mustn't let him carry a warning!” cried
+Henry.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the
+ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran. Under ordinary
+circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for
+his life, but here the necessity was vital. If he lived, carrying the
+tale that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish. Henry
+followed his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed
+behind. The Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others
+were compelled to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and
+bullets in their rifles. But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and
+Silent Tom to hear them exchange a few words.
+
+“How far away is that savage?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Hundred and eighty yards,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body.”
+
+Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from
+the muzzles. The Indian fell forward and lay still. They went up to him,
+and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
+
+“We may miss once, but we don't twice,” said Tom Ross.
+
+The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three
+felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian. It
+was but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night
+before.
+
+“We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,” said Sol.
+“They may be needed, an' some o' the women in that crowd kin shoot.”
+
+They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see
+whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was
+no indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the
+fugitives. Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he
+saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
+
+“They didn't give no alarm, did they?” he asked in a tone so low that
+none of the fugitives could hear.
+
+“They didn't have any chance,” replied Henry. “We've brought away all
+their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found
+them in an abandoned house.”
+
+The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most
+stalwart of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came.
+Meanwhile the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it
+became. Children became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so
+tired that they could scarcely walk themselves. There was nobody in the
+line who had not lost some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed
+in battle, or tortured to death. As they slowly ascended the green slope
+of the mountain that inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back
+upon ruin and desolation. The whole black tragedy was being consummated.
+They could see the houses in flames, and they knew that the Indian war
+parties were killing and scalping everywhere. They knew, too, that other
+bodies of fugitives, as stricken as their own, were fleeing into the
+mountains, they scarcely knew whither.
+
+As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from
+the weakest of the women and children. Then it became a sad and terrible
+wail, and it was a long time before it ceased. It was an awful sound, so
+compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that
+Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes. But neither the five
+nor Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing. They thought it
+best for them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as
+they could, often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. Paul
+and Long Jim were the best as comforters. The two knew how, each in his
+own way, to soothe and encourage. Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort
+Penn, led doggedly on, scarcely saying a word. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and
+Tom were the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest
+danger and responsibility.
+
+Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July,
+the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the
+foliage was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain. In this
+mass of greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any
+observer in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives
+would be hidden in the same manner. He felt sure that no living human
+being would be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to
+end and then left to desolation, until new people, protected by American
+bayonets, should come in and settle it again.
+
+At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley,
+those emblems of destruction, were hidden. Between them and Fort Penn,
+sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.
+But the five welcomed the forest. A foe might lie there in ambush, but
+they could not see the fugitives at a distance. What the latter needed
+now was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them.
+Carpenter led on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in
+single file now, while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and
+at the rear. Henry and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they
+fully realized the overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as
+small as ten or a dozen warriors, appear. Should the latter scatter,
+it would be impossible to protect all the women and children from their
+tomahawks.
+
+The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.
+Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end
+of the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness. The
+shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+
+“No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods.”
+
+His words came true all too soon. Before the afternoon closed, two
+women, ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were
+buried in shallow graves under the trees. Before dark a halt was made at
+the suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in
+a close, drooping group. Many of the children cried, though the women
+had all ceased to weep. They had some food with them, taken in the
+hurried flight, and now the men asked them to eat. Few could do it, and
+others insisted on saving what little they had for the children. Long
+Jim found a spring near by, and all drank at it.
+
+The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it would be
+best to remain there until the morning. Evidently the fugitives were in
+no condition, either mental or physical, to go farther that day, and the
+rest was worth more than the risk.
+
+When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took it
+apathetically. Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was to be had;
+otherwise, on leaves and branches. Again Henry thanked God that it was
+summer, and that these were people of the frontier, who could sleep in
+the open. No fire was needed, and, outside of human enemies, only rain
+was to be dreaded.
+
+And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate than
+some of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley. It had now to
+protect it six men Henry and Paul, though boys in years, were men in
+strength and ability--five of whom were the equals of any frontiersmen
+on the whole border. Another crowd of women was escorted by a single man
+throughout its entire flight.
+
+Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about the
+group. At times they helped gather whortleberries as food for the
+others, but they looked for Indians or game, intending to shoot in
+either case. When Paul and Henry were together they once heard a light
+sound in a thicket, which at first they were afraid was made by an
+Indian scout, but it was a deer, and it bounded away too soon for either
+to get a shot. They could not find other game of any kind, and they came
+back toward the camp-if a mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any
+kind, could be called a camp.
+
+The sun was now setting, blood red. It tinged the forest with a fiery
+mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had seen. But the
+mist was gone in a few moments, and then the blackness of night came
+with a weird moaning wind that told of desolation. Most of the children,
+having passed through every phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen
+asleep. Some of the women slept, also, and others wept. But the terrible
+wailing note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no
+longer.
+
+The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to them.
+
+“Men,” he said simply, “don't know much about you, though I know you
+fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what you're doin' now
+nobody can ever repay you. I knew that I never could get across the
+mountains with all these weak ones.”
+
+The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at such a
+time. Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle about the
+camp.
+
+Some women did not sleep at all that night. It is not easy to conceive
+what the frontier women of America endured so many thousands of times.
+They had seen their husbands, brothers, and sons killed in the battle,
+and they knew that the worst of torture had been practiced in the Indian
+camp. Many of them really did not want to live any longer. They merely
+struggled automatically for life. The darkness settled down thicker and
+thicker; the blackness in the forest was intense, and they could see the
+faces of one another only at a little distance. The desolate moan of the
+wind came through the leaves, and, although it was July, the night grew
+cold. The women crept closer together, trying to cover up and protect
+the children. The wind, with its inexpressibly mournful note, was
+exactly fitted to their feelings. Many of them wondered why a Supreme
+Being had permitted such things. But they ceased to talk. No sound at
+all came from the group, and any one fifty yards away, not forewarned,
+could not have told that they were there.
+
+Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a
+little hillock. Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on the most
+dangerous of frontiers, but they had never been stirred as they were
+tonight. Even Paul, the mildest of the five, felt something burning
+within him, a fire that only one thing could quench.
+
+“Henry,” said he, “we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn, and
+we may get some of them there, but I don't think our work will be ended
+them. I don't think I could ever be happy again if we went straight from
+Fort Penn to Kentucky.”
+
+Henry understood him perfectly.
+
+“No, Paul,” he said, “I don't want to go, either, and I know the others
+don't. Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to stay, but it is
+vengeance. I know it's Christian to forgive your enemies, but I can't
+see what I have seen, and hear what I have heard, and do it.”
+
+“When the news of these things spreads,” said Paul, “they'll send an
+army from the east. Sooner or later they'll just have to do it to punish
+the Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got to be here to join
+that army.”
+
+“I feel that way, too, Paul,” said Henry.
+
+They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little while,
+and they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+
+Then they began their circles about the camp again, always looking and
+always listening. About two o'clock in the morning they heard a scream,
+but it was only the cry of a panther. Before day there were clouds, a
+low rumble of distant thunder, and faint far flashes of lightning. Henry
+was in dread of rain, but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the
+clouds went away. Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three
+rose from the earth. The three-one woman and two children-had died in
+silence in the night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow
+graves in the woods. But there was little weeping or external mourning
+over them. All were now heavy and apathetic, capable of but little more
+emotion.
+
+Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which now
+moved slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted with
+vines and bushes and without a path. The march was now so painful
+and difficult that they did not make more than two miles an hour. The
+stronger of them helped the men to gather more whortleberries, as it was
+easy to see that the food they had with them would never last until they
+reached Fort Penn, should they ever reach it.
+
+The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily grew
+worse. They were well into the mountains, a region exceedingly wild and
+rough, but little known to the settlers, who had gone around it to build
+homes in the fertile and beautiful valley of Wyoming. The heavy forest
+was made all the more difficult by the presence everywhere of almost
+impassable undergrowth. Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes,
+and in two cases they died there because the power to live was no longer
+in them. They grew weaker and weaker. The food that they had brought
+from the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the wild whortleberries
+were far from sustaining. Fortunately there was plenty of water
+flowing tinder the dark woods and along the mountainside. But they were
+compelled to stop at intervals of an hour or two to rest, and the more
+timid continually expected Indian ambush.
+
+The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+situation. They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian
+pursuit, which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. Anybody
+could follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but the Iroquois,
+busy with destruction in the valley, might not follow, even if they
+saw it. No one could tell. The danger of starvation or of death from
+exhaustion was more imminent, more pressing, and the five resolved to
+let scouting alone for the rest of the day and seek game.
+
+“There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods,” said Shif'less Sol,
+“though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd, but we ought
+to find it.”
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and Long
+Jim in another. But with all their hunting they succeeded in finding
+only one little deer, which fell to the rifle of Silent Tom. It made
+small enough portions for the supper and breakfast of nearly a hundred
+people, but it helped wonderfully, and so did the fires which Henry and
+his comrades would now have built, even had they not been needed for the
+cooking. They saw that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing
+coals, would alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+
+They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and the next
+morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible memory, the Great
+Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to this day, as “The Shades
+of Death.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE SHADES OF DEATH
+
+
+“The Shades of Death” is a marsh on a mountain top, the great, wet, and
+soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains. When the fugitives from
+Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense growth of pines, growing
+mostly out of dark, murky water, which in its turn was thick with a
+growth of moss and aquatic plants. Snakes and all kinds of creeping
+things swarmed in the ooze. Bear and panther were numerous.
+
+Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and they
+were compelled to enter it. Henry was again devoutly thankful that
+it was summer. In such a situation with winter on top of it only the
+hardiest of men could survive.
+
+But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still leading.
+Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd. One could not scout in
+such a morass, and it proved to be worse than they had feared. The day
+turned gray, and it was dark among the trees. The whole place was filled
+with gloomy shadows. It was often impossible to judge whether fairly
+solid soil or oozy murk lay before them. Often they went down to their
+waists. Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the
+stronger. Now and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the women
+killed them with sticks. Other serpents slipped away in the slime.
+Everybody was plastered with mud, and they became mere images of human
+beings.
+
+In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible swamp,
+and there they buried two more of their number who had perished from
+exhaustion. The rest, save a few, lay upon the ground as if dead. On all
+sides of them stretched the pines and the soft black earth. It looked to
+the fugitives like a region into which no human beings had ever come,
+or ever would come again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from
+which no human being would ever emerge.
+
+Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the morass,
+and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within him. They were
+hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they seemed practically
+lifeless now. Everything was dull, heavy, and dead. The note of the wind
+among the leaves was somber. A long black snake slipped from the marshy
+grass near his feet and disappeared soundlessly in the water. He was
+sick, sick to death at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire
+for vengeance, slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst,
+grew within him. A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+
+“Did you hear?” asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+
+“Hear what?” asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+
+“The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under the
+horizon, but thar all the same. Listen, thar she goes ag'in!”
+
+Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note, and
+then it came a third time.
+
+He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white--but not for
+himself.
+
+“Yes,” said Shif'less Sol. He understood the look. “We are pursued. Them
+wolves howlin' are the Iroquois. What do you reckon we're goin' to do,
+Henry?”
+
+“Fight!” replied the youth, with fierce energy. “Beat 'em off!”
+
+“How?”
+
+Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his plan
+came.
+
+“You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing,” he said, “you,
+Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you will be Paul
+Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old friends of yours.
+Carpenter will at once lead the women and children on ahead, and perhaps
+they will not hear the battle that is going to be fought here.”
+
+A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over the
+face of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the shiftless
+one. “It seems to me,” he said, “that I've heard o' them four fellers
+you're talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all over this planet an' them
+other planets that Paul tells of, I couldn't find four other fellers
+that I'd ez soon have with me.”
+
+“We've got to stand here to the death,” said Henry.
+
+“You're shorely right,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+
+The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met with
+their full approval. Then the news was carried to Carpenter, who quickly
+agreed that their course was the wisest. He urged all the fugitives to
+their feet, telling them that they must reach another dry place
+before night, but they were past asking questions now, and, heavy and
+apathetic, they passed on into the swamp.
+
+Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes and
+weeds, and turned back to his friends on the oasis. The five lay down
+behind a big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last look. They
+had never been armed better. Their rifles were good, and the fine
+double-barreled pistols, formidable weapons, would be a great aid,
+especially at close quarters.
+
+“I take it,” said Tom Ross, “that the Iroquois can't get through at all
+unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef we wuz settin'
+on solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come sloshin' up to us.”
+
+“That's exactly it,” said Henry. “We've a natural defense which we can
+hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold 'em off, the
+nearer our people will be to Fort Penn.”
+
+“I never felt more like fightin' in my life,” said Tom Ross.
+
+It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among them
+was bloodthirsty.
+
+“Can any of you hear anything?” asked Henry. “Nothin',” replied
+Shif'less Sol, after a little wait, “nothin' from the women goin', an'
+nothin' from the Iroquois comin'.”
+
+“We'll just lie close,” said Henry. “This hard spot of ground isn't more
+than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get on it without our
+knowing it.”
+
+The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides, with
+their shoulders raised a little, in order that they might take instant
+aim when the time came. Some rays of the sun penetrated the canopy of
+pines, and fell across the brown, determined faces and the lean brown
+hands that grasped the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another
+snake slipped from the ground into the black water and swam away. Some
+water animal made a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of
+these strange intruders. Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a
+foot drawn from mud, and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching,
+savages in war, whatever they might be otherwise, and expecting an easy
+prey. Five brown thumbs cocked their rifles, and five brown forefingers
+rested upon the triggers. The eyes of woodsmen who seldom missed looked
+down the sights.
+
+The sound of feet in the mud came many times. The enemy was evidently
+drawing near.
+
+“How many do you think are out thar?” whispered Shif'less Sol to Henry.
+
+“Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds.” “I s'pose the best
+thing for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see.”
+
+“Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man.”
+
+It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen, and he
+agreed to do so. Shif'less Sol was to fire first. The sounds now ceased.
+The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or instinct that they were
+approaching an enemy who was to be feared, not weak and unarmed women
+and children.
+
+The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger. The American
+wilderness had heroes without number. It was Horatius Cocles five times
+over, ready to defend the bridge with life. Over the marsh rose the
+weird cry of an owl, and some water birds called in lonely fashion.
+
+Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile away,
+out of the sound of rifle shot. He had urged Carpenter to marshal them
+on as far as he could. But the silence endured yet a while longer. In
+the dull gray light of the somber day and the waning afternoon the marsh
+was increasingly dreary and mournful. It seemed that it must always be
+the abode of dead or dying things.
+
+The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the boughs
+appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted brow, the
+savage black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. Only Henry saw
+it, but with fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming leaped up before him-he
+fired at the painted brow. The Mohawk uttered his death cry and fell
+back with a splash into the mud and water of the swamp. A half dozen
+bullets were instantly fired at the base of the smoke that came from
+Henry's rifle, but the youth and his comrades lay close and were
+unharmed. Shif'less Sol and Tom were quick enough to catch glimpses of
+brown forms, at which they fired, and the cries coming back told that
+they had hit.
+
+“That's something,” said Henry. “One or two Iroquois at least will not
+wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts.”
+
+“Wish they'd try to rush us,” said Shif'less Sol. “I never felt so full
+of fight in my life before.”
+
+“They may try it,” said Henry. “I understand that at the big battle of
+the Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois would wait until a
+white man behind a tree would fire, then they would rush up and tomahawk
+him before he could reload.”
+
+“They don't know how fast we kin reload,” said Long Jim, “an' they don't
+know that we've got these double-barreled pistols, either.”
+
+“No, they don't,” said Henry, “and it's a great thing for us to have
+them. Suppose we spread out a little. So long as we keep them
+from getting a lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a great
+disadvantage.”
+
+Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the others
+toward the left. They still had good cover, as fallen timber was
+scattered all over the oasis, and they were quite sure that another
+attack would be made soon. It came in about fifteen minutes. The
+Iroquois suddenly fired a volley at the logs and brush, and when the
+five returned the fire, but with more deadly effect, they leaped forward
+in the mud and attempted to rush the oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+
+But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a second
+volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch foot on solid
+earth. Then the double barreled pistols came into play. The bullets
+sent from short range drove back the savages, who were amazed at such
+a deadly and continued fire. Henry caught sight of a white face among
+these assailants, and he knew it to be that of Braxton Wyatt. Singularly
+enough he was not amazed to see it there. Wyatt, sinking deeper and
+deeper into savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois
+in such a pursuit. He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the infamous
+son of the Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself worse than the
+worst of the savages, as Thayendanegea himself has written.
+
+Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now about
+shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger Wyatt darted
+behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the bullet. He also saw
+the renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not able to secure a shot at him,
+either. Nevertheless, the Iroquois attack was beaten back. It was a
+foregone conclusion that the result would be so, unless the force was
+in great numbers. It is likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had
+thought only a single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the
+five had joined them later.
+
+Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but
+their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for
+their lives, could not carry them off. Paul, with a kind of fascinated
+horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper. Then one was
+entirely gone. The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too,
+was gone. But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading
+the fugitives on toward Fort Penn. They had not only held it, but they
+believed that they could continue to hold it against anything, and their
+hearts became exultant. Something, too, to balance against the long
+score, lay out there in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over
+Wyoming, were sorry that Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+
+The stillness came again. The sun did not break through the heavy gray
+sky, and the somber shadows brooded over “The Shades of Death.” They
+heard again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on
+the murky surface. Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry
+of wolf replying.
+
+“More Iroquois coming,” said Shif'less Sol. “Well, we gave them a pretty
+warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm
+thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in.”
+
+“We can, except in one case,” said Henry, “if the new party brings their
+numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround
+us in the darkness. Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when
+twilight comes. Carpenter and the train have a long lead now.”
+
+“Yes,” said Shif'less Sol, “Now, what in tarnation is that?”
+
+“A white flag,” said Paul. A piece of cloth that had once been white had
+been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
+
+“They want a talk with us,” said Henry.
+
+“If it's Braxton Wyatt,” said Long Jim, “I'd like to take a shot at him,
+talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another.”
+
+“We'll see what they have to say,” said Henry, and he called aloud:
+“What do you want with us?”
+
+“To talk with you,” replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton
+Wyatt.
+
+“Very well,” replied Henry, “show yourself and we will not fire upon
+you.”
+
+A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were
+held aloft in sign of peace. It was a splendid figure, at least six feet
+four inches in height. At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke
+through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant
+scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face
+with the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red
+bronze. It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the
+mighty Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+
+“Ware,” he said, “I would speak with you. Let us talk as one chief to
+another.”
+
+The five were amazed. Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he
+had come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far
+more formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe.
+But his demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
+
+“Are you going to answer him?” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“Of course,” replied Henry.
+
+“The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot.”
+
+“Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare.”
+
+Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height. The same ruddy
+sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another
+splendid figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height
+of man, his hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed
+in buckskin, and his whole attitude that of one without fear. The two,
+the white and the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across
+the marsh.
+
+“What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?” asked Henry. In the presence
+of the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held
+his heart vanished. He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk
+under the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for
+White Lightning. He himself had owed him his life on another and more
+distant occasion, and he was not ungrateful. So there was warmth in his
+tone when he spoke.
+
+“Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground,” said Timmendiquas, “I
+have things to say that are important and that you will be glad to
+hear.”
+
+Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the
+young chief, coming forward, met him. Henry held out his hand in white
+fashion, and the young chief took it. There was no sound either from the
+swamp or from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of
+the eyes of those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
+
+“I wish to tell you, Ware,” said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity
+becoming a great chief, “that it was not I who led the pursuit of the
+white men's women and children. I, and the Wyandots who came with me,
+fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies
+when I can. We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in
+battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose
+in its birch-bark cradle.”
+
+The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which
+impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was
+usually a mask.
+
+“I believe that you tell the truth,” said Henry gravely.
+
+“I and my Wyandots,” continued the chief, “followed a trail through
+the woods. We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up
+there had just been a battle. The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven
+back. It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little
+children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect
+them.”
+
+“You speak true words, Timmendiquas,” said Henry.
+
+“The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill squaws
+and papooses,” continued Timmendiquas. “So I say to you, go on with
+those who flee across the mountains. Our warriors shall not pursue you
+any longer. We will turn back to the valley from which we come, and
+those of your race, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, shall go with us.”
+
+The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone that
+told that every word was meant. Henry felt a glow of admiration. The
+true greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+
+“And the Iroquois?” he said, “will they go back with you?”
+
+“They will. They have killed too much. Today all the white people in the
+valley are killed or driven away. Many scalps have been taken, those
+of women and children, too, and men have died at the stake. I have
+felt shame for their deeds, Ware, and it will bring punishment upon my
+brethren, the Iroquois. It will make so great a noise in the world that
+many soldiers will come, and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to
+be.”
+
+“I think it is so, Timmendiquas,” said Henry. “But you will be far away
+then in your own land.”
+
+The chief drew himself up a little.
+
+“I shall remain with the Iroquois,” he said. “I have promised to help
+them, and I must do so.”
+
+“I can't blame you for that,” said Henry, “but I am glad that you do
+not seek the scalps of women and children. We are at once enemies and
+friends, Timmendiquas.”
+
+White Lightning bowed gravely. He and Henry touched hands again, and
+each withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked back toward
+his comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy were near.
+
+The four rose up to greet him. They had heard part of what was said, and
+Henry quickly told them the rest.
+
+“He's shorely a great chief,” said Shif'less Sol. “He'll keep his word,
+too. Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear from pursuit.”
+
+“He's a statesman, too,” said Henry. “He sees what damage the deeds of
+Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them. He thinks our people
+will now send a great army against the Iroquois, and I think so, too.”
+
+“No nation can stand a thing like that,” said Paul, “and I didn't dream
+it could happen.”
+
+They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by the
+fugitives. All of them had confidence in the word of Timmendiquas. There
+was a remote chance that some other band had entered the swamp at a
+different point, but it was remote, indeed, and it did not trouble them
+much.
+
+Night was now over the great swamp. The sun no longer came through the
+gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes of flame made by
+fireflies. Had not the trail been so broad and deep it could easily have
+been lost, but, being what it was, the skilled eyes of the frontiersmen
+followed it without trouble.
+
+“Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired,” said Tom Ross, looking at
+the tracks in the mud. Then he suddenly added: “Here's whar one's quit
+forever.”
+
+A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some bushes,
+and its length indicated that a woman lay there. They passed it by
+in silence. Henry now appreciated more fully than ever the mercy of
+Timmendiquas. The five and Carpenter could not possibly have protected
+the miserable fugitives against the great chief, with fifty Wyandots and
+Iroquois at his back. Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none
+of the Indians or white allies around him would have done.
+
+In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but watchful,
+and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm. It was Carpenter, a man
+whose task was not less than that of the five. They were in the thick
+of it and could see what was done, but he had to lead on and wait. He
+counted the dusk figures as they approached him, one, two, three, four,
+five, and perhaps no man ever felt greater relief. He advanced toward
+them and said huskily:
+
+“There was no fight! They did not attack!”
+
+“There was a fight,” said Henry, “and we beat them back; then a second
+and a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of Wyandots, led
+by their great chief, Timmendiquas. He came forward and said that they
+would not pursue women and children, and that we could go in safety.”
+
+Carpenter looked incredulous.
+
+“It is true,” said Henry, “every word of it.”
+
+“It is more than Brant would have done,” said Carpenter, “and it saves
+us, with your help.”
+
+“You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter,” said
+Henry sincerely.
+
+They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the oasis,
+but they spread the news that there would be no more pursuit, and many
+drooping spirits revived. They spent another day in the Great Dismal
+Swamp, where more lives were lost. On the day after their emergence
+from the marsh, Henry and his comrades killed two deer, which furnished
+greatly needed food, and on the day after that, excepting those who had
+died by the way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into
+shelter and safety.
+
+The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois began the
+celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great victory and the
+many scalps taken at Wyoming. They could not recall another time when
+they had secured so many of these hideous trophies, and they were drunk
+with the joy of victory. Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes,
+and some painted and dressed like Indians, took part in it.
+
+According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand council
+to prepare for it. All the leading chiefs were present, Sangerachte,
+Hiokatoo, and the others. Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe, and other white
+men were admitted. After their deliberations a great fire was built in
+the center of the camp, the squaws who had followed the army feeding
+it with brushwood until it leaped and roared and formed a great red
+pyramid. Then the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance,
+and waited.
+
+Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the farthest
+point of the camp emerged a long line of warriors, hundreds and hundreds
+of them, all painted in red and black with horrible designs. They were
+naked except the breechcloth and moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a
+tomahawk as he sang.
+
+Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the
+red light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced and
+wheeled about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid light upon
+faces hideous with paint or the intoxication of triumph. The glare of
+their black eyes was like those of Eastern eaters of hasheesh or opium,
+and they bounded to and fro as if their muscles were springs of steel.
+They sang:
+
+  We have met the Bostonians [*] in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+     [* Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by
+     the Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+
+The monotonous chant with the refrain, “Ever-victorious is the League of
+the Ho-de-no-sau-nee,” went on for many verses. Meanwhile the old squaws
+never ceased to feed the bonfire, and the flames roared, casting a
+deeper and more vivid light over the distorted faces of the dancers and
+those of the chiefs, who sat gravely beyond.
+
+Higher and higher leaped the warriors. They seemed unconscious of
+fatigue, and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. Their whole
+souls were possessed by the orgy. Beads of sweat, not of exhaustion, but
+of emotional excitement, appeared upon their faces and naked bodies, and
+the red and black paint streaked together horribly.
+
+For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased suddenly to
+sing, although they continued their dance. A moment later a cry which
+thrilled every nerve came from a far point in the dark background.
+It was the scalp yell, the most terrible of all Indian cries, long,
+high-pitched, and quavering, having in it something of the barking howl
+of the wolf and the fiendish shriek of a murderous maniac. The warriors
+instantly took it up, and gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+
+A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight. It was that
+of a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the waist, her body
+covered with red and black paint, her long black hair hanging in a loose
+cloud down her back. She held a fresh scalp, taken from a white head,
+aloft in either band. It was Catharine Montour, and it was she who had
+first emitted the scalp yell. After her came more warriors, all bearing
+scalps. The scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken,
+and, as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+hours, penetrating every part of the forest. All the time Catharine
+Montour led the dance. None bounded higher than she. None grimaced more
+horribly.
+
+While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and black
+caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around amid hoots
+and yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. They were the
+surviving prisoners, and the black caps meant that they were to be
+killed and scalped on the morrow. Stupefied by all through which they
+had gone, they were scarcely conscious now.
+
+Midnight came. The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm stars
+looked down upon the savage and awful scene. Now the dancers began to
+weary. Many dropped unconscious, and the others danced about them where
+they lay. After a while all ceased. Then the chiefs brought forth a
+white dog, which Hiokatoo killed and threw on the embers of the fire.
+When it was thoroughly roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it.
+Thus closed the Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A FOREST PAGE
+
+
+When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five had
+helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food and rest
+they needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt themselves
+relieved of a great responsibility. They were also aware how much they
+owed to Timmendiquas, because few of the Indians and renegades would
+have been so forbearing. Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to
+the great Wyandot. Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the
+prisoners and the slaughter of women and children, he did not do it.
+The five could never forget these things in after life, when Brant was
+glorified as a great warrior and leader. Their minds always turned to
+Timmendiquas as the highest and finest of Indian types.
+
+While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful state
+of exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death on the way.
+Other groups reached the Moravian towns, where they were received with
+all kindness by the German settlers. The five were able to give some
+help to several of these parties, but the beautiful Wyoming Valley lay
+utterly in ruins. The ruthless fury of the savages and of many of the
+Tories, Canadians, and Englishmen, can scarcely be told. Everything was
+slaughtered or burned. As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. An
+entire population was either annihilated or driven out, and finally
+Butler's army, finding that nothing more was left to be destroyed,
+gathered in its war parties and marched northward with a vast store
+of spoils, in which scalps were conspicuous. When they repassed Tioga
+Point, Timmendiquas and his Wyandots were still with them. Thayendanegea
+was also with them here, and so was Walter Butler, who was destined
+shortly to make a reputation equaling that of his father, “Indian”
+ Butler. Nor had the terrible Queen Esther ever left them. She marched
+at the head of the army, singing, horrid chants of victory, and swinging
+the great war tomahawk, which did not often leave her hand.
+
+The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was still
+full of the impulse of savage triumph. Wild Indian songs floated along
+the stream or through the meadows, which were quiet now. They advanced
+at their ease, knowing that there was nobody to attack them, but they
+were watched by five woodsmen, two of whom were boys. Meanwhile the
+story of Wyoming, to an extent that neither Indians nor woodsmen
+themselves suspected, was spreading from town to town in the East, to
+invade thence the whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation
+and horror that would make the name Wyoming long memorable. Wyoming
+had been a victory for the flag under which the invaders fought, but it
+sadly tarnished the cause of that flag, and the consequences were to be
+seen soon.
+
+Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were thinking
+little of distant consequences, but they were eager for the present
+punishment of these men who had committed so much cruelty. From the
+bushes they could easily follow the canoes, and could recognize some of
+their occupants. In one of the rear boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young
+man whom they knew to be Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by
+the most savage ferocity against the patriots. He and Wyatt seemed to
+be on the best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the
+five who were watching among the bushes on the river bank. Certainly
+Braxton Wyatt and he were a pair well met.
+
+“Henry,” said Shif'less Sol longingly, “I think I could jest about reach
+Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here. I ain't over fond o' shootin'
+from ambush, but I done got over all scruples so fur ez he's concerned.
+Jest one bullet, one little bullet, Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur
+a second chance.”
+
+“No, Sol, it won't do,” said Henry. “They'd get off to hunt us. The
+whole fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as fast as
+possible.”
+
+“I s'pose you're right, Henry,” said the shiftless one sadly, “but
+I'd jest like to try it once. I'd give a month's good huntin' for that
+single trial.”
+
+After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river, they
+turned back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses near it. Here
+everything had been destroyed. It was about dusk when they approached
+the battlefield, and they heard a dreadful howling, chiefly that of
+wolves.
+
+“I think we'd better turn away,” said Henry. “We couldn't do anything
+with so many.”
+
+They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up the
+Susquehanna. A light rain fell that night, but they slept under a little
+shed, once attached to a house which had been destroyed by fire. In some
+way the shed had escaped the flames, and it now came into timely use.
+The five, cunning in forest practice, drew up brush on the sides, and
+half-burned timber also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which
+had not long been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain,
+although they did not sleep for a long time.
+
+It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night had come
+on cool, and the rain made it cooler. The five, profiting by experience,
+often carried with them two light blankets instead of one heavy one.
+With one blanket beneath the body they could keep warmer in case the
+weather was cold.
+
+Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old outhouse,
+protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. They had eaten
+of a deer that they had shot in the morning, and they had a sense
+of comfort and rest that none of them had known before in many days.
+Henry's feelings were much like those that he had experienced when he
+lay in the bushes in the little canoe, wrapped up from the storm and
+hidden from the Iroquois. But here there was an important increase
+of pleasure, the pattering of the rain on the board roof, a pleasant,
+soothing sound to which millions of boys, many of them afterwards great
+men, have listened in America.
+
+It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost musical
+in its rhythm, kept up. Not much wind was blowing, and it, too, was
+melodious. Henry lay with his head on a little heap of ashes, which
+was covered by his under blanket, and, for the first time since he had
+brought the warning to Wyoming, he was free from all feeling of danger.
+The picture itself of the battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture,
+and of the savage Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was
+at times as vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then
+in its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth, hope,
+and strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+
+Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower. Physical comfort and the
+presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that permeated his
+whole being. The light wind mingled pleasantly with the soft summer
+rain. The sound of the two grew strangely melodious, almost piercingly
+sweet, and then it seemed to be human. They sang together, the wind and
+rain, among the leaves, and the note that reached his heart, rather than
+his ear, thrilled him with courage and hope. Once more the invisible
+voice that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told him,
+even here in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was lost would be
+regained. The chords ended, and the echoes, amazingly clear, floated far
+away in the darkness and rain. Henry roused himself, and came from the
+imaginative borderland. He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice
+to Shif'less Sol:
+
+“Did you hear anything, Sol?”
+
+“Nothin' but the wind an' the rain.”
+
+Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+
+“I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry,” continued the
+shiftless one, “'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near sleep
+ez a feller could be without bein' ackshooally so.”
+
+“I was drifting away,” said Henry.
+
+He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather gift.
+Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything in brilliant
+colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air, but Henry's gift
+went deeper. It was the power to evoke the actual living picture of
+the event that bad not yet occurred, something akin in its nature
+to prophecy, based perhaps upon the wonderful power of observation,
+inherited doubtless, from countless primitive ancestors. The finest
+product of the wilderness, he saw in that wilderness many things that
+others did not see, and unconsciously he drew his conclusions from
+superior knowledge.
+
+The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another note, a
+howl almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full of ferocity.
+All knew it at once. They had heard the cry of wolves too often in their
+lives, but this had an uncommon note like the yell of the Indian in
+victory. Again the cry arose, nearer, haunting, and powerful. The five,
+used to the darkness, could see one another's faces, and the look that
+all gave was the same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+
+“It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley,” whispered Paul,
+“and striking our trail they think they are going to find what they have
+been finding in such plenty before.”
+
+“Yes,” nodded Henry, “but do you remember that time when in the house
+we took the place of the man, his wife and children, just before the
+Indians came?”
+
+“Yes,” said Paul.
+
+“We'll treat them wolves the same way,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I'm glad of the chance,” said Long Jim.
+
+“Me, too,” said Tom Ross.
+
+The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and
+everyone held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle, with the
+muzzle pointing toward the forest. All accomplished marksmen, it would
+only be a matter of a moment for the stock to leap to the shoulder, the
+eye to glance down the barrel, the finger to pull the trigger, and the
+unerring bullet to leap forth.
+
+“Henry, you give the word as usual,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet, and
+they saw many gleaming eyes draw near. There must have been at least
+thirty of the wolves, and the five figures that they saw reclining,
+silent and motionless, against the unburned portion of the house might
+well have been those of the dead and scalped, whom they had found in
+such numbers everywhere. They drew near in a semicircular group, its
+concave front extended toward the fire, the greatest wolves at the
+center. Despite many feastings, the wolves were hungry again. Nothing
+had opposed them before, but caution was instinctive. The big gray
+leaders did not mind the night or the wind or the rain, which they
+had known all their lives, and which they counted as nothing, but they
+always had involuntary suspicion of human figures, whether living or
+not, and they approached slowly, wrinkling back their noses and sniffing
+the wind which blew from them instead of the five figures. But their
+confidence increased as they advanced. They had found many such burned
+houses as this, but they had found nothing among the ruins except what
+they wished.
+
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the human
+figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves curling
+back farther from the strong white teeth. The outer ends of the concave
+semicircle also drew in. The whole pack was about to spring upon its
+unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true that many a wolfish pulse
+beat a little higher in anticipation. With a suddenness as startling
+ figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a gush
+of flame shot from five muzzles. Five of the wolves-and they were the
+biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon the ashes of the
+charred timbers, and the others, howling their terror to the dark,
+skies, fled deep into the forest.
+
+Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with his foot.
+
+“I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting those
+wolves,” he said, “but I for one am glad we did it.”
+
+“So am I,” said Paul.
+
+“Me, too,” said the other three together.
+
+They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one fell
+asleep. No more wolves howled that night anywhere near them.
+
+When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and a
+splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold. Jim Hart built a fire
+among the blackened logs, and cooked venison. They had also brought from
+Fort Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim carried with a small coffee
+pot in his camp kit, and everyone had a small tin cup. He made coffee
+for them, an uncommon wilderness luxury, in which they could rarely
+indulge, and they were heartened and strengthened by it.
+
+Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with its
+silver river in the center, and its green mountain walls on either side.
+But the beauty was for the eye only. It did not reach the hearts of
+those who had seen it before. All of the five loved the wilderness, but
+they felt now how tragic silence and desolation could be where human
+life and all the daily ways of human life had been.
+
+It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its own.
+The game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into the valley.
+Deer ate what had grown in the fields and gardens, and the wolves were
+everywhere. The whole black tragedy was written for miles. They were
+never out of sight of some trace of it, and their anger grew again as
+they advanced in the blackened path of the victorious Indians.
+
+It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts and
+skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign against
+the Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted sooner or later.
+Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering news of the Indian
+plans, and, when that army of which they dreamed should finally march,
+they could help it most of all by warning it of ambush, the Indian's
+deadliest weapon.
+
+Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was manifest in
+all wars with the Indians along the whole border from North to South,
+as it steadily shifted farther West. The practical hunter and scout was
+always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw
+levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were
+invariably at a great disadvantage. They were likely to be caught in
+ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened
+at Wyoming. The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his
+comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it. An army needed
+eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs. So they went
+swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of
+the Iroquois. They had a plan of approaching the upper Mohawk village
+of Canajoharie, where one account says that Thayendanegea was born,
+although another credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+
+They turned now from the valley to the deep woods. The trail showed
+that the great Indian force, after disembarking again, split into large
+parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound for its home village. The
+five noted several of the trails, but one of them consumed the whole
+attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+
+He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about eight
+Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he took to be
+those of a white woman and of several children, captives, as even a
+tyro would infer. The soul of Tom, the good, honest, and inarticulate
+frontiersman, stirred within him. A white woman and her children being
+carried off to savagery, to be lost forevermore to their kind! Tom,
+still inarticulate, felt his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that
+the tracks in the soft mud told so plainly. But despair was not the only
+emotion in his heart. The silent and brave man meant to act.
+
+“Henry,” he said, “see these tracks here in the soft spot by the creek.”
+
+The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly the same
+tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+
+“About a day old, I think,” he said.
+
+“Just about,” said Tom; “an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in my
+mind.”
+
+“I think I do,” said Henry, “and we ought to overtake them by to-morrow
+night. You tell the others, Tom.”
+
+Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words, receiving
+from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed fast on the
+trail. They knew that the Indians could not go very fast, as their speed
+must be that of the slowest, namely, that of the children, and it seemed
+likely that Henry's prediction of overtaking them on the following night
+would come true.
+
+It was an easy trail. Here and there were tiny fragments of cloth,
+caught by a bush from the dress of a captive. In one place they saw a
+fragment of a child's shoe that had been dropped off and abandoned. Paul
+picked up the worn piece of leather and examined it.
+
+“I think it was worn by a girl,” he said, “and, judging from its size,
+she could not have been more than eight years old. Think of a child like
+that being made to walk five or six hundred miles through these woods!”
+
+“Younger ones still have had to do it,” said Shif'less Sol gravely, “an'
+them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk.”
+
+The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they had no
+doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more numerous than
+any others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming battle. They came that
+afternoon to a camp fire beside which the warriors and captives had
+slept the night before.
+
+“They ate bar meat an' wild turkey,” said Long Jim, looking at some
+bones on the ground.
+
+“An' here,” said Tom Ross, “on this pile uv bushes is whar the women an'
+children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is whar the warriors
+lay anywhars. You can still see how the bodies uv some uv 'cm crushed
+down the grass an' little bushes.”
+
+“An' I'm thinkin',” said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail that
+led away from the camp fire, “that some o' them little ones wuz gittin'
+pow'ful tired. Look how these here little trails are wobblin' about.”
+
+“Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar tomahawks,”
+ said Tom Ross.
+
+The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance of Tom's
+remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+
+“It's the greatest danger to be feared,” he said, “and we must overtake
+them in the night when they are not suspecting. If we attack by day they
+will tomahawk the captives the very first thing.”
+
+“Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+
+“Then,” said Henry, “we don't need to hurry. We'll go on until about
+midnight, and then sleep until sunrise.”
+
+They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far less
+skillful than they could have followed. But a silent dread was in the
+heart of every one of them. As they saw the path of the small feet
+staggering more and more they feared to behold some terrible object
+beside the path.
+
+“The trail of the littlest child is gone,” suddenly announced Paul.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “but the mother has picked it up and is carrying it.
+See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven.”
+
+“Poor woman,” said Paul. “Henry, we're just bound to overtake that
+band.”
+
+“We'll do it,” said Henry.
+
+At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes that they
+could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. Then they resumed
+the trail, haunted always by that fear of finding something terrible
+beside it. But it was a trail that continually grew slower. The Indians
+themselves were tired, or, feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of
+hurry. By and by the trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+
+“It feels a lot better now,” said Tom Ross. “So do I.”
+
+They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet cold.
+Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians had taken
+time for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+
+“They can't be more than two or three hours ahead,” said Henry, “and
+we'll have to go on now very cautiously.”
+
+They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests, a
+region suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on their own
+account; but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now advanced slowly.
+The afternoon was long and warm, but an hour before sunset they looked
+over a hill into a glade, and saw the warriors making camp for the
+night.
+
+The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. The
+Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were cooking
+venison upon it. Others were lying on the grass, apparently resting,
+but a little to one side sat a woman, still young and of large, strong
+figure, though now apparently in the last stages of exhaustion, with her
+feet showing through the fragments of shoes that she wore. Her head was
+bare, and her dress was in strips. Four children lay beside her' the
+youngest two with their heads in her lap. The other two, who might be
+eleven and thirteen each, had pillowed their heads on their arms, and
+lay in the dull apathy that comes from the finish of both strength
+and hope. The woman's face was pitiful. She had more to fear than the
+children, and she knew it. She was so worn that the skin hung loosely on
+her face, and her eyes showed despair only. The sad spectacle was almost
+more than Paul could stand.
+
+“I don't like to shoot from ambush,” he said, “but we could cut down
+half of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the rest.”
+
+“And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk the
+woman and children in an instant,” replied Henry. “We agreed, you know,
+that it would be sure to happen. We can't do anything until night comes,
+and then we've got to be mighty cautious.”
+
+Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew
+carefully to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the undergrowth,
+watching the Indians complete their fire and their preparations for the
+night. It was evident to Henry that they considered themselves perfectly
+safe. Certainly they had every reason for thinking so. It was not likely
+that white enemies were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it
+could only be a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce
+band of Senecas who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they'
+had suffered the year before at the Oriskany.
+
+They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just enough
+for broiling deer meat which they carried. They drank at a little spring
+which ran from under a ledge near them, and gave portions of the meat to
+the woman and children. After the woman had eaten, they bound her hands,
+and she lay back on the grass, about twenty feet from the camp fire. Two
+children lay on either side of her, and they were soon sound asleep. The
+warriors, as Indians will do when they are free from danger and care,
+talked a good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them
+a luxurious time. They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and looked
+at some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at their belts.
+The woman could not keep from seeing these, too, but her face did not
+change from its stony aspect of despair. Then the light of the fire went
+out, the sun sank behind the mountains, and the five could no longer see
+the little group of captives and captors.
+
+They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging at the
+hearts of every one of them. But they must give the Indians time to
+fall asleep if they would secure rescue, and not merely revenge. They
+remained in the bushes, saying but little and eating of venison that
+they carried in their knapsacks.
+
+They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark, but
+with a faint moon showing. Then they descended slowly into the valley,
+approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they knew the Indian camp
+lay. This work required at least three quarters of an hour, and they
+reached a point where they could see the embers of the fire and the dark
+figures lying about it. The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put
+out no sentinels, and all were asleep. But the five knew that, at the
+first shot, they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and
+as formidable as tigers. Their problem seemed as great as ever. So they
+lay in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+
+“It's this,” said Henry. “We want to save the woman and the children
+from the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of range of the
+blade before the battle begins.” “How?” said Tom Ross.
+
+“I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run for
+the woods with the children, and then you four must do the most of the
+rest.”
+
+“Do you think you can do it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I can, as I will soon show you. I'm going to steal forward to the woman,
+but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your rifles and pistols.
+You can come a little nearer without being heard.”
+
+All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in the
+last fringe of bushes except Henry. He lay almost flat upon the ground,
+carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his right hand. He
+was undertaking one of the severest and most dangerous tests known to
+a frontiersman. He meant to crawl into the very midst of a camp of the
+Iroquois, composed of the most alert woodsmen in the world, men who
+would spring up at the slightest crackle in the brush. Woodmen who,
+warned by some sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange
+presence.
+
+The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their hearts
+from beating louder and faster. They knew the tremendous risk undertaken
+by their comrade, but there was not one of them who would have shirked
+it, had not all yielded it to the one whom they knew to be the best
+fitted for the task.
+
+Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years of skill
+that he had acquired in his life in the wilds. His body was like that
+of a serpent, going forward, coil by coil. He was near enough now to see
+the embers of the fire not yet quite dead, the dark figures scattered
+about it, sleeping upon the grass with the long ease of custom, and then
+the outline of the woman apart from the others with the children about
+her. Henry now lay entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those
+of a serpent. It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body
+that he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+
+The object of his advance was the woman. He saw by the faint light of
+the moon that she was not yet asleep. Her face, worn and weather beaten,
+was upturned to the skies, and the stony look of despair seemed to have
+settled there forever. She lay upon some pine boughs, and her hands were
+tied behind her for the night with deerskin.
+
+Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like a great
+snake. Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with war paint, and
+came closer to the woman. She was not paying attention to anything about
+her, but was merely looking up at the pale, cold stars, as if everything
+in the world had ceased for her.
+
+Henry crept a little nearer. He made a slight noise, as of a lizard
+running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. He crept
+closer, and there he lay flat upon the grass within six feet of her,
+his figure merely a slightly darker blur against the dark blur of the
+earth. Then, trusting to the woman's courage and strength of mind, he
+emitted a hiss very soft and low, like the warning of a serpent, half in
+fear and half in anger.
+
+The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which the
+sound had come. It might have been the formidable hiss of a coiling
+rattlesnake that she heard, but she felt no fear. She was too much
+stunned, too near exhaustion to be alarmed by anything, and she did
+not look a second time. She merely settled back on the pine boughs, and
+again looked dully up at the pale, cold stars that cared so little for
+her or hers.
+
+Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low noise,
+sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the border, knew
+to be made by a human being. She raised herself a little, although it
+was difficult with her bound hands to sit upright, and saw a dark shadow
+approaching her. That dark shadow she knew to be the figure of a man. An
+Indian would not be approaching in such a manner, and she looked again,
+startled into a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the
+incredible, the impossible, was about to happen. A voice came from the
+figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+
+“Do not move,” said that incredible voice out of the unknown. “I have
+come for your rescue, and others who have come for the same purpose are
+near. Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds that hold your arms.”
+
+The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary Newton.
+A sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her four children
+awoke within her just when hope had gone the call to life came. She
+had never heard before a voice so full of cheer and encouragement. It
+penetrated her whole being. Exhaustion and despair fled away.
+
+“Turn a little on your side,” said the voice.
+
+She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel as it
+swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them together. Her
+arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein of her being.
+
+“We shall attack in a few moments,” said the voice, “but at the first
+shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your children. Hold out
+your hands.”
+
+She held out both hands obediently. The handle of a tomahawk was pressed
+into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into the other.
+Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+
+“If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how,” said
+the voice. Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+
+
+The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far days
+of Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom the unknown
+figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. It had seemed to
+her that God himself had deserted her, but at the last moment he had
+sent some one. She did not doubt, she could not doubt, because the bonds
+had been severed, and there she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand.
+The friendly stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come,
+but she was not helpless now. Like many another frontier woman, she
+was naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope, all her
+strength had returned for the present.
+
+Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape superstition,
+and Mary Newton began to believe that some supernatural creature had
+intervened in her behalf. She raised herself just a little on one elbow
+and surveyed the surrounding thicket. She saw only the dead embers of
+the fire, and the dark forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground.
+Had it not been for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have
+believed that the voice was only a dream.
+
+There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose quickly
+to his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands. The woman's fingers
+clutched the knife and pistol more tightly, and her whole gaunt figure
+trembled. The Seneca listened only a moment. Then he gave a sharp cry,
+and all the other warriors sprang up. But three of them rose only
+to fall again, as the rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others
+staggered from wounds.
+
+The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket, and then
+they rushed upon the camp. Quick as a flash two of the Senecas started
+toward the woman and children with their tomahawks, but Mary Newton was
+ready. Her heart had leaped at the shots when the Senecas fell, and
+she kept her courage. Now she sprang to her full height, and, with the
+children screaming at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly
+into the face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same
+way with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. Then,
+tomahawk in hand, she rushed forward. In judging Mary Newton, one must
+consider time and place.
+
+But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk. As the five
+rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled pistols, while
+Henry swung his clubbed rifle with terrible effect. It was too much
+for the Senecas. The apparition of the armed woman, whom they had left
+bound, and the deadly fire from the five figures that sprang upon them,
+was like a blow from the hand of Aieroski. The unhurt and wounded fled
+deep into the forest, leaving their dead behind. Mary Newton, her great
+deed done, collapsed from emotion and weakness. The screams of the
+children sank in a few moments to frightened whimpers. But the oldest,
+when they saw the white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+
+Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was
+revived; Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three were in
+the thickets, watching lest the surviving Senecas return for attack.
+
+“I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must have
+sent you to our rescue,” said Mary Newton reverently.
+
+“We don't know,” said Paul, “but we are doing the best we can. Do you
+think you can walk now?”
+
+“Away from the savages? Yes!” she said passionately. She looked down at
+the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a single trace of
+pity for them. Again it is necessary to consider time and place.
+
+“Some of my strength came back while I was lying here,” she said, “and
+much more of it when you drove away the Indians.”
+
+“Very well,” said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire with
+his comrades, “we must start on the back trail at once. The surviving
+Senecas, joined by other Iroquois, will certainly pursue, and we need
+all the start that we can get.”
+
+Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him over
+his shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the older two
+scorned help. They were full of admiration for the great woodsmen,
+mighty heroes who had suddenly appeared out of the air, as it were,
+and who had swept like a tornado over the Seneca band. It did not seem
+possible now that they, could be retaken.
+
+But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also recovered her
+forethought.
+
+“Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail,” she said. “One
+of the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles farther on was a
+river flowing into the Susquehanna, and that they would cross this river
+on a boat now concealed among bushes on the bank. The crossing was at a
+sudden drop between high banks. Might not we go on, find the boat, and
+come back in it down the river and into the Susquehanna?”
+
+“That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me,” said Shif'less Sol.
+“Besides, it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the Iroquois off
+our track. They'll think, o' course, that we've gone straight back, an'
+we'll pass 'em ez we're going forward.”
+
+“It's certainly the best plan,” said Henry, “and it's worth our while
+to try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois. Do you know the general
+direction?”
+
+“Almost due north.”
+
+“Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any Iroquois
+who may be returning to this camp, and push for it.”
+
+Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others followed in a
+silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the two smallest children,
+who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. Henry did not believe that the
+returning Iroquois could follow their trail on such a dark night, and
+the others agreed with him.
+
+After a while they saw the gleam of water. Henry knew that it must be
+very near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such a dark night.
+
+“I think, Mrs. Newton,” he said, “that this is the river of which you
+spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they would.”
+
+The woman smiled.
+
+“Yes,” she said, “you've done well with my poor guess, and the boat must
+be hidden somewhere near here.”
+
+Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two older children, unable
+to walk farther, sank down beside her. But the two who slept soundly on
+the shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not awaken. Henry motioned
+to Jim and Tom to remain there, and Shif'less Sol bent upon them a
+quizzical and approving look.
+
+“Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed galoot,” he
+said, “carryin' a baby that tender. Knew Jim could sling a little black
+bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think you'd take to nussin' so
+easy.”
+
+“I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde,” said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+condescension, “that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. In face
+uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but with the little
+an' the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez human bein's are ever
+made to be.”
+
+“You're right, old hoss,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Well,” said the shiftless one, “I can't argify with you now, ez the
+general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his major, which is
+Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o' them barges o' Clepatry
+that Paul tells about, all solid silver, with red silk sails an' gold
+oars, an' we're meanin' to do it.”
+
+Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they discovered, deep
+among bushes growing in the shallow water, a large, well-made boat with
+two pairs of oars and with small supplies of parched corn and venison
+hidden in it.
+
+“Good luck an' bad luck come mixed,” said the shift-less one, “an' this
+is shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck. The woman an' the children
+are clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we could never hev got
+them back. Now it's jest a question o' rowin' an' fightin'.”
+
+“Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water,” said
+Henry, “while you can go back and tell the others, Sol.”
+
+“That just suits a lazy man,” said Sol, and he walked away jauntily.
+Under his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at the find, which he
+knew to be of such vast importance. He approached the dusky group, and
+his really tender heart was stirred with pity for the rescued captives.
+Long Jim and Silent Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but
+the older ones and the woman, also, had fallen asleep. Sol, in order to
+conceal his emotion, strode up rather roughly. Mary Newton awoke.
+
+“Did you find anything?” she asked.
+
+“Find anything?” repeated Shif'less Sol. “Well, Long Jim an' Tom
+here might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me, three
+eddicated men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally bound to find
+it whether it wuz thar or not. Yes, we've unearthed what Paul would call
+an argosy, the grandest craft that ever floated on this here creek,
+that I never saw before, an' that I don't know the name uv. She's bein'
+floated out now, an' I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to
+tell the princes and princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the
+other gran' an' mighty passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice
+is in the stream, an' the Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin', settin'
+on the Pup to welcome ye.”
+
+“Sol,” said Long Jim, “you do talk a power uv foolishness, with your
+Dogs an' Pups.”
+
+“It ain't foolishness,” rejoined the shiftless one. “I heard Paul read
+it out o' a book oncet, plain ez day. They've been ruled by Dogs at
+Venice for more than a thousand years, an' on big 'casions the Dog comes
+down a canal in a golden barge, settin' on the Pup. I'll admit it 'pears
+strange to me, too, but who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the
+ways of foreign countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the
+sea?”
+
+“They've found the boat,” said Tom Ross, “an' that's enough!”
+
+“Is it really true?” asked Mrs. Newton.
+
+“It is,” replied Shif'less Sol, “an' Henry an' Paul are in it, waitin'
+fur us. We're thinkin', Mrs. Newton, that the roughest part of your trip
+is over.”
+
+In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really fine
+one, and they were delighted. Mary Newton for the first time broke down
+and wept, and no one disturbed her. The five spread the blankets on the
+bottom of the boat, where the children soon went to sleep once more, and
+Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol took the oars.
+
+“Back in a boat ag'in,” said the shiftless one exultantly. “Makes me
+feel like old times. My fav'rite mode o' travelin' when Jim Hart, 'stead
+o' me, is at the oars.”
+
+“Which is most o' the time,” said Long Jim.
+
+It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the wilderness.
+They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful arms, with scarcely an
+effort, propelled the boat along the stream. The woman herself lay down
+on the blankets and fell asleep with the children. Henry at the prow,
+Tom Ross at the stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with
+their rifles across their knees. They knew that the danger was far from
+over. Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown to them, as
+a highway, and those who survived of their original captors could pick
+up their trail by daylight. And the Senecas, being mad for revenge,
+would surely get help and follow. Henry believed that the theory of
+returning toward the Wyoming Valley was sound. That region had been so
+thoroughly ravaged now that all the Indians would be going northward.
+If they could float down a day or so without molestation, they would
+probably be safe. The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened,
+flowing with a smooth, fairly swift current. The forest on either side
+was dense with oak, hickory, maple, and other splendid trees, often
+with a growth of underbrush. The three riflemen never ceased to watch
+intently. Henry always looked ahead. It would have been difficult for
+any ambushed marksman to have escaped his notice. But nothing occurred
+to disturb them. Once a deer came down to drink, and fled away at sight
+of the phantom boat gliding almost without noise on the still waters.
+Once the far scream of a panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton
+and her children, sleeping soundly, did not hear it. The five themselves
+knew the nature of the sound, and paid no attention. The boat went
+steadily on, the three riflemen never changing their position, and soon
+the day began to come. Little arrows of golden light pierced through the
+foliage of the trees, and sparkled on the surface of the water. In the
+cast the red sun was coming from his nightly trip. Henry looked down at
+the sleepers. They were overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake
+of their own accord for a long time.
+
+Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+
+“Why not let 'em sleep on?” he said.
+
+Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom Ross
+resumed their rifles. The day was coming fast, and the whole forest was
+soon transfused with light.
+
+No one of the five had slept during the night. They did not feel the
+need of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great exaltation. They
+had saved the prisoners thus far from a horrible fate, and they were
+firmly resolved to reach, with them, some strong settlement and safety.
+They felt, too, a sense of exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo,
+the Butlers, the Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed
+such terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+
+The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver to
+gold, and the woman and the children still slept. The five chewed some
+strips of venison, and looked rather lugubriously at the pieces they
+were saving for Mary Newton and the children.
+
+“We ought to hev more'n that,” said Shif'less Sol. “Ef the worst comes to
+the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer.”
+
+“But not yet,” said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the sleepers. “I
+think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon, and its width will be
+a good thing for us. I wish we were there now. I don't like this narrow
+stream. Its narrowness affords too good an ambush.”
+
+“Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast,” said the shiftless one,
+“an' that is a good sign. What's that you see ahead, Henry--ain't it a
+river?”
+
+“It surely is,” replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad expanse of
+water, “and it's the Susquehanna. Pull hard, Sol! In five more minutes
+we'll be in the river.”
+
+It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout behind
+them, and saw at least a dozen canoes following. The canoes were filled
+with Indians and Tories, and they had spied the fugitives.
+
+“Keep the women and the children down, Paul,” cried Henry.
+
+All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and, without
+a word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled watermen, swung
+heavily on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less Sol sat in the rear with
+their rifles ready. Mary Newton awoke with a cry at the sound of the
+shots, and started to rise, but Paul pushed her down.
+
+“We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton,” he said, “and we are
+pursued. The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't be afraid.
+The two who are watching there are the best shots in the world.”
+
+He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in the
+stern of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past, kings of
+the forest whom no one could overcome, and her courage came back. The
+children, too, had awakened with frightened cries, but she and Paul
+quickly soothed them, and, obedient to commands, the four, and Mary
+Newton with them, lay flat upon the bottom of the boat, which was now
+being sent forward rapidly by Jim Hart and Tom. Paul took up his rifle
+and sat in a waiting attitude, either to relieve one of the men at the
+oars or to shoot if necessary.
+
+The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light. The Indians,
+after their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful were Long Jim
+and Tom that they were gaining but little, although some of the boats
+contained six or eight rowers.
+
+As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces in the
+first boat. One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other, he was quite
+sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler. Hot anger swept through
+all his veins, and the little pulses in his temples began to beat like
+trip hammers. Now the picture of Wyoming, the battle, the massacre,
+the torture, and Queen Esther wielding her great tomahawk on the bound
+captives, grew astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his
+brain. The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+
+“Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?” he called clearly across the intervening
+water. “Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women and children,
+champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of the savages. And
+it is you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of a wicked father. Come a
+little closer, won't you? We've messengers here for both of you!”
+
+He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of Shif'less Sol,
+and repeated his request that they come a little closer.
+
+They understood his words, and they understood, also, the significant
+gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles. The hearts of both
+Butler and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and their boat dropped back
+to third place. Henry laughed aloud when he saw. The Viking rage was
+still upon him. This was the primeval wilderness, and these were no
+common foes.
+
+“I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers,” he cried.
+“Why have you dropped back to third place in the line, Braxton Wyatt and
+Walter Butler, when you were first only a moment ago? Are you cowards as
+well as murderers of women and children?”
+
+“That's pow'ful good talk,” said Shif'less Sol admiringly. “Henry,
+you're a real orator. Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get a chance at one
+o' them renegades.”
+
+It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of the
+renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain first place.
+Thus the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+
+The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called Henry's
+attention to it.
+
+“Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in the
+first boat?” he said to Henry. “Wyatt an' Butler are a leetle too fur
+away.”
+
+“I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!” said Henry. “Take that
+fellow on the right who is pulling so hard.”
+
+The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over his aim,
+and pulled the trigger. The rower whom Henry had pointed out fell back
+in the boat, his hands slipping from the handles of his oars. The boat
+was thrown into confusion, and dropped back in the race. Scattering
+shots were fired in return, but all fell short, the water spurting up in
+little jets where they struck.
+
+Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long stay
+among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+
+“That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!”
+ he shouted. “And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler, murderers of women and children! Why don't you keep your proper
+places in the front?”
+
+“That's the way to talk to 'em,” whispered Shif'less Sol, as he
+reloaded. “Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton Wyatt
+hisself. Since Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a chance.”
+
+“Nor I, either,” said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful tones: “The
+place of a leader is in front, isn't it? Then why don't you come up?”
+
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up. They were not lacking
+in courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the fugitive boat
+contained, and he had also told Butler. So they still hung back,
+although they raged at Henry Ware's taunts, and permitted the Mohawks
+and Senecas to take the lead in the chase.
+
+“They're not going to give us a chance,” said Henry. “I'm satisfied
+of that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets, though just now
+I'd rather it were the two white ones. What do you think, Sol, of that
+leading boat? Shouldn't we give another hint?”
+
+“I agree with you, Henry,” said the shiftless one. “They're comin'
+much too close fur people that ain't properly interduced to us. This
+promiskus way o' meetin' up with strangers an' lettin' 'em talk to you
+jest ez ef they'd knowed you all their lives hez got to be stopped. It's
+your time, Henry, to give 'em a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you
+take the big fellow in the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk.”
+
+Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. Again
+confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a decline of
+enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and swore, but, as
+they showed no great zeal for the lead themselves, the Iroquois did not
+gain on the fugitive boat. They, too, were fast learning that the two
+who crouched there with their rifles ready were among the deadliest
+marksmen in existence. They fired a dozen shots, perhaps, but their
+rifles did not have the long range of the Kentucky weapons, and again
+the bullets fell short, causing little jets of water to spring up.
+
+“They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present,” said Henry,
+“but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for some chance to
+help them.”
+
+Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and announced
+that he could see no danger. There was probably no Indian fleet farther
+down the river than the one now pursuing them, and the danger was behind
+them, not before.
+
+Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not said a
+word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that would have carried
+oarsmen of our day to many a victory. Moreover, they had the inducement
+not merely of a prize, but of life itself, to row and to row hard. They
+had rolled up their sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of
+woven steel rose and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver
+current of the Susquehanna.
+
+Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat. The children had cried
+out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing, but she and
+Paul bad soothed them and kept them down. Somehow Mary Newton had become
+possessed of a great faith. She noticed the skill, speed, and success
+with which the five always worked, and, so long given up to despair,
+she now went to the other extreme. With such friends as these coming
+suddenly out of the void, everything must succeed. She had no doubt of
+it, but lay peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed
+by the sound of the shots.
+
+Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. The
+Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were driven
+back by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. Shif'less
+Sol, while he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose place he had
+taken, nevertheless was not silent.
+
+“I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller Butler,”
+ he said. “Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see us here, almost
+where they could stretch out their hands an' put 'em on us. Like reachn'
+fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git it by half a finger's length.”
+
+“They are certainly not pleased,” said Henry, “but this must end some
+way or other, you know.”
+
+“I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin',” rejoined the shiftless one,
+“but when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. Ez I've said
+more'n once before, floatin' down a river with somebody else pullin' at
+the oars is the life jest suited to me.”
+
+Henry looked up. “A summer thunderstorm is coming,” he said, “and from
+the look of things it's going to be pretty black. Then's when we must
+dodge 'em.”
+
+He was a good weather prophet. In a half hour the sky began to darken
+rapidly. There was a great deal of thunder and lightning, but when
+the rain came the air was almost as dark as night. Mary Newton and her
+children were covered as much as possible with the blankets, and then
+they swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern shore. They had already
+lost sight of their pursuers in the darkness, and as they coasted along
+the shore they found a large creek flowing into the river from the east.
+
+They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when the
+rain ceased. Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly drying
+everything.
+
+They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too shallow
+for them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to the land.
+Two days later they arrived at a strong fort and settlement, where Mary
+Newton and her four children, safe and well, were welcomed by relatives
+who had mourned them as dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. “THE ALCOVE”
+
+
+They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as food
+was served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually slept
+soundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry and
+his comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a single
+room inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newton
+had already spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside their
+hunting shirts and leggins, prepared for rest.
+
+“Jim,” said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flat
+and broad, in one corner of the room, “that's a bed. Mebbe you don't
+think it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar.”
+
+Long Jim grinned.
+
+“Mebbe you're right, Sol,” he said. “I hev seen sech things ez that, an'
+mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tells
+us about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess the
+ground wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong,
+an' all the rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man
+myself I'll jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender,
+Sol Hyde, an' not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed
+yourself, an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in
+a silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffled
+red silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jest
+comin' to the knee, where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' out
+uv purple satin slippers, an' then he'll clap on your head a big wig
+uv snow-white hair, fallin' all about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a
+silver sword to your side, an' he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez long
+been known ez Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in reality
+is the King o' France, is now before you. Down on your knees an' say
+your prayers!'”
+
+Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+
+“You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sun
+is a wally?”
+
+“I heard all about 'em from Paul,” replied Long Jim in a tone of intense
+satisfaction. “A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to do
+fur yourself.”
+
+“Then I want one,” said Shif'less Sol emphatically. “He'd jest suit a
+lazy man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbe
+you're more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all the
+instincts uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'm
+hungry, I like to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired,
+an' I like to sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed at
+birth by fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France,
+after all, an' my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal
+ancestors.”
+
+“Mebbe it's so,” rejoined Long Jim. “I've heard that thar hev been a
+pow'ful lot uv foolish kings.”
+
+With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them,
+and was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him to
+slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than two
+minutes behind Sol.
+
+Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted in
+his ear: “Henry Ware, by all that's glorious,” and a hand pressed his
+fingers together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figure
+and smiling brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made that
+adventurous journey up the Mississippi and Ohio.
+
+“And the others?” was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+
+“They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, but
+we're as sound as ever.”
+
+“That's always a safe prediction to make,” said Adam Colfax, smiling. “I
+never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out
+of danger.”
+
+“We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live.”
+
+The face of the New Englander darkened.
+
+“Wyoming!” he exclaimed. “I cannot hear of it without every vein growing
+hot within me.”
+
+“We saw things done there,” said Henry gravely, “the telling of which few
+men can bear to hear.”
+
+“I know! I know!” exclaimed Adam Colfax. “The news of it has spread
+everywhere!”
+
+“What we want,” said Henry, “is revenge. It is a case in which we must
+strike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a white
+life will be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to the
+Mississippi.”
+
+“It is true,” said Adam Colfax, “and we would send an army now against
+the Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at
+their lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That
+is the reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which
+has suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will
+strike in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make
+more than half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you
+know this.”
+
+He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
+here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us
+so fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
+Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
+means to help Thayendanegea to the end.”
+
+Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+
+“That is bad,” he said. “Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader,
+but there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will
+relieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry,
+that we got through safely with our supplies to the Continental army,
+and they could not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in
+time.”
+
+The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
+Adam Colfax.
+
+“It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax,” said
+Shif'less Sol, “an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on
+the Mississippi an' the Ohio'--an' now that you're here, they're goin'
+to win again.”
+
+“I think we are going to win here and everywhere,” said Adam Colfax,
+“but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because
+our people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just.”
+
+The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
+east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot
+cause, and the five, on the day after that, received a message written
+on a piece of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts
+of the settlement. It was addressed to “Henry Ware and Those with Him,”
+ and it read:
+
+
+     “You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     “I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     “I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     “I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT.”
+
+Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+
+“A renegade catches something of the Indian nature,” he said, “and
+always likes to threaten and boast.”
+
+But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+
+“Sometimes I think,” he said, “that the invention o' writin' wuz a
+mistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mighty
+big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' up
+to him face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing a
+pow'ful sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then.”
+
+“I think I'll keep this letter,” said Henry, “an' we five will give an
+answer to it later on.”
+
+He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravely
+tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significant
+action. Nothing more was needed.
+
+The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton and
+her children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chiefly
+ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. It
+was their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois,
+until some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations,
+was assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined borderers
+could achieve something.
+
+It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of the
+great heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was now
+at its highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed with
+victory, and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything.
+Only the strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. The
+colonists here were so much reduced, and so little help could be
+sent them from the East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into
+innumerable small parties and rake the country as with a fine tooth
+comb. They never missed a lone farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive
+in the woods able to evade them. And they were constantly fed from the
+North with arms, ammunition, rewards for scalps, bounties, and great
+promises.
+
+But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silent
+and invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struck
+hard. There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a single
+Iroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, and
+the warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommon
+size and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, and
+they carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served to
+them at the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided by
+the evil spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably.
+No one could find where they slept, unless it was those who never came
+back again.
+
+The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and Braxton
+Wyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,
+also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their red
+allies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of the
+raiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,
+but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. While
+their acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+manifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They were
+heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, on
+the Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and as
+far north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplished
+more for a defense than did those five in the waning months of the
+summer. Late in September the most significant of all these events
+occurred. A party of eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part in
+the Wyoming affair, was attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such
+deadly fierceness that only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John
+Johnson. Brant sent out six war parties, composed of not less than
+twenty warriors apiece, to seek revenge, but they found nothing.
+
+Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one of
+the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at that
+point was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At the
+entrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or,
+rather, cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ample
+shelter from the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was about
+halfway between the top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of
+approach both from below and above. Unless completely surprised-a very
+unlikely thing with them-the five could hold it against any force as
+long as their provisions lasted. They also built a boat large enough for
+five, which they hid among the bushes at the lake's edge. They were thus
+provided with a possible means of escape across the water in case of the
+last emergency.
+
+Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great
+delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called “The
+Alcove.” The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of
+other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk
+over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with
+skins of deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls
+furnished many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They
+also, with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long
+Jim was to use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones
+so near the mouth of “The Alcove” that the smoke would pass out and be
+lost in the thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing
+toward the inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on
+them all, but Jim would not be cooking then.
+
+Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied “The Alcove”
+ plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no
+way in which they could store water, and for that they had to take
+their chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting
+caution, was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a
+few miles of “The Alcove,” but the pursuers invariably went astray on
+the hard, rocky ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution
+to swim down the creek before climbing up to “The Alcove.” Nobody could
+follow a trail in the face of such difficulties.
+
+It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, but
+they easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half
+waded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to “The Alcove,” where
+the others were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water.
+When they had eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth
+of “The Alcove,” where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage
+that hid the entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happy
+mood.
+
+“It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',” he said, “to set up in a nice safe
+place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,
+seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap
+in knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that
+old town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind
+that it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but
+'cause old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a
+plain. That wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on
+a mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been
+enough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable
+weepins they used in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the
+walls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin'
+killed by A-killus, fur which I've always been sorry.”
+
+“It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them
+ancient times that Paul tells about,” said Long Jim. “Now, thar wuz
+'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin'
+his ship on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants,
+one-eyed women, an' sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the
+woods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed?
+Then thar wuz the keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that
+river so no arrow could enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an'
+keepin' it out o' the water, which caused his death the very first time
+Paris shot it off with his little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev
+sense enough to let the heel go under, too. She could hev dragged it out
+in two seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'
+on the part of A-killus.”
+
+“I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,” said
+Tom Ross. “I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an'
+I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I
+know now that's whar the French come from.”
+
+“But Paris was the name of a man,” persisted Paul. “Maybe the French
+named their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars.”
+
+“Then they showed mighty poor jedgment,” said Shif'less Sol. “Ef I'd
+named my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector.”
+
+“You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills,” said
+Henry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. “Come here, you
+fellows, and see what's passing down the lake.”
+
+They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being
+rowed slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each
+canoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them
+contained two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler.
+
+“Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Quite likely,” said Henry, “and at the same time they may be engaged in
+some general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the base
+of the cliff.”
+
+The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage,
+and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six
+long war canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and
+flooded all the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was
+not mistaken, and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in
+the first boat. From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off
+either with a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he
+knew that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might not
+escape, and which at least would check their activities and plans for a
+long time. Similar impulses flitted through the minds of the other four,
+but all kept still, although fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle
+stocks until they touched triggers.
+
+The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming
+of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of
+moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's
+finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to
+let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
+
+The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close
+together. They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and
+smaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+
+“I'm thinkin',” said Shif'less Sol, “that thar's some kind uv a movement
+on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that
+they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something
+three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois
+town of Oghwaga.”
+
+“It's most likely true,” said Henry, “and it seems to me that it's our
+business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?”
+
+“Just as you do,” they replied with unanimity.
+
+“Then we leave this place and start in the morning,” said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW
+
+
+Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues, and
+Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains, but the
+five avoided them all. On one or two occasions they would have been
+willing to stop and fight, but they had bigger work on hand. They had
+received from others confirmation of the report that Long Jim had heard
+from the hunters, and they were quite sure that a strong force was
+advancing to strike the first blow in revenge for Wyoming. Curiously
+enough, this body was commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William
+Butler, and according to report it was large and its leaders capable.
+
+When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the Delaware,
+it was joined by the five. They were introduced to the colonel by the
+celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom they had met several
+times in the woods, and they were received warmly.
+
+“I've heard of you,” said Colonel Butler with much warmth, “both from
+hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax. Two of you were to have
+been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming.”
+
+Henry indicated the two.
+
+“What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal against the
+Indians and their white allies,” continued Colonel Butler.
+
+“Anyone who was there,” said Henry, “would feel all his life, the desire
+to punish those who did it.”
+
+“I think so, too, from all that I have heard,” continued Colonel Butler.
+“It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of our column and
+warn us of what lies before us. I believe you have volunteered for that
+duty.”
+
+The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered only
+two hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and brave, and it
+was the best force that could yet be sent to the harassed border.
+It might, after all, strike a blow for Wyoming if it marched into no
+ambush, and Henry and his comrades were resolved to guard it from that
+greatest of all dangers.
+
+When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the five
+were far ahead, passing through the woods, up the Susquehanna, toward
+the Indian villages that lay on its banks, though a great distance above
+Wyoming. The chief of these was Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the
+destination of the little army, they were resolved to visit it, or at
+least come so near it that they could see what manner of place it was.
+
+“If it's a big village,” said Colonel Butler, “it will be too strong
+to attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are absent on
+expeditions.”
+
+They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of the
+approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October evening
+they knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of the Iroquois
+supplies. They considered it very risky and unwise to approach in the
+daytime, and accordingly they lay in the woods until the dark should
+come.
+
+The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly in the three
+months since Wyoming. All the green was now gone, and it was tinted
+red and yellow and brown. The skies were a mellow blue, and there was a
+slight haze over the forest, but the air had the wonderful crispness and
+freshness of the American autumn. It inspired every one of the five with
+fresh zeal and energy, because they believed the first blow was about to
+be struck.
+
+About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the reports
+of its importance were confirmed. They had not before seen an Indian
+village with so many signs of permanence. They passed two or three
+orchards of apple and peach trees, and they saw other indications of
+cultivation like that of the white farmer.
+
+“It ain't a bad-lookin' town,” said Long Jim Hart. “But it'll look
+wuss,” said Shif'less Sol, “onless they've laid an ambush somewhar.
+I don't like to see houses an' sech like go up in fire an' smoke, but
+after what wuz done at Wyomin' an' all through that valley, burnin' is a
+light thing.”
+
+“We're bound to strike back with all our might,” said Paul, who had the
+softest heart of them all.
+
+“Now, I wonder who's in this here town,” said Tom Ross. “Mebbe
+Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades.”
+
+“It may be so,” said Henry. “This is their base and store of supplies.
+Oh, if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men, what a rush we
+could make!”
+
+So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the village,
+passing among some thick clusters of grapevines. Henry was in the lead,
+and he heard a sudden snarl. A large cur of the kind that infest Indian
+villages leaped straight at him.
+
+The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades from the
+consequences of an alarm. He dropped his rifle instinctively, and seized
+the dog by the throat with both hands. A bark following the snarl had
+risen to the animal's throat, but it was cut short there. The hands of
+the great youth pressed tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from
+the earth. The four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no
+alarm would be made now.
+
+The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. Henry
+cast the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all five of them
+sank softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. About fifteen yards
+away an Indian warrior was walking cautiously along and looking among
+the vines. Evidently he had heard the snarl of the dog, and was seeking
+the cause. But it had been only a single sound, and he would not look
+far. Yet the hearts of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among
+the vines, and their nerves were tense for action should the need for it
+come.
+
+The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did not see
+the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with the dark
+growth, and presently, satisfied that the sound he had heard was of no
+importance, he walked in another direction, and passed out of sight.
+
+The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept to the
+very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon an open space,
+beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but their attention was
+centered upon a figure that stood in the open.
+
+Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to disclose
+the features, every one of the scouts recognized the figure. It could be
+none other than that of Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots. He was pacing back and forth, somewhat in the fashion of the
+white man, and his manner implied thought.
+
+“I could bring him down from here with a bullet,” said Shif'less Sol,
+“but I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry.”
+
+“No,” said Henry, “nor will I. But look, there's another.”
+
+A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first. It was also
+that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall as Timmendiquas.
+It was Thayendanegea. Then three white figures appeared. One was that of
+Braxton Wyatt, and the others they took to be those of “Indian” Butler
+and his son, Walter Butler. After a talk of a minute or two they entered
+one of the wooden houses.
+
+“It's to be a conference of some kind,” whispered Henry. “I wish I could
+look in on it.”
+
+“And I,” said the others together.
+
+“Well, we know this much,” continued Henry. “No great force of the
+Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up quickly, we can
+take the town.”
+
+“It's a chance not to be lost,” said Paul.
+
+They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they reached
+the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs of two or three
+of the Indian houses.
+
+“I've a feeling in me,” said Paul, “that the place is doomed. We'll
+strike the first blow for Wyoming.”
+
+They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their trail with
+the utmost speed toward the marching American force, going in Indian
+file through the wilderness. Henry, as usual, led; Shif'less Sol
+followed, then came Paul, and then Long Jim, while Silent Tom was the
+rear guard. They traveled at great speed, and, some time after daylight,
+met the advance of the colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+
+William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a little
+when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared. But he uttered an
+exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader, Henry.
+
+“What have you found?” he asked eagerly.
+
+“We've been to Oghwaga,” replied the youth, “and we went all about the
+town. They do not suspect our coming. At least, they did not know when
+we left. We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the Butlers, and Wyatt enter the
+house for a conference.”
+
+“And now is our chance,” said eager young William Gray. “What if we
+should take the town, and with it these men, at one blow.”
+
+“We can scarcely hope for as much as that,” said Henry, who knew
+that men like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to allow
+themselves to be seized by so small a force, “but we can hope for a good
+victory.”
+
+The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the news, and,
+led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with all possible haste.
+William Gray was still sanguine of a surprise, but the young riflemen
+did not expect it. Indian sentinels were sure to be in the forest
+between them and Oghwaga. Yet they said nothing to dash this hope. Henry
+had already seen enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and
+the little army full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came.
+Besides the young captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant named
+Taylor, who had been in the battle at Wyoming, but who had escaped the
+massacre. The five had not met him there, but the common share in so
+great a tragedy proved a tie between them. Taylor's name was Robert,
+but all the other officers, and some of the men for that matter, who
+had known him in childhood called him Bob. He was but little older than
+Henry, and his earlier youth, before removal to Wyoming, had been passed
+in Connecticut, a country that was to the colonials thickly populated
+and containing great towns, such as Hartford and New Haven.
+
+A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any other
+that they had ever seen. His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. Holland was
+his birthplace, but America was his nation. He was short and extremely
+fat, but he had an agility that amazed the five when they first saw it
+displayed. He talked much, and his words sounded like grumbles, but
+the unctuous tone and the smile that accompanied them indicated to the
+contrary. He formed for Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining
+study in character.
+
+
+“I ain't quite seen his like afore,” said the shiftless one to Paul.
+“First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble down among the
+first bushes he met. 'Stead o' that, he sailed right through 'em, makin'
+never a trip an' no noise at all, same ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into
+a juicy venison steak.”
+
+“I've heard tell,” said Long Jim, who also contemplated the prodigy,
+“that big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes ez spry ez you.
+They say that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the giraffe across the sands
+uv Afriky, an' I know from pussonal experience that the bigger an'
+clumsier a b'ar is the faster he kin make you scoot fur your life. But
+he's the real Dutch, ain't he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the
+Spanish under the Duke uv Alivy an' Belisarry?”
+
+“Undoubtedly,” replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to
+correct Long Jim's history, “and I'm willing to predict to you, Jim
+Hart, that Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight that we may
+have.”
+
+Heemskerk rolled up to them. He seemed to have a sort of circular
+motion like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace with the others,
+nevertheless, and he showed no signs of exertion.
+
+“Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am here?”
+ he said to Paul.
+
+“Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?” replied Paul politely. “Because I am a
+Dutchman. I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a baby. I,
+Cornelius Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle country of Holland
+in a goot leetle house, by the side of a goot leetle canal, painting
+beautiful blue china, dishes, plates, cups, saucers, all most beautiful,
+and here I am running through the woods of this vast America, carrying
+on my shoulder a rifle that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian
+and hunted by him. Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?”
+
+“I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr. Heemskerk,”
+ replied Paul, “and wish to see punishment inflicted upon those who have
+committed great crimes.”
+
+“Not so! Not so!” replied the Dutchman with energy. “It is because I am
+one big fool. I am not really a big enough man to be as big a fool as I
+am, but so it is! so it is!” Shif'less Sol regarded him critically, and
+then spoke gravely and with deliberation: “It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk,
+an' Paul ain't told quite all the truth, either. I've heard that the
+Dutch was the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe;
+that all you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden
+shoe, an' all the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump right
+on top o' you all at once. Lookin' you up an' lookin' you down, an'
+sizin' you up, an' sizin you down, all purty careful, an' examinin' the
+corners O' your eyes oncommon close, an' also lookin' at the way you set
+your feet when you walk, I'm concludin' that you just natcherally love a
+fight, an' that you are lookin' fur one.”
+
+But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+
+“It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me brave
+when I am not,” he said. “I only say once more that I ought to be in
+Holland painting blue plates, and not here in the great woods holding on
+to my scalp, first with one hand and then with the other.”
+
+He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men, only
+laughed.
+
+Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a little
+rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night before, caught
+a few winks. But in less than an hour they were up and away again. The
+five riflemen were once more well in advance, and with them were Taylor
+and Heemskerk, the Dutchman, grumbling over their speed, but revolving
+along, nevertheless, with astonishing ease and without any sign of
+fatigue. They discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and
+as the village now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his
+belief that the Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would not
+stay to give battle. If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were prepared
+for a strong resistance, the bullets of the skirmishers would already be
+whistling through the woods.
+
+The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn leaves
+fell fast before the rising wind. The promise of the night was dark,
+which was not bad for their design, and once more the five-now the seven
+approached Oghwaga. From the crest of the very same hill they looked
+down once more upon the Indian houses.
+
+“It is a great base for the Iroquois,” said Henry to Heemskerk, “and
+whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel Butler must
+attack.”
+
+“Ah,” said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little higher
+point for a better view, “now I feel in all its fullness the truth that
+I should be back in Holland, painting blue plates.”
+
+Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of the
+Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of the time,
+and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell him the way was
+open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of them. There were also many
+serious thoughts in the back of his head.
+
+At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile of
+Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the Iroquois
+knew of their advance. Henry and his comrades, well in front, looked
+down upon the town, but saw nothing. No light came from an Indian
+chimney, nor did any dog howl. Just behind them were the troops in loose
+order, Colonel Butler impatiently striking his booted leg with a switch,
+and William Gray seeking to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good
+example to the men.
+
+“What do you think, Mr. Ware?” asked Colonel Butler.
+
+“I think we ought to rush the town at once.”
+
+“It is so!” exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting blue
+plates.
+
+“The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then we'll
+charge.”
+
+William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a long,
+thrilling note. Before its last echo was ended, the little army rushed
+upon the town. Three or four shots came from the houses, and the
+soldiers fired a few at random in return, but that was all. Indian
+scouts had brought warning of the white advance, and the great chiefs,
+gathering up all the people who were in the village, had fled. A
+retreating warrior or two had fired the shots, but when the white men
+entered this important Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single
+human being. Timmendiquas, the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was
+gone; Thayendanegea, the real head of the Six Nations, had slipped away;
+and with them had vanished the renegades. But they had gone in haste.
+All around them were the evidences. The houses, built of wood, were
+scores in number, and many of them contained furniture such as a
+prosperous white man of the border would buy for himself. There were
+gardens and shade trees about these, and back of them, barns, many of
+them filled with Indian corn. Farther on were clusters of bark lodges,
+which had been inhabited by the less progressive of the Iroquois.
+
+Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses misty
+in the moonlight. The army had not yet made much noise, but he was
+beginning to hear behind him the ominous word, “Wyoming,” repeated more
+than once. Cornelius Heemskerk had stopped revolving, and, standing
+beside Henry, wiped his perspiring, red face.
+
+“Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland,
+Mr. Ware,” he said. “It is a dark and sanguinary time. The men whose
+brethren were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not now spare the
+town of those who did it. In this wilderness they give blow for blow, or
+perish.”
+
+Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness. His heart
+had been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never forget Wyoming or
+its horrors; but in the destruction of an ancient town the long labor
+of man perished, and it seemed waste. Doubtless a dozen generations of
+Iroquois children had played here on the grass. He walked toward the
+northern end of the village, and saw fields there from which recent corn
+had been taken, but behind him the cry, “Wyoming!” was repeated louder
+and oftener now. Then he saw men running here and there with torches,
+and presently smoke and flame burst from the houses. He examined the
+fields and forest for a little distance to see if any ambushed foe might
+still lie among them, but all the while the flame and smoke behind him
+were rising higher.
+
+Henry turned back and joined his comrades. Oghwaga was perishing. The
+flames leaped from house to house, and then from lodge to lodge. There
+was no need to use torches any more. The whole village was wrapped in
+a mass of fire that grew and swelled until the flames rose above the
+forest, and were visible in the clear night miles away.
+
+So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and scouts
+were compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest. The wind rose and
+the flames soared. Sparks flew in myriads, and ashes fell dustily on the
+dry leaves of the trees. Bob Taylor, with his hands clenched tightly,
+muttered under his breath, “Wyoming! Wyoming!”
+
+“It is the Iroquois who suffer now,” said Heemskerk, as he revolved
+slowly away from a heated point.
+
+Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks would
+leap higher and the flames roar louder. The barns, too, were falling
+down, and the grain was destroyed. The grapevines were trampled under
+foot, and the gardens were ruined. Oghwaga, a great central base of the
+Six Nations, was vanishing forever. For four hundred years, ever since
+the days of Hiawatha, the Iroquois had waxed in power. They had ruled
+over lands larger than great empires. They had built up political and
+social systems that are the wonder of students. They were invincible in
+war, because every man had been trained from birth to be a warrior, and
+now they were receiving their first great blow.
+
+From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, “Indian” Butler, Walter Butler, Braxton Wyatt,
+a low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman, with whom Wyatt had become very
+friendly, and about sixty Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a
+tower of light to the south that had just appeared above the trees. It
+was of an intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band
+knew that it was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that was
+burning, and that the men who were doing it were the white frontiersmen,
+who, his red-coated allies had told him, would soon be swept forever
+from these woods. And they were forced to stand and see it, not daring
+to attack so strong and alert a force.
+
+They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the column
+of fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. Timmendiquas
+never said a word. In his heart, Indian though he was, he felt that
+the Iroquois had gone too far. In him was the spirit of the farseeing
+Hiawatha. He could perceive that great cruelty always brought
+retaliation; but it was not for him, almost an alien, to say these
+things to Thayendanegea, the mighty war chief of the Mohawks and the
+living spirit of the Iroquois nation.
+
+Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter storms.
+His arms were folded across his breast, and he looked steadily toward
+that red threatening light off there in the south. Some such idea as
+that in the mind of Timmendiquas may have been passing in his own. He
+was an uncommon Indian, and he had had uncommon advantages. He had not
+believed that the colonists could make head against so great a kingdom
+as England, aided by the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large
+body of Tories among their own people. But he saw with his own eyes the
+famous Oghwaga of the Iroquois going down under their torch.
+
+“Tell me, Colonel John Butler,” he said bitterly, “where is your great
+king now? Is his arm long enough to reach from London to save our town
+of Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his great city of London
+is to him?”
+
+The thickset figure of “Indian” Butler moved, and his swart face flushed
+as much as it could.
+
+“You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant,” he replied. “We
+are fighting here for your country as well as his, and you cannot say
+that Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the British and Canadians
+have not done their part.”
+
+“It is true,” said Thayendanegea, “but it is true, also, that one must
+fight with wisdom. Perhaps there was too much burning of living men at
+Wyoming. The pain of the wounded bear makes him fight the harder, and
+it, is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga yonder burns. Say, is it not so,
+Colonel John Butler?”
+
+“Indian” Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering. The Tory,
+Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was the only one
+who spoke aloud.
+
+“Thayendanegea,” he said, “I, and the Wyandots who are with me, have
+come far. We expected to return long ago to the lands on the Ohio, but
+we were with you in your village, and now, when Manitou has turned his
+face from you for the time, we will not leave you. We stay and fight by
+your side.”
+
+Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+
+“You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots,” he said, “and
+you and I are brothers. I shall be proud and happy to have such a mighty
+leader fighting with me. We will have vengeance for this. The power of
+the Iroquois is as great as ever.”
+
+He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and the
+flames of hate and resolve burned in his eyes. Old Hiokatoo, the most
+savage of all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a murmur passed
+through the group of Indians.
+
+Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend, Coleman,
+the Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and savage Walter
+Butler, whom he somewhat feared. Wyatt was perhaps the least troubled
+of all those present. Caring for himself only, the burning of Oghwaga
+caused him no grief. He suffered neither from the misfortune of friend
+nor foe. He was able to contemplate the glowing tower of light with
+curiosity only. Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies
+would attempt revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for
+himself in such adventures. His horizon had broadened somewhat of late.
+The renegade, Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon Girty, but he
+had found a new friend in Coleman. He was coming now more into touch
+with the larger forces in the East, nearer to the seat of the great war,
+and he hoped to profit by it.
+
+“This is a terrible blow to Brant,” Coleman whispered to him. “The
+Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while the rebels,
+occupied with the king's troops, have not been able to send help to
+their own. But they have managed to strike at last, as you see.”
+
+“I do see,” said Wyatt, “and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not sorry.
+Perhaps these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll soon realize
+that they need likely chaps such as you and me, eh, Coleman.”
+
+“You're not far from the truth,” said Coleman, laughing a little, and
+pleased at the penetration of his new friend. They did not talk further,
+although the agreement between them was well established. Neither did
+the Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders say any more. They watched the
+tower of fire a long time, past midnight, until it reached its zenith
+and then began to sink. They saw its crest go down behind the trees,
+and they saw the luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely,
+leaving there only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+
+Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched northward. It
+was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay down for the rest that
+they needed badly. They spread their blankets at the edge of the open,
+but well back from the burned area, which was now one great mass of
+coals and charred timbers, sending up little flame but much smoke. Many
+of the troops were already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged
+William Gray to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from
+ambush. He knew that the rashness and confidence of the borderers,
+especially when drawn together in masses, had often caused them great
+losses, and he was resolved to prevent a recurrence at the present
+time if he could. He had made these urgent requests of Gray, instead of
+Colonel Butler, because of the latter's youth and willingness to take
+advice.
+
+“I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town,” he said.
+“We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap.”
+
+Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row almost
+at the edge of the forest. The heat from the fire was still great, but
+it would die down after a while, and the October air was nipping. Henry
+usually fell asleep in a very few minutes, but this time, despite his
+long exertions and lack of rest, he remained awake when his comrades
+were sound asleep. Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which he saw
+the fire rising in great black coils that united far above. It seemed to
+Henry, half dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit
+was passing in the smoke.
+
+When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four hours
+he was up again, as the little army intended to march at once upon
+another Indian town. The hours while he slept had passed in silence, and
+no Indians had come near. William Gray had seen to that, and his best
+scout had been one Cornelius Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch
+birth.
+
+“It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry,” said Heemskerk,
+as he revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry was eating his
+breakfast, “and I am now very tired. It was like walking four or five
+times around Holland, which is such a fine little country, with the
+canals and the flowers along them, and no great, dark woods filled with
+the fierce Iroquois.”
+
+“Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be here, and
+perhaps before the day is over you will get some fighting hot enough to
+please even you.”
+
+Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour later
+he was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of overtaking some
+large band of retreating Iroquois.
+
+Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at Wyoming,
+Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly that very morning
+up the river against another Indian town, Cunahunta. Fortunately for
+him, a band of riflemen and scouts unsurpassed in skill led the way, and
+saw to it that the road was safe. In this band were the five, of course,
+and after them Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+
+“If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta before
+night,” said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+
+“It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their towns,” said
+Henry. “Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us strike so great a
+blow without a fight.”
+
+“Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry,” said Heemskerk,
+“or they would certainly give us a big battle. We've been lucky in the
+time of our advance. As it is, I think we'll have something to do.”
+
+It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the North,
+the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the hills, the
+leaves falling softly from the trees as the wind blew, but bringing with
+them no hint of decay. None of the vanguard felt fatigue, but when they
+crossed a low range of hills and saw before them a creek flowing down
+to the Susquehanna, Henry, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and
+dropped down in the grass. The others, knowing without question the
+significance of the action, also sank down.
+
+“What is it, Henry?” asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+“You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. Look
+a little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the feathers in the
+headdress of an Iroquois. Farther on I think I can catch a glimpse of
+a green coat, and if I am right that coat is worn by one of Johnson's
+Royal Greens. It's an ambush, Sol, an ambush meant for us.”
+
+“But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer Henry,”
+ said Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with the desire for
+action. “I, too, see the feather of the Iroquois.”
+
+“As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear this force
+out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come up, is it not?”
+ asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the Dutchman.
+
+“What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!” exclaimed Heemskerk. “Of
+course we will fight, and fight now!”
+
+“How about them blue plates?” said Shif'less Sol softly. But Heemskerk
+did not hear him.
+
+They swiftly developed their plan of action. There could be no earthly
+doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were ambushed on
+the far side of the creek. Possibly Thayendanegea himself, stung by the
+burning of Oghwaga and the advance on Cunahunta, was there. But they
+were sure that it was not a large band.
+
+The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one was a
+veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of the woods.
+They had supreme confidence in their ability to beat the best of the
+Iroquois, man for man, and they carried the very finest arms known to
+the time.
+
+It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. The
+others, including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make a circuit,
+cross the creek a full mile above, and come down on the flank of the
+ambushing party. Theirs would be the main attack, but it would be
+preceded by sharpshooting from the four, intended to absorb the
+attention of the Iroquois. The chosen ten slipped back down the hill,
+and as soon as they were sheltered from any possible glimpse by the
+warriors, they rose and ran rapidly westward. Before they had gone far
+they heard the crack of a rifle shot, then another, then several from
+another point, as if in reply.
+
+“It's our sharpshooters,” said Henry. “They've begun to disturb the
+Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy.”
+
+“Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier,” exclaimed
+Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his face blazing red.
+
+It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that they
+intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the water breast
+high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. Then they turned and
+rapidly descended the stream on its northern bank. In a few minutes they
+heard the sound of a rifle shot, and then of another as if replying.
+
+“The Iroquois have been fooled,” exclaimed Heemskerk. “Our four good
+riflemen have made them think that a great force is there, and they have
+not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an attack.”
+
+In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the forest, they
+saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the faint flash of rifles.
+They were coming somewhere near to the Iroquois band, and they practiced
+exceeding caution. Presently they caught sight of Indian faces, and now
+and then one of Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers. They stopped and
+held a council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute. They all
+agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in the
+Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+
+Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on the
+other side of the creek, fell. Heemskerk quickly followed with a shot as
+good, and the surprised Iroquois turned to face this new foe. But they
+and the Tories were a strong band, and they retreated only a little.
+Then they stood firm, and the forest battle began. The Indians numbered
+not less than thirty, and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them,
+but the value of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one
+that attacked. The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of
+the forest, and marksmen such as the Indians were never able to become,
+continually pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree to tree. Once or
+twice the warriors started a rush, but they were quickly driven back by
+sharpshooting such as they had never faced before. They soon realized
+that this was no band of border farmers, armed hastily for an emergency,
+but a foe who knew everything that they knew, and more.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois, and Wyatt
+in particular was hot with rage. He suspected that the five who had
+defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and there might be a
+chance now to destroy them all. He crept to the side of the fierce old
+Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that a part of their band slip
+around and enfold the enemy.
+
+Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying
+aspect. He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered
+with scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready
+in his hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good
+friend, the king. The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly
+at the Battle of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout
+these years of border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois. In this
+respect Hiokatoo led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he
+was to savage scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was
+the most terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld. He was old, but
+age in him seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity. The path
+of a deep cut, healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide,
+lay across his forehead. Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek,
+his chin, and his neck. He was crouched much like a panther, with his
+rifle in his hands and the ready tomahawk at his belt. But it was the
+extraordinary expression of his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder. He
+read there no mercy for anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt,
+if he should stand in the way, and it was this last fact that brought
+the shudder.
+
+Hiokatoo thought it a good plan. Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and
+Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward
+the right. Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been
+joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed
+his little force to meet it. Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught
+sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew
+back a little. While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting
+in the front, he waited for the attack. It came in half an hour, the
+flanking force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white
+riflemen was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again. But
+they had come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor.
+The Tory, like Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of
+the most ruthless on that terrible day. When they were less than a dozen
+feet apart they recognized each other. Henry saw the look that passed
+between them, and, although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some
+reason he did not use it. The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the
+bullet missed, and the Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded
+rifle and brought the stock down with all his force upon the head of his
+enemy. The man, uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and
+Taylor stood over him, still trembling with rage. In an instant Henry
+seized him and dragged him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where
+he had been.
+
+“He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!” exclaimed young Taylor,
+still trembling all over with passion.
+
+“He'll never massacre anybody else. You've seen to that,” said Henry,
+and in a minute or two Taylor was quiet. The sharpshooting continued,
+but here as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it. Despite their
+numbers, they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who
+lay behind trees almost in security, and who never missed. Another Tory
+and a chief, also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted. Nor did
+he feel any better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+
+“We have failed here,” he said. “They shoot too well for us to rush
+them. We have lost good men.” Hiokatoo frowned, and the scars on his
+face stood out in livid red lines.
+
+“It is so,” he said. “These who fight us now are of their best, and
+while we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. Come, we
+will go.”
+
+The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone from their
+front. They scouted some distance, and, finding no enemy, hurried back
+to Colonel Butler. The troops were pushed forward, and before night they
+reached Cunahunta, which they burned also. Some farther advance was
+made into the Indian country, and more destruction was done, but now the
+winter was approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home
+to protect their families. Others were to rejoin the main Revolutionary
+army, and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the time. The first blow
+had been struck, and it was a hard one, but the second blow and third
+and fourth and more, which the five knew were so badly needed, must
+wait.
+
+Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed. They had hoped to go
+far into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the Six Nations, to
+hunt down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant himself, but they could
+not wholly blame their commander. The rear guard, or, rather, the forest
+guard of the Revolution, was a slender and small force indeed.
+
+Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much
+personal regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom were
+Morgan's riflemen from Virginia. The farewells to William Gray, Bob
+Taylor, and Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+
+“I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns,” said Gray.
+
+“We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more,” said Taylor,
+“and we'll strike another blow for Wyoming.”
+
+“I foresee,” said Cornelius Heemskerk, “that I, a peaceful man, who
+ought to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn into danger
+in the great, dark wilderness again, and that you will be there with
+me, Mynheer Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the Wise Solomon, Mynheer the
+Silent Tom, and Mynheer the Very Long James. I see it clearly. I, a man
+of peace, am always being pushed in to war.”
+
+“We hope it will come true,” said the five together.
+
+“Do you go back to Kentucky?” asked William Gray.
+
+“No,” replied Henry, speaking for them all, “we have entered upon this
+task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is finished.”
+
+“It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world,” said
+Heemskerk. “I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by your
+side in some great battle to come, but the first thing I shall do when
+I see you again, my friends, is to look around at you, one, two, three,
+four, five, and see if you have upon your heads the hair which is now so
+rich, thick, and flowing.”
+
+“Never fear, my friend,” said Henry, “we have fought with the warriors
+all the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not one of us has
+lost a single lock of hair.”
+
+“It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so,” said Heemskerk,
+and then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his face express
+emotion.
+
+The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from Colonel
+Butler, and then they parted in the forest. Many of the soldiers looked
+back and saw the five tall figures in a line, leaning upon the muzzles
+of their long-barreled Kentucky rifles, and regarding them in silence.
+It seemed to the soldiers that they had left behind them the true sons
+of the wilderness, who, in spite of all dangers, would be there to
+welcome them when they returned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE DESERTED CABIN
+
+
+When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry turned to
+the others. “Well, boys,” he asked, “what are you thinking about?”
+
+“I?” asked Paul. “I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a sort of
+alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake.”
+
+“An' me?” said Shif'less Sol. “I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove runs
+back, an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm fur the
+winter.”
+
+“Me?” said Tom Ross. “I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove would
+be when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in front of you.”
+
+“An' ez fur me,” said Long Jim Hart, “I wuz thinkin' I could run a sort
+uv flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the front an' let
+the smoke pass out. I could cook all right. It wouldn't be ez good a
+place fur cookin' ez the one we hed that time we spent the winter on the
+island in the lake, but 'twould serve.”
+
+“It's strange,” said Henry, “but I've been thinking of all the things
+that all four of you have been thinking about, and, since we are agreed,
+we are bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and pass the winter there.”
+
+Without another word he led the way, and the others followed. It was
+apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base, because
+the cold had increased greatly in the last few days. The last leaves
+had fallen from the trees, and a searching wind howled among the bare
+branches. Better shelter than blankets would soon be needed.
+
+On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins, among which
+wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now afforded, although
+Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+
+It was a long journey to “The Alcove,” but they did not hurry, seeing no
+need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of their decision by
+the fact that the cold was increasing. The country in which the lake was
+situated lay high, and, as all of them were quite sure that the cold
+was going to be great there, they thought it wise to make preparations
+against it, which they discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion
+through the woods. They spoke, also, of greater things. All felt that
+they had been drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had
+swam before. They fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution
+of this great rearguard struggle, and at present they did not have the
+remotest idea of returning to Kentucky under any circumstances.
+
+“We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois,” said
+Henry. “I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of Tories of his
+own, and that he is likely to be as dangerous as either of the Butlers.”
+
+“Some day we'll end him for good an' all,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and now all
+the forest was bare and apparently lifeless. They came down the creek,
+and found their boat unharmed and untouched still among the foliage at
+the base of the cliff.
+
+“That's one thing safe,” said Long Jim, “an' I guess we'll find 'The
+Alcove' all right, too.”
+
+“Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there,” said Paul.
+
+“'Tain't likely,” replied Long Jim. “We've left the human smell thar,
+an' even after all this time it's likely to drive away any prowlin' bear
+or panther that pokes his nose in.”
+
+Long Jim was quite right. Their snug nest, like that of a squirrel in
+the side of a tree, had not been disturbed. The skins which they
+had rolled up tightly and placed on the higher shelves of stone were
+untouched, and several days' hunting increased the supply. The hunting
+was singularly easy, and, although the five did not know it, the
+quantity of game was much greater in that region than it had been
+for years. It had been swept of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory
+hordes, and deer, bear, and panther seemed to know instinctively that
+the woods were once more safe for them.
+
+In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and more
+than once they saw something among the coals that caused them to turn
+away with a shudder. At every place where man had made a little opening
+the wilderness was quickly reclaiming its own again. Next year the grass
+and the foliage would cover up the coals and the hideous relics that lay
+among them.
+
+They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff side,
+and stored it in “The Alcove.” They also cured some bear meat, and,
+having added a further lining of skins, they felt prepared for winter.
+They had also added to the comfort of the place. They had taken the
+precaution of bringing with them two axes, and with the heads of these
+they smoothed out more of the rough places on the floor and sides of
+“The Alcove.” They thought it likely, too, that they would need the axes
+in other ways later on.
+
+Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of Indians,
+and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least ten miles from
+“The Alcove.” They seemed to be traveling north, and the five made no
+investigations. Somewhat later they met a white runner in the forest,
+and he told them of the terrible massacre of Cherry Valley. Walter
+Butler, emulating his father's exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a
+mixed horde of Iroquois, Tories, British, and Canadians. He had not
+been wholly successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and
+children, and was now returning northward with prisoners. Some said,
+according to the runner, that Thayendanegea had led the Indians on this
+occasion, but, as the five learned later, he had not come up until the
+massacre was over. The runner added another piece of information that
+interested them deeply. Butler had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by
+a young Tory or renegade named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by
+cunning and cruelty. It was said that Wyatt had built up for himself a
+semi-independent command, and was becoming a great scourge.
+
+“That's our Braxton,” said Henry. “He is rising to his opportunities. He
+is likely to become fully the equal of Walter Butler.”
+
+But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went
+somewhat sadly back to “The Alcove.” They had learned also from the
+runner that Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and this fact
+increased their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to operate on a large
+scale.
+
+“We may get a chance at him anyhow,” said Henry. “He and his band may go
+too far away from the main body of the Indians and Tories, and in that
+case we can strike a blow if we are watchful.”
+
+Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt. He had grown up
+with them. Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with his becoming a
+renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands or exile for taking
+part in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry Valley, but, long since an
+ally of the Indians, he was now at the head of a Tory band that murdered
+and burned from sheer pleasure.
+
+“Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets,” said
+Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+
+But for the present they “holed up,” and now their foresight was
+justified. To such as they, used to the hardships of forest life, “The
+Alcove” was a cheery nest. From its door they watched the wild fowl
+streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others outlined against the dark,
+wintry skies. So numerous were these flocks that there was scarcely a
+time when they did not see one passing toward the warm South.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of wild
+geese, arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. A few
+faint honks came to them, and then the geese grew misty on the horizon.
+Shif'less Sol followed them with serious eyes.
+
+“Do you ever think, Paul,” he said, “that we human bein's ain't so
+mighty pow'ful ez we think we are. We kin walk on the groun', an' by
+hard learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the water a little.
+But jest look at them geese flyin' a mile high, right over everything,
+rivers, forests any mountains, makin' a hundred miles an hour, almost
+without flappin' a wing. Then they kin come down on the water an' float
+fur hours without bein' tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun',
+too. Did you ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments? Why,
+Paul, s'pose you an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through the
+air a mile a minute fur a month an' never git tired.”
+
+“We'd certainly see some great sights,” said Paul, “but do you know,
+Sol, what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift of tireless
+wings?”
+
+“Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about.”
+
+“No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out all the
+camps of the Indians and Tories. I'd pick out the Butlers and Braxton
+Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they were planning. Then I'd
+fly away to the East and look down at all the armies, ours in buff and
+blue, and the British redcoats. I'd look into the face of our great
+commander-in-chief. Then I'd fly away back into the West and South, and
+I'd hover over Wareville. I'd see our own people, every last little one
+of them. They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but I'd
+be so high up in the air no bullet could reach me. Then I'd come soaring
+back here to you fellows.”
+
+“That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul,” said Shif'less Sol, “an' I
+wouldn't mind takin' it in myself. But fur the present we'd better busy
+our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are givin' us, though we're
+well fixed fur a house already. It's cu'rus what good homes a handy man
+kin find in the wilderness.”
+
+The predictions of the wild fowl were true. A few days later heavy
+clouds rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched them, knowing
+what they would bring them. They spread to the zenith and then to the
+other horizon, clothing the whole circle of the earth. The great flakes
+began to drop down, slowly at first, then faster. Soon all the trees
+were covered with white, and everything else, too, except the dark
+surface of the lake, which received the flakes into its bosom as they
+fell.
+
+It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about two feet
+on the ground. After that it turned intensely cold, the surface of the
+snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered the lake. It was not
+possible to travel under such circumstances without artificial help, and
+now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in the far North, came to their help.
+He showed them how to make snowshoes, and, although all learned to use
+them, Henry, with his great strength and peculiar skill, became by far
+the most expert.
+
+As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks, Henry
+took many long journeys on the snowshoes. Sometimes be hunted, but
+oftener his role was that of scout. He cautioned his friends that he
+might be out-three or four days at a time, and that they need take no
+alarm about him unless his absence became extremely long. The winter
+deepened, the snow melted, and another and greater storm came, freezing
+the surface, again making the snowshoes necessary. Henry decided now to
+take a scout alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since
+grown into the habit of accepting his decisions almost without question,
+he started at once. He was well equipped with his rifle, double barreled
+pistol, hatchet, and knife, and he carried in addition a heavy blanket
+and some jerked venison. He put on his snowshoes at the foot of the
+cliff, waved a farewell to the four heads thrust from “The Alcove”
+ above, and struck out on the smooth, icy surface of the creek. From this
+he presently passed into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course
+almost due north.
+
+It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth. In one of his
+journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories and
+Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it was the
+party led by Braxton Wyatt. Now he meant to see.
+
+His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover signs much
+earlier than he had expected. Before the end of the first day he saw the
+traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy snow, and once he came to a
+place where a deer had been slain and dressed. Then he came to another
+where the snow had been hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping
+place for several men. Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again,
+and a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+
+Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications. All the
+primitive instincts leaped up within him. A child of the forest and of
+elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was strong within him. He
+was tired of hunting wild animals, and now there was promise of a' more
+dangerous foe. For the purposes that he had in view he was glad that
+he was alone. The wintry forest, with its two feet of snow covered with
+ice, contained no terrors for him. He moved on his snowshoes almost like
+a skater, and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who
+is practically born on such shoes.
+
+As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his snowshoes,
+he was, indeed, a wonderful figure. The added height and the white glare
+from the ice made him tower like a great giant. He was clad completely
+in soft, warm deerskin, his hands were gloved in the same material,
+and the fur cap was drawn tightly about his head and ears. The
+slender-barreled rifle lay across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer
+meat made a light package on his back. Only his face was uncovered, and
+that was rosy with the sharp but bracing cold. But the resolute blue
+eyes seemed to have grown more resolute in the last six months, and the
+firm jaw was firmer than ever.
+
+It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the earth
+of snow and ice that it inclosed. His eyes traveled the circle of the
+horizon three times, and at the end of the third circle he made out a
+dim, dark thread against that sheet of blue steel. It was the light of a
+camp fire, and that camp fire must belong to an enemy. It was not likely
+that anybody else would be sending forth such a signal in this wintry
+wilderness.
+
+Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently in a
+small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height. He made up his mind
+that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he intended to make a
+thorough scout about it. He advanced until the smoke line became much
+thicker and broader, and then he stopped in the densest clump of bushes
+that he could find. He meant to remain there until darkness came,
+because, with all foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible
+to examine the hostile camp by day. The bushes, despite the lack of
+leaves, were so dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the
+crust of ice, he dug a hole. Then, having taken off his snowshoes and
+wrapped his blanket about his body, he thrust himself into the hole
+exactly like a rabbit in its burrow. He laid his shoes on the crust of
+ice beside him. Of course, if found there by a large party of warriors
+on snowshoes he would have no chance to flee, but he was willing to take
+what seemed to him a small risk. The dark would not be long in coming,
+and it was snug and warm in the hole. As he sat, his head rose just
+above the surrounding ice, but his rifle barrel rose much higher. He ate
+a little venison for supper, and the weariness in the ankles that comes
+from long traveling on snowshoes disappeared.
+
+He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those
+uncommonly keen ears of his. No sound at all came. There was not even
+a wind to rustle the bare boughs. The sun hung a huge red globe in the
+west, and all that side of the earth was tinged with a red glare, wintry
+and cold despite its redness. Then, as the earth turned, the sun was
+lost behind it, and the cold dark came.
+
+Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles were
+soothed, and he grew sleepy. It would have been very pleasant to doze
+there, but he brought himself round with an effort of the will, and
+became as wide awake as ever. He was eager to be off on his expedition,
+but he knew how much depended on waiting, and he waited. One hour, two
+hours, three hours, four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest
+before he roused himself from his covert. Then, warm, strong, and
+tempered like steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and
+advanced toward the point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+
+He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now. He was a
+formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving like
+some spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+
+Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold stars
+twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer visible. But
+Henry did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. He had marked its
+base too clearly in his mind to make any mistake, and he advanced with
+certainty. He came presently into an open space, and he stopped with
+amazement. Around him were the stumps of a clearing made recently, and
+near him were some yards of rough rail fence.
+
+He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the clearing
+the dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys of two of
+which smoke was rising. It was his first thought that he had come upon
+a little settlement still held by daring borderers, but second thought
+told him that it was impossible. Another and more comprehensive look
+showed many signs of ruin. He saw remains of several burned houses, but
+clothing all was the atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells
+when a place is abandoned. The two threads of smoke did not alter this
+impression.
+
+Henry divined it all. The builders of this tiny village in the
+wilderness bad been massacred or driven away. A part of the houses had
+been destroyed, some were left standing, and now there were visitors. He
+advanced without noise, keeping behind the rail fence, and approaching
+one of the houses from the chimneys of which the smoke came. Here be
+crouched a long time, looking and listening attentively; but it seemed
+that the visitors had no fears. Why should they, when there was nothing
+that they need fear in this frozen wilderness?
+
+Henry stole a little nearer. It had been a snug, trim little settlement.
+Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived there, literally hewing
+a home out of the forest. His heart throbbed with a fierce hatred and,
+anger against those who had spoiled all this, and his gloved finger
+crept to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+The night was intensely cold. The mercury was far below zero, and a wind
+that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. Even the wariest of
+Indians in such desolate weather might fail to keep a watch. But Henry
+did not suffer. The fur cap was drawn farther over chin and ears, and
+the buckskin gloves kept his fingers warm and flexible. Besides, his
+blood was uncommonly hot in his veins.
+
+His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings had not
+been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that they could never
+be used again, save as a passing shelter, just as they were being used
+now. He slid cautiously about the desolate place. He crossed a brook,
+frozen almost solidly in its bed, and he saw two or three large mounds
+that had been haystacks, now covered with snow.
+
+Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from which
+the smoke came. It was rather more pretentious than the others, built of
+planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a roof. The remains of a
+small portico formed the approach to the front door. Henry supposed that
+the house had been set on fire and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a
+part of it.
+
+A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. He knew
+that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a window. A faint
+sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved forward slowly to the
+window. It was an oaken shutter originally fastened with a leather
+strap, but the strap was gone, and now some one had tied it, though not
+tightly, with a deer tendon. The crack between shutter and wall was at
+least three inches, and Henry could see within very well.
+
+He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the crevice.
+What he saw within did not still any of those primitive feelings that
+had risen so strongly in his breast.
+
+A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was burning
+somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of least crackling
+and greatest heat. The huge bed of coals threw a mass of varied and
+glowing colors across the floor. Large holes had been burned in the side
+of the room by the original fire, but Indian blankets had been fastened
+tightly over them.
+
+In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword by his
+side. He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face had increased
+much in coarseness and cruelty. It had also increased in satisfaction.
+He was a great man now, as he saw great men, and both face and figure
+radiated gratification and pride as he lolled before the fire. At the
+other corner, sitting upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform,
+was his lieutenant, Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short,
+uncommonly muscular figure. His face was dark and cruel, with small eyes
+set close together. A half dozen other white men and more than a dozen
+Indians were in the room. All these lay upon their blankets on the
+floor, because all the furniture had been destroyed. Yet they had
+eaten, and they lay there content in the soothing glow of the fire, like
+animals that had fed well. Henry was so near that he could hear every
+word anyone spoke.
+
+“It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?” said
+Wyatt.
+
+“I'm glad the fire spared a part of it,” said Coleman. “Looks as if it
+was done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter night when
+we come along. I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is watching over us.”
+
+Wyatt laughed.
+
+“You're a man that I like, Levi,” he said. “You can see to the inside of
+things. It would be a good idea to use this place as a base and shelter,
+and make a raid on some of the settlements east of the hills, eh, Levi?”
+
+“It could be done,” said Coleman. “But just listen to that wind, will
+you! On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. Even our
+Iroquois are glad to be under a roof.”
+
+Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up by an
+angry fire. So here was more talk of destruction and slaughter! His gaze
+alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner engaged upon a task. Henry
+looked more closely, and saw that he was stretching a blonde-haired
+scalp over a small hoop. A shudder shook his whole frame. Only those who
+lived amid such scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings.
+He felt, too, a bitter sense of injustice. The doers of these deeds were
+here in warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or fugitives.
+He turned away from the window, stepping gently upon the snowshoes. He
+inferred that the remainder of Wyatt's band were quartered in the other
+house from which he had seen the smoke rising. It was about twenty rods
+away, but he did not examine it, because a great idea had been born
+suddenly in his brain. The attempt to fulfill the idea would be
+accompanied by extreme danger, but he did not hesitate a moment. He
+stole gently to one of the half-fallen outhouses and went inside. Here
+he found what he wanted, a large pine shelf that had been sheltered from
+rain and that was perfectly dry. He scraped off a large quantity of the
+dry pine until it formed almost a dust, and he did not cease until he
+had filled his cap with it. Then he cut off large splinters, until
+he had accumulated a great number, and after that he gathered smaller
+pieces of half-burned pine.
+
+He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced far, but
+he never faltered. His head was bare, but he was protected from the
+wind by a fragment of the outhouse wall. Every two or three minutes he
+stopped and listened for the sound of a creaking, sliding footstep on
+the snow, but, never hearing any, he always resumed his work with the
+same concentration. All the while the wind rose and moaned through the
+ruins of the little village. When Henry chanced to raise his head above
+the sheltering wall, it was like the slash of a knife across his cheek.
+
+Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which the
+light had shone. He looked again through the crevice at the window. The
+light had died down much more, and both Wyatt and Coleman were asleep on
+the floor. But several of the Iroquois were awake, although they sat as
+silent and motionless as stones against the wall.
+
+Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside the
+plank wall. There he put the pine dust in a little heap on the snow
+and covered it over with pine splinters, on top of which he put larger
+pieces of pine. Then he went back for the remainder of the pine dust,
+and built a similar pyramid against a sheltered side of the second
+house.
+
+The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good fortune
+only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his heart aflame
+with righteous anger against those inside, still pursued the work. His
+heart throbbed, but hand and eye were steady.
+
+Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. The wind
+rose much higher and roared harder against the house. It would prevent
+the Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were, from hearing a light
+sound without. Then he drew forth his flint and steel and struck them
+together with a hand so strong and swift that sparks quickly leaped
+forth and set fire to the pine tinder. Henry paused only long enough to
+see the flame spread to the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the
+other house, where the task was repeated-he intended that his job should
+be thorough.
+
+Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to the
+first house and looked at his fire. It had already spread to the larger
+pieces of pine, and it could not go out now. The sound made by the
+flames blended exactly with the roaring of the wind, and another minute
+or two might pass before the Iroquois detected it.
+
+Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his anger.
+By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the flames would be
+so high that the wind would reach them. Then no one could put them out.
+
+It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at once,
+but that lingering desire to make his task complete and, also, the wish
+to see the result kept him from doing it. He merely walked across the
+open space and stood behind a tree at the edge of the forest.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very snug, in
+the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals before them.
+They may even have been dreaming peaceful and beautiful dreams, when
+suddenly an Iroquois sprang to his feet and uttered a cry that awoke all
+the rest.
+
+“I smell smoke!” he exclaimed in his tongue, “and there is fire, too! I
+hear it crackle outside!”
+
+Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open. Flame and smoke blew
+in his face. He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at the pistol in his
+belt.
+
+“The whole side of the house is on fire!” he exclaimed. “Whose neglect
+has done this?”
+
+Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+
+“The fire was set on the outside,” he said. “It was no carelessness of
+our men. Some enemy has done this!”
+
+“It is true!” exclaimed Wyatt furiously. “Out, everybody! The house
+burns fast!”
+
+There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were falling
+about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by the roaring winds,
+and roared with them. The shell of the house would soon be gone, and
+when Tories and Iroquois were outside they saw the remainder of their
+band pouring forth from the other house, which was also in flames.
+
+No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in a sort
+of stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest heights by the
+wind.
+
+All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments
+nothing whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton Wyatt and
+his band must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could never use this
+place as a basis for attack upon settlements.
+
+“How under the sun could it have happened?” exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+“It didn't happen. It was done,” said Coleman. “Somebody set these
+houses on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!”
+
+An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the snow
+where it was not yet melted by the heat. He saw there the track of
+snowshoes, and suddenly, looking toward the forest, whither they led, he
+saw a dark figure flit away among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. HENRY'S SLIDE
+
+
+Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body hidden
+behind one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the scene with
+a fascinated interest that would not let him go. He knew that his work
+there was done already. Everything would be utterly destroyed by the
+flames which, driven by the wind, leaped from one half-ruined building
+to another. Braxton Wyatt and his band would have enough to do
+sheltering themselves from the fierce winter, and the settlements could
+rest for a while at least. Undeniably he felt exultation as he witnessed
+the destructive work of his hand. The border, with its constant struggle
+for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+
+In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to please
+his eye and heart. A new pulse beat triumphantly every time a timber,
+burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a falling roof. He laughed
+inwardly as the flames disclosed the dismay on the faces of the Iroquois
+and Tories, and it gave him deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his
+gaudy little sword at his thigh, stalking about helpless. It was while
+he was looking, absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert
+eye saw him and gave the warning shout.
+
+Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half
+running, half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow.
+After him came warriors and some Tories who had put on their snowshoes
+preparatory to the search through the forest for shelter. Several
+bullets were fired, but he was too far away for a good aim. He heard one
+go zip against a tree, and another cut the surface of the ice near him,
+but none touched him, and he sped easily on his snowshoes through the
+frozen forest. But Henry was fully aware of one thing that constituted
+his greatest danger. Many of these Iroquois had been trained all
+their lives to snowshoes, while he, however powerful and agile, was
+comparatively a beginner. He glanced back again and saw their dusky
+figures running among the trees, but they did not seem to be gaining. If
+one should draw too near, there was his rifle, and no man, white or red,
+in the northern or southern forests, could use it better. But for the
+present it was not needed. He pressed it closely, almost lovingly, to
+his side, this best friend of the scout and frontiersman.
+
+He had chosen his course at the first leap. It was southward, toward
+the lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging from his line,
+knowing that some part of the wide half circle of his pursuers would
+profit by it.
+
+Henry felt a great upward surge. He had been the victor in what he
+meant to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape. The cold wind,
+whistling by, whipped his blood and added new strength to his great
+muscles. His ankles were not chafed or sore, and he sped forward on the
+snowshoes, straight and true. Whenever he came to a hill the pursuers
+would gain as he went up it, but when he went down the other side it
+was he who gained. He passed brooks, creeks, and once a small river,
+but they were frozen over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them.
+Again it was a lake a mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely
+increased his speed. Always he kept a wary look ahead for thickets
+through which he could not pass easily, and once he sent back a shout of
+defiance, which the Iroquois answered with a yell of anger.
+
+He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove fatal,
+the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking of a runner
+would end his flight, and in a long chase such an accident might happen.
+It might happen, too, to one or more of the Iroquois, but plenty of them
+would be left. Yet Henry had supreme confidence in his snowshoes. He had
+made them himself, he had seen that every part was good, and every thong
+had been fastened with care.
+
+The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire sank
+to nothing. The leafless trees stood up, the branches unmoving. The
+forest was bare and deserted. All the animals, big and little, had gone
+into their lairs. Nobody witnessed the great pursuit save pursuers and
+pursued. Henry kept his direction clear in his mind, and allowed the
+Iroquois to take no advantage of a curve save once. Then he came to a
+thicket so large that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to
+pass it. He turned to the right, hence the Indians on the right gained,
+and they sent up a yell of delight. He replied defiantly and increased
+his speed.
+
+But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously near-near
+enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the fugitive much.
+It aroused Henry's anger. He took it as an indignity rather than a
+danger, and he resolved to avenge it. So far as firing was concerned, he
+was at a disadvantage. He must stop and turn around for his shot, while
+the Iroquois, without even checking speed, could fire straight at the
+flying target, ahead.
+
+Nevertheless, he took the chance. He turned deftly on the snowshoes,
+fired as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw him fall, then
+Whirled and resumed his flight. He had lost ground, but he had inspired
+respect. A single man could not afford to come too near to a marksman so
+deadly, and the three or four who led dropped back with the main body.
+
+Now Henry made his greatest effort. He wished to leave the foe far
+behind, to shake off his pursuit entirely. He bounded over the ice
+and snow with great leaps, and began to gain. Yet he felt at last the
+effects of so strenuous a flight. His breath became shorter; despite
+the intense cold, perspiration stood upon his face, and the straps that
+fastened the snowshoes were chafing his ankles. An end must come even to
+such strength as his. Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was
+sinking into the darkness. If he could only increase his speed again, he
+might leave the Iroquois now. He made a new call upon the will, and
+the body responded. For a few minutes his speed became greater. A
+disappointed shout arose behind him, and several shots were fired. But
+the bullets fell a hundred yards short, and then, as he passed over a
+little hill and into a wood beyond, he was hidden from the sight of his
+pursuers.
+
+Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but they
+could not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at an angle.
+Pausing a second or two for fresh breath, he continued on his new
+course, although not so fast as before. He knew that the Iroquois would
+rush straight ahead, and would not discover for two or three minutes
+that they were off the trail. It would take them another two or three
+minutes to recover, and he would make a gain of at least five minutes.
+Five minutes had saved the life of many a man on the border.
+
+How precious those five minutes were! He would take them all. He ran
+forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick, and then
+enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute. He had felt that he
+was pumping the very lifeblood from his heart. His breath had come
+painfully, and the thongs of the snowshoes were chafing his ankles
+terribly. But those minutes were worth a year. Fresh air poured into his
+lungs, and the muscles became elastic once more. In so brief a space he
+had recreated himself.
+
+Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do his
+utmost unless the enemy came in sight. About ten minutes later he heard
+a cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a signal from some Indian
+to the others that the trail was found again. But with so much advantage
+he felt sure that he was now quite safe. He ran, although at decreased
+speed, for about two hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust
+root of a great oak. Here he depended most upon his ears. The forest was
+so silent that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but there
+was none. Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would remain there a long
+time for a thorough rest. He even dared to take off his snowshoes that
+he might rub his sore ankles, but he wrapped his heavy blanket about his
+body, lest he take deep cold in cooling off in such a temperature after
+so long a flight.
+
+He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and then he
+saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something that told him
+he must be on the alert again. It was a single ring of smoke, like that
+from a cigar, only far greater. It rose steadily, untroubled by wind
+until it was dissipated. It meant “attention!” and presently it was
+followed by a column of such rings, one following another beautifully.
+The column said: “The foe is near.” Henry read the Indian signs
+perfectly. The rings were made by covering a little fire with a blanket
+for a moment and then allowing the smoke to ascend. On clear days such
+signals could be seen a distance of thirty miles or more, and he knew
+that they were full of significance.
+
+Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. One had
+found his trail, and was signaling to the other. The party sending up
+the smoke might be a half mile away, but the others, although his trail
+was yet hidden from them, might be nearer. It was again time for flight.
+
+He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace, folded the
+blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly root, started
+once more. He ran forward at moderate speed for perhaps a mile, when he
+suddenly heard triumphant yells on both right and left. A strong party
+of Iroquois were coming up on either side, and luck had enabled them to
+catch him in a trap.
+
+They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked his
+glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might again stave
+them off. He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling into determined
+silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest here was of large trees,
+with no undergrowth, and he noticed that the two parties did not join,
+but kept on as they had come, one on the right and the other on the
+left. This fact must have some significance, but he could not fathom
+it. Neither could he guess whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but
+apparently they made no effort to come within range of his rifle.
+
+Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out, and
+then both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the kind that
+savages utter only when they see their triumph complete.
+
+Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He had
+come to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high like a
+mountain, and steep like a wall. The surface of the lake was so far down
+that it was misty white like a cloud. Now he understood the policy of
+the Indian bands in not uniting. They knew that they would soon reach
+the lofty cliffs of the lake, and if he turned to either right or left
+there was a band ready to seize him.
+
+Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in his
+life. It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a trap, and
+Braxton Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. That was perhaps
+the bitterest thing of all, to be taken and tortured by Braxton Wyatt.
+He was there. He could hear his voice in one of the bands, and then the
+courage that never failed him burst into fire again.
+
+The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from retreat
+to either right or left, but not yet closing in because of his deadly
+rifle. He gave them a single look, put forth his voice in one great cry
+of defiance, and, rushing toward the edge of the mighty cliff, sprang
+boldly over.
+
+As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of amazement and
+chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats, and, taking a single
+glance backward, he caught a glimpse of dusky faces stamped with awe.
+But the bold youth had not made a leap to destruction. In the passage
+of a second he had calculated rapidly and well. While the cliff at
+first glance seemed perpendicular, it could not be so. There was a slope
+coated with two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels of
+his snowshoes, he shot downward like one taking a tremendous slide on
+a toboggan. Faster and faster he went, but deeper and deeper he dug his
+shoes into the snow, until he lay back almost flat against its surface.
+This checked his speed somewhat, but it was still very great, and,
+preserving his self-control perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly
+Providence to save him from some great boulder or abrupt drop.
+
+The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him as he
+descended. Yet he drew himself compactly together, and held his rifle
+parallel with his body. Once or twice, as he went over a little ridge,
+he shot clear of the snow, but he held his body rigid, and the snow
+beyond saved him from a severe bruise. Then his speed was increased
+again, and all the time the white surface of the lake below, seen dimly
+through the night and his flight, seemed miles away.
+
+He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was sure.
+None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. Braxton Wyatt could
+have no triumph over him. He was alone in his great flight. Once a
+projection caused him to turn a little to one side. He was in momentary
+danger of turning entirely, and then of rolling head over heels like
+a huge snowball, but with a mighty effort he righted himself, and
+continued the descent on the runners, with the heels plowing into the
+ice and the snow.
+
+Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles nearer.
+Presently he would be there. The impossible had become possible, the
+unattainable was about to be attained. He gave another mighty dig with
+his shoes, the last reach of the slope passed behind him, and he shot
+out on the frozen surface of the lake, bruised and breathless, but
+without a single broken bone.
+
+The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay frozen
+snow, which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the cliff. There he
+lost his balance at last, and fell on his side, where he lay for a few
+moments, weak, panting, but triumphant.
+
+When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered
+nothing save some bruises, that would heal in their own good time. His
+deerskin clothing was much torn, particularly on the back, where he had
+leaned upon the ice and snow, but the folded blanket had saved him to a
+considerable extent. One of his shoes was pulled loose, and presently he
+discovered that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate.
+But he did not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of
+victory. He looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him
+fifteen hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit.
+The wall ran away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any
+easier path. He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at
+him, but it was too far away, and he saw only a black line.
+
+He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
+away from “The Alcove,” and he did not intend to go there, lest the
+Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge.
+But as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and
+the Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side,
+he felt perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the
+time of an increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly
+swollen, and he did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low
+bills. Here, under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he
+found a partial shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with
+infinite patience he built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead
+boughs, hung his blanket in front of it on two sticks that the flame
+might not be seen, took off his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared
+his ankles. Both were swollen, but the left much more badly than the
+other. He doubted whether he would be able to walk on the following day,
+but he rubbed them a long time, both with the palms of his hands and
+with snow, until they felt better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned
+back against the faithful snowshoes which had saved his life, however
+much they had hurt his ankles, and gave himself up to the warmth of the
+fire.
+
+It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
+terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one
+which, if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff
+and painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and
+legs many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he
+had venison, ate several strips.
+
+He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
+bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
+coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket,
+wrapped himself in it, and was soon asleep before the fire. He slept
+long and deeply, and although, when he awoke, the day had fully come,
+the coals were not yet out entirely. He arose, but such a violent pain
+from his left ankle shot through him that he abruptly sat down again. As
+he bad feared, it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not
+walk.
+
+In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no striving against
+unchangeable circumstance. He drew up more wood, which he had stacked
+against the cliff, and put it on the coals. He hung up the blanket once
+more in order that it might hide the fire, stretched out his lame leg,
+and calmly made a breakfast off the last of his venison. He knew he was
+in a plight that might appall the bravest, but he kept himself in
+hand. It was likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a
+shapeless mass by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet, and he
+had little fear of them, but to be unable to walk and alone in an icy
+wilderness without food was sufficient in itself. He calculated that
+it was at least a dozen miles to “The Alcove,” and the chances were a
+hundred to one against any of his comrades wandering his way. He looked
+once more at his swollen left ankle, and he made a close calculation.
+It would be three days, more likely four, before he could walk upon it.
+Could he endure hunger that long? He could. He would! Crouched in his
+nest with his back to the cliff, he had defense against any enemy in
+his rifle and pistol. By faithful watching he might catch sight of some
+wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food for his stomach.
+His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was nothing to do but sit
+quiet and wait.
+
+He scarcely moved for hours. As long as he was still his ankle troubled
+him but little. The sun came out, silver bright, but it had no warmth.
+The surface of the lake was shown only by the smoothness of its expanse;
+the icy covering was the same everywhere over hills and valleys. Across
+the lake he saw the steep down which he had slid, looming white and
+lofty. In the distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its
+terrors, it had, beyond a doubt, saved his life. He glanced down at his
+swollen ankle, and, despite his helpless situation, he was thankful that
+he had escaped so well.
+
+About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all around
+himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house. Then he let the fire die
+except some coals that gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over
+his head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
+stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was
+warm, and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him.
+He was young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance.
+Now it cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and
+for a few moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon
+came back as strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim
+silence, trying to forget that there was any such thing as food.
+
+The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon,
+but before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
+trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
+could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and,
+in fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
+daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
+pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
+thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature,
+no matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then
+he would feast!
+
+He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
+white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
+the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+
+He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
+hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
+but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The
+new snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail
+from the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to
+a gray, somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not
+feel the pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and
+then they came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in
+the night, and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease
+in the power of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as
+his physical fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same
+confidence that he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little
+more threatening.
+
+His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
+back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
+his left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move
+it with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk.
+Once more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly
+walk and hunt game or make a try for “The Alcove,” so far as his ankle
+was concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
+strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+
+Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine
+made upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so
+powerful, so skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness
+and to every manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by
+a bruised ankle to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be
+more than ten miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright
+and stepped out into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could
+scarcely keep from crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank
+back into the shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for
+another full day.
+
+The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
+blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for
+the sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering
+from cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the
+bright flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it
+go out. Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface
+of the snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a
+wandering deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He
+was more than ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of
+his den, the rifle across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the
+cheek bones showed high and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the
+fierce desire for prey, and the long, lean body drawn forward as if it
+were about to leap.
+
+He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole
+in the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
+abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
+edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned
+and dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay
+still for a long time.
+
+That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at
+himself. It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea
+think of him if they knew how he came to his end? They would put him
+with old squaws or little children. And how Braxton Wyatt and his
+lieutenant, the squat Tory, would laugh! That was the bitterest thought
+of all. But the frenzy passed, and he fell into a sleep which was only
+a succession of bad dreams. He was running the gauntlet again among
+the Shawnees. Again, kneeling to drink at the clear pool, he saw in the
+water the shadow of the triumphant warrior holding the tomahawk above
+him. One after another the most critical periods of his life were lived
+over again, and then he sank into a deep torpor, from which he did not
+rouse himself until far into the next day.
+
+Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have
+regained much of his lost will. He looked once more at the fatal left
+ankle. It had improved greatly. He could even stand upon it, but when he
+rose to his feet he felt a singular dizziness. Again, what he had gained
+in one way he had lost in another. The earth wavered. The smooth surface
+of the lake seemed to rise swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly. The far
+slope down which he had shot rose to the height of miles. There was a
+pale tinge, too, over the world. He sank down, not because of his ankle,
+but because he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+
+The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two. He was ashamed
+of such extraordinary weakness. He looked at one of his hands. It was
+thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever, and the blue veins stood
+out on the back of it. He could scarcely believe that the hand was his
+own. But after the first spasm of weakness was over, the precious will
+returned. He could walk. Strength enough to permit him to hobble along
+had returned to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+nervous system, however weakened it might be. He must seek food.
+
+He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the blanket
+tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. He was preparing
+both mind and body for the supreme effort. He knew that everything hung
+now on the surviving remnants of his skill and courage.
+
+Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great reserve
+now except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. It was proof of
+his youthful greatness that it stood the last test. As he lay there,
+the final ounce of will and courage came. Strength which was of the mind
+rather than of the body flowed back into his veins; he felt able to dare
+and to do; the pale aspect of the world went away, and once more he was
+Henry Ware, alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+
+Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his
+shoulders. He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left ankle,
+despite its great improvement, would not stand the strain. He must
+break his way through the snow, which was a full three feet in depth.
+Fortunately the crust had softened somewhat in the last two or three
+days, and he did not have a covering of ice to meet.
+
+He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the cliff, his
+rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might miss no chance at
+game. To an ordinary observer there would have been no such chance at
+all. It was merely a grim white wilderness that might have been without
+anything living from the beginning. But Henry, the forest runner, knew
+better. Somewhere in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had
+left, and in these lairs were wild animals. To any such wild animal,
+whether panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome
+object, with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his thin lips
+opening now and then, and disclosing the two rows of strong white teeth.
+
+Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard, because
+it was desperate work for one in his condition to break his way through
+snow so deep. But his ankle stood the strain well, and his courage
+increased rather than diminished. He was no longer a cripple confined
+to one spot. While he stood resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about
+half a rod to his left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+
+He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched carefully
+among them. The snow was not nearly so thick there, and under the
+thickest clump, where the shelter was best, he saw a small round
+opening. In an instant all his old vigorous life, all the abounding hope
+which was such a strong characteristic of his nature, came back to him.
+Already he had triumphed over Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow,
+ice, crippling, and starvation.
+
+He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right hand. He
+thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit leaped for life
+from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod stretched him dead at the
+feet of the hunter. Henry picked up the rabbit. It was large and yet
+fat. Here was food for two meals. In the race between the ankle and
+starvation, the ankle had won.
+
+He did not give way to any unseemly elation. He even felt a momentary
+sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because all these wild
+things were his kindred now. He returned by the path that he had broken,
+kindled his fire anew, dexterously skinned and cleaned his rabbit,
+then cooked it and ate half, although he ate slowly and with intervals
+between each piece. How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being
+longed to leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was
+still supreme. He knew what was good for himself, and he did it.
+Everything was done in order and with sobriety. Then he put the rest of
+the rabbit carefully in his food pouch, wrapped the blanket about his
+body, leaned back, and stretched his feet to the coals.
+
+What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! He had
+not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty cliffs on the
+farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and hanging with icicles.
+
+The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+
+It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the strength
+returning to his frame. He knew that the blood in his veins had begun
+to sparkle, and that his vitality was rising fast. He could have gone
+to sleep peacefully, but instead he went forth and hunted again. He
+knew that where the rabbit had been, others were likely to be near, and
+before he returned he had secured two more. Both of these he cleaned and
+cooked at once. When this was done night had come, but he ate again,
+and then, securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best sleep
+that he had enjoyed since his flight.
+
+He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started then,
+but he was prudent. There was still a chance of meeting the Iroquois,
+and the ankle might not stand so severe a test. He would rest in his
+nest for another day, and then he would be equal to anything. Few could
+lie a whole day in one place with but little to do and with nothing
+passing before the eyes, but it was a part of Henry's wilderness
+training, and he showed all the patience of the forester. He knew,
+too, as the hours went by, that his strength was rising all the while.
+To-morrow almost the last soreness would be gone from his ankle and
+then he could glide swiftly over the snow, back to his comrades. He
+was content. He had, in fact, a sense of great triumph because he had
+overcome so much, and here was new food in this example for future
+efforts of the mind, for future victories of the will over the body. The
+wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly down the curve, but
+all the time the boy scarcely stirred. Once there was a flight of small
+birds across the heavens, and he watched them vaguely, but apparently he
+took no interest. Toward night he stood up in his recess and flexed and
+tuned his muscles for a long time, driving out any stiffness that might
+come through long lack of motion. Then he ate and lay down, but he did
+not yet sleep.
+
+The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he knew
+“The Alcove” lay. A good moon was now shining, and stars by the score
+were springing out. Suddenly at a point on that far shore a spark of red
+light appeared and twinkled. Most persons would have taken it for some
+low star, but Henry knew better. It was fire put there by human hand for
+a purpose, doubtless a signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared
+by the first, then a third, then a fourth. He uttered a great sigh of
+pleasure. It was his four friends signaling to him somewhere in the vast
+unknown that they were alive and well, and beckoning him to come. The
+lights burned for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then all went out
+together. Henry turned over on his side and fell sound asleep. In the
+morning he put on his snowshoes and started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE SAFE RETURN
+
+
+The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found
+good footing for his shoes. For a while he leaned most on the right
+ankle, but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them
+equally, and sped forward, his spirits rising at every step. The air was
+cold, and there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind
+that whipped his face. The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and
+his eyes no longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild
+animal in search of prey. A fine red color was suffused through the
+brown of his face. He had chosen his course with due precaution. The
+broad surface, smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the
+temptation away. He did not wish to run any chance whatever of another
+Iroquois pursuit, and he kept in the forest that ran down close to the
+water's edge. It was tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
+
+But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious
+freedom. With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in
+his cell, with a ball and chain to his foot. Now he flew along, while
+the cold wind whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely
+to live. He went on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that
+contained “The Alcove.” He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the
+last of his rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood
+at the hidden path that led up to their home.
+
+Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. To one
+who had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely
+desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been
+visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes. But Henry had such
+eyes. He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the
+surface of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there. He
+resolved to surprise them.
+
+Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind. As he gradually
+approached “The Alcove” he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as
+he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light
+falling on the snow.
+
+But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.
+Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound. He knew all
+those tones. They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who
+had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band
+who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+
+He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still. Lying almost
+flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into “The
+Alcove.” A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed
+about it were the four. Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was
+gazing into the coals. Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long
+Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was
+talking. Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about
+himself.
+
+“Henry will turn up all right,” he was saying. “Hasn't he always done it
+afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break
+his rule now. I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories
+between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to
+ketch Henry. I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment.”
+
+“What is he doing, Sol?” asked Paul.
+
+“When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him,” said the shiftless
+one. “He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin' around an Injun
+village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an' listenin' an' gatherin' talk
+about their plans.”
+
+“He ain't doin' any sech thing,” broke in Long Jim.
+
+“I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours,
+an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're
+talkin' about.”
+
+“What is he doing, Jim?” asked Paul.
+
+“Henry's away off to the south, not to the north,” replied the long one,
+“an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned. One house has been
+left standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the
+groun'. A whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin'
+thar fur days, eatin' so much an' hevin' such a good time that the fat's
+hangin' down over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust
+right out uv his huntin' shirt.”
+
+Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face
+to the fire. Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
+
+“Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight,” he said.
+“Can you have any vision, too, Tom?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Tom Ross, “I kin. I shet my eyes, but I don't see like
+either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong. I see Henry, an' I see
+him plain. He's had a pow'ful tough time. He ain't threatenin' to bust
+with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are
+fallin' down over his jaws. It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk
+a mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags
+his left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself. He ain't spyin'
+on no Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer
+hangin' by the side uv him. It's t'other way 'roan'. He's layin' almost
+flat on his face not twenty feet from us, lookin' right in at us, an' I
+wuz the first to see him.”
+
+All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise
+sprang to his feet. Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
+
+
+“And so you saw me, Tom,” he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand
+after another. “I might have known that, while I could stalk some of
+you, I could not stalk all of you.”
+
+“I caught the glimpse uv you,” said Silent Tom, “while Sol an' Jim wuz
+talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul
+called on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an'
+worth tellin'.”
+
+“You're right,” said Henry. “I've not been having any easy time, and for
+a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I
+will tell you all about it.”
+
+They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
+food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+
+“I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry,” said
+Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+
+“Any one of you would have done it,” said Henry, modestly.
+
+“I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons,” said Shif'less
+Sol. “One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause
+that scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
+tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt.”
+
+“You speak for us all there, Sol,” said Paul.
+
+“What have all of you been doing?” asked Henry.
+
+“Not much of anything,” replied Shif'less Sol. “We've been scoutin'
+several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
+or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
+up warmer an' storin' away food.”
+
+“We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid,” said Henry,
+“unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is
+yet on foot against the Iroquois?”
+
+“Tom ran across some scouts from the militia,” replied Paul, “and they
+said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army
+would march.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Henry earnestly.
+
+But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a
+long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for
+two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to
+melt under the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down
+the cliffs, and would have entered “The Alcove” had not the five made
+provision to turn it away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening
+to the gush of the water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one
+another. Yet the time dragged.
+
+“Man wuz never made to be a caged animile,” said Shif'less Sol. “The
+longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
+improve, neither, an' I ain't happy.”
+
+“Guess it's the same with all uv us,” said Tom Ross.
+
+But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still
+cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in every
+direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were
+becoming active. There were more burnings, more slaughters, and more
+scalpings. The whole border was still appalled at the massacres of
+Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the savages were continually spreading
+over a wider area. Braxton Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the
+aid of his Tory lieutenant, Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name
+equal to that of Walter Butler. As for “Indian” Butler and his men, no
+men were hated more thoroughly than they.
+
+The five continued to do the best they could, which was much, carrying
+many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have been victims.
+While they devoted themselves to their strenuous task, great events in
+which they were to take a part were preparing. The rear guard of the
+Revolution was about to become for the time the main guard. A great eye
+had been turned upon the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great
+mind, which could bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint,
+was preparing to send help to those farther away. So mighty a cry of
+distress had risen, that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed. As
+the warm weather came, the soldiers began to march.
+
+Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the Iroquois
+and their allies, the Tories, the English, and the Canadians. There
+was a great stirring among the leaders, Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo,
+Sangerachte, the Johnsons, the Butlers, Claus, and the rest. Haldimand,
+the king's representative in Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all
+the Iroquois to meet the enemy. The Tories were' extremely active.
+Promises were made to the tribes that they should have other victories
+even greater than those of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the
+terrible Queen Esther went among them, swinging her great war tomahawk
+over her head and chanting her song of death. She, more than any other,
+inflamed the Iroquois, and they were eager for the coming contest.
+
+Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter, but,
+faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the last, he
+returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of the Wyandot
+nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not be estimated too
+highly.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the forest,
+and they thrilled at the thought that the crisis was approaching. Then
+they set out for Lake Otsego, where the army was gathering for the great
+campaign. They were equipped thoroughly, and they were now so well known
+in the region that they knew they would be welcome.
+
+They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the last
+night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry, scouting as
+usual to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep in the forest. He
+wheeled instantly to cover behind the body of a great beech tree, and
+the stranger sought to do likewise, only he had no convenient tree
+that was so large. It was about the twelfth hour, but Henry could see a
+portion of a body protruding beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he
+recognized it. As he held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the
+stranger.
+
+“Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and woodsman,
+what are you doing in my wilderness? Stand forth at once and give an
+account of yourself, or I will shoot off the part of your body that
+sticks beyond that oak tree!”
+
+The answer was instantaneous. A round, plump body revolved from the
+partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open, rifle in hand
+and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+
+“Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware,” replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud, clear
+tone, “I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that you are. Come
+from behind that beech and let us see which has the stronger grip.”
+
+Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so powerful that
+both winced. Then they released hands simultaneously, and Heemskerk
+asked:
+
+“And the other four mynheers? Am I wrong to say that they are near,
+somewhere?”
+
+“You are not wrong,” replied Henry. “They are alive, well and hungry,
+not a mile from here. There is one man whom they would be very glad to
+see, and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is roaming in our woods
+without a permit.”
+
+The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed. It was obvious that he
+felt as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in seeing him.
+
+“My heart swells,” he said. “I feared that you might have been killed or
+scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far land of Kentucky.”
+
+“We have wintered well,” said Henry, “in a place of which I shall not
+tell you now, and we are here to see the campaign through.”
+
+“I come, too, for the same purpose,” said Heemskerk. “We shall be
+together. It is goot.” “Meanwhile,” said Henry, “our camp fire is
+lighted. Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is cooking strips of meat
+over the coals, and, although it is a mile away, the odor of them is
+very pleasant in my nostrils. I wish to go back there, and it will be
+all the more delightful to me, and to those who wait, if I can bring
+with me such a welcome guest.”
+
+“Lead on, mynheer,” said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+
+He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then they
+ate and talked. Heemskerk was sanguine.
+
+“Something will be done this time,” he said. “Word has come from the
+great commander that the Iroquois must be crushed. The thousands who
+have fallen must be avenged, and this great fire along our border must
+be stopped. If it cannot be done, then we perish. We have old tales in
+my own country of the cruel deeds that the Spaniards did long, long ago,
+but they were not worse than have been done here.”
+
+The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them traveled
+back to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and the scars and
+traces of many more tragedies.
+
+They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw that
+all they had heard was true. The most formidable force that they had
+ever seen was gathering. There were many companies in the Continental
+buff and blue, epauletted officers, bayonets and cannon. The camp was
+full of life, energy, and hope, and the five at once felt the influence
+of it. They found here old friends whom they had known in the march on
+Oghwaga, William Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very
+welcome. They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge,
+received roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with Heemskerk
+and the two celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and David Elerson,
+they roamed the forest in a great circle about the lake, bringing much
+valuable information about the movements of the enemy, who in their turn
+were gathering in force, while the royal authorities were dispatching
+both Indians and white men from Canada to help them.
+
+These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much impatience. It
+takes a long time for an army to gather and then to equip itself for the
+march, and they were so used to swift motion that it was now a part of
+their nature. At last the army was ready, and it left the lake. Then it
+proceeded in boats down the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an
+artificial dam built with immense labor, to its confluence with the
+larger river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander,
+General James Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then the army,
+late in August, began its march upon the Iroquois.
+
+The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. They knew
+that no important movement of so large a force could escape the notice
+of the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made it their duty to see
+that the Americans marched into no trap.
+
+It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched with
+brown, and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were ripening on
+the vines, and the quantity of game had increased, the wild animals
+returning to the land from which civilized man had disappeared. The
+desolation seemed even more complete than in the autumn before. In the
+winter and spring the Iroquois and Tories had destroyed the few
+remnants of houses that were left. Braxton Wyatt and his band had been
+particularly active in this work, and many tales had come of his cruelty
+and that of his swart Tory lieutenant, Coleman. Henry was sure, too,
+that Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps fifty Indians and Tories, was
+now in front of them.
+
+He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others, twelve
+brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night about ten miles
+ahead of the army. They lighted no fire, and, even had it been cold,
+they would not have done so, as the region was far too dangerous for any
+light. Yet the little band felt no fear. They were only twelve, it is
+true, but such a twelve! No chance would either Indians or Tories have
+to surprise them.
+
+They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to keep
+watch while the others slept. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Heemskerk were
+the sentinels. It was very late, nearly midnight; the sky was clear, and
+presently they saw smoke rings ascending from high hills to their right,
+to be answered soon by other rings of smoke to their left. The three
+watched them with but little comment, and read every signal in turn.
+They said: “The enemy is still advancing,” “He is too strong for
+us...... We must retreat and await our brethren.”
+
+“It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least,” whispered
+Heemskerk. “Brant is probably ahead of us in command, and he will avoid
+us until he receives the fresh forces from Canada.”
+
+“I take it that you're right,” Henry whispered back. “Timmendiquas also
+is with him, and the two great chiefs are too cunning to fight until
+they can bring their last man into action.”
+
+“An' then,” said the shiftless one, “we'll see what happens.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry very gravely, “we'll see what happens. The Iroquois
+are a powerful confederacy. They've ruled in these woods for hundreds
+of years. They're led by great chiefs, and they're helped by our white
+enemies. You can't tell what would happen even to an army like ours in
+an ambush.”
+
+Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later, when
+they heard footsteps. They awakened the others, and the twelve, crawling
+to the edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat upon their faces, with
+their hands upon the triggers of their rifles.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and Tories in
+about equal numbers, were passing. Wyatt walked at the head. Despite his
+youth, he had acquired an air of command, and he seemed a fit leader
+for such a crew. He wore a faded royal uniform, and, while a small sword
+hung at his side, he also carried a rifle on his shoulder. Close behind
+him was the swart and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and
+Tories together.
+
+The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as many
+belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle fairly
+ached to press it. What an opportunity this would be if the twelve were
+only forty, or even thirty! With the advantage of surprise they might
+hope to annihilate this band which had won such hate for itself on the
+border. But twelve were not enough and twelve such lives could not be
+spared at a time when the army needed them most.
+
+Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+disappointment by a mere physical act if possible. He happened to look
+at Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed together in the
+same manner. It is probable that like feelings swayed every one of the
+twelve, but they were so still in the brushwood that no Iroquois heard
+grass or leaf rustle. Thus the twelve watched the sixty pass, and
+after they were gone, Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for
+several miles. They saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as
+they approached the stream they beheld signs of fortifications. It was
+now nearly daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they turned back.
+But they were convinced that the enemy meant to fight on the Chemung.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+
+
+The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the brushwood
+and saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of men, famous or
+infamous in their day, were gathered around a low camp fire on the crest
+of a small hill. The most distinguished of them all in looks was a young
+Indian chief of great height and magnificent build, with a noble and
+impressive countenance. He wore nothing of civilized attire, the
+nearest approach to it being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung
+gracefully over his right shoulder. It was none other than the great
+Wyandot chief, Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without
+expression to the words of the others.
+
+Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his mixture
+of savage and civilized costume, and about him were other famous Indian
+chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Little
+Beard, a young Seneca renowned for ferocity, and others.
+
+On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir John
+Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his oath of
+neutrality, the condition of his release, and then, fleeing to Canada,
+had returned to wage bloody war on the settlements; his brother-in-law,
+Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy;
+his son, Walter Butler, of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart;
+the Canadian Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark
+Tory, Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former
+land.
+
+Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together, wore the
+handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed many dark deeds
+or permitted them to be done by men under his command, and he had
+secured the opportunity only through his broken oath, but he had lost
+greatly. The vast estates of his father, Sir William Johnson, were being
+torn from him, and perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he
+had done he would lose all and become an exile from the country in which
+he was born.
+
+It was not a cheerful council. There was no exultation as after Wyoming
+and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places. Sir John bit his
+lip uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his hand on his knee,
+stared gloomily at the fire. The two Butlers were silent, and the dark
+face of Thayendanegea was overcast.
+
+A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a mile
+long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner that an enemy
+could attack only in front and on one flank, that flank itself being
+approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge which ran parallel to the
+river. The ground about the camp was covered with pine and scrub oaks.
+Many others had been cut down and added to the breastwork. A deep brook
+ran at the foot of the hill on which the leaders sat. About the slopes
+of this hill and another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian
+warriors, all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white
+allies, conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+Rangers. These men made but little noise now. They were resting and
+waiting.
+
+Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at the
+fire. He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said in his
+excellent English: “The king promised us that if we would take up arms
+for him against the Yankees, he would send a great army, many thousands,
+to help us. We believed him, and we took up the hatchet for him. We
+fought in the dark and the storm with Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many
+of our warriors fell. But we did not sulk in our lodges. We have ravaged
+and driven in the whole American border along a line of hundreds of
+miles. Now the Congress sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we
+have done, and the great forces of the king are not here. I have been
+across the sea; I have seen the mighty city of London and its people as
+numerous as the blades of grass. Why has not the king kept his promise
+and sent men enough to save the Iroquois?”
+
+Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the soul of
+the great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred. His penetrating mind saw the
+uplifted hand about to strike-and the target was his own people. His
+tone became bitterly sarcastic as he spoke, and when he ceased he looked
+directly at the baronet in a manner that showed a reply must be given.
+Sir John moved uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+
+“Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea,” he admitted, “but the king
+has many things to do. The war is spread over a vast area, and he must
+keep his largest armies in the East. But the Royal Greens, the Rangers,
+and all others whom we can raise, even in Canada, are here to help you.
+In the coming battle your fortunes are our fortunes.”
+
+Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased. His glance fell upon
+the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+
+“There are many in England itself,” he said, “who wish us harm, and who
+perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that we ought to
+have. They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of the torture and of
+the slaughter of women and children, and they say that war must not
+be carried on in such a way. But there are some among us who are more
+savage than the savages themselves, as they call us. It was you, John
+Butler, who led at Wyoming, and it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed
+the women and children to be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would
+have been slain there had I not, come up in time.”
+
+The dark face of “Indian” Butler grew darker, and the pallid face of
+his son grew more pallid. Both were angry, and at the same time a little
+afraid.
+
+“We won at Wyoming in fair battle,” said the elder Butler.
+
+“But afterwards?” said Thayendanegea.
+
+The man was silent.
+
+“It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians against us,”
+ continued Thayendanegea. “It is because of them that the commander of
+the Bostonians has sent a great army, and the Long House is threatened
+with destruction.”
+
+“My son and I have fought for our common cause,” said “Indian” Butler,
+the blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+
+Sir John Johnson interfered.
+
+“We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois,” he said, calling
+the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name, “but I and my
+brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain Butler have already lost
+though we may regain. And with this strong position and the aid of
+ambush it is likely that we can defeat the rebels.”
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long
+embankment, the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors scattered
+numerously here and there.
+
+“You may be right, Sir John,” he said; “yes, I think you are right,
+and by all the gods, red and white, we shall see. I wish to fight here,
+because this is the best place in which to meet the Bostonians. What say
+you, Timmendiquas, sworn brother of mine, great warrior and great chief
+of the Wyandots, the bravest of all the western nations?”
+
+The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was sonorous,
+and his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to hear.
+
+“If we fight--and we must fight--this is the place in which to meet the
+white army,” he said. “The Wyandots are here to help the Iroquois, as
+the Iroquois would go to help them. The Manitou of the Wyandots, the
+Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end.”
+
+He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he said no
+more. All regarded him with respect and admiration. Even Braxton Wyatt
+felt that it was a noble deed to remain and face destruction for the
+sake of tribes not his own.
+
+Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the while in
+silence.
+
+“You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt,” he said. “What further
+information can you give us?”
+
+“We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow,” replied Wyatt, “and the
+American army is advancing cautiously. It has out strong flanking
+parties, and it is preceded by the scouts, those Kentuckians whom I know
+and have met often, Murphy, Elerson, Heemskerk, and the others.”
+
+“If we could only lead them into an ambush,” said Sir John. “Any kind
+of troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before an unseen foe
+pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep woods. Then they magnify
+the enemy tenfold.”
+
+“It is so,” said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. “When we killed
+Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors stood in the
+moccasins of only one.”
+
+Sir John frowned. He did not like this allusion to the time when the
+Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a great
+defeat. But he feared to rebuke the old chief. Hiokatoo and the Senecas
+were too important.
+
+“There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade,” he said. “The foliage
+is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is not used to
+forest warfare. What say you to this, Wyatt?”
+
+Wyatt shook his head. He knew the caliber of the five from Kentucky, and
+he had little hope of such good fortune.
+
+“They have learned from many lessons,” he replied, “and their scouts are
+the best. Moreover, they will attempt anything.”
+
+They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the renegade
+roved about the dark circle of trees and warriors that inclosed them.
+Presently he saw something that caused him to rise and walk a little
+distance from the fire. Although his eye suspected and his mind
+confirmed, Braxton Wyatt could not believe that it was true. It was
+incredible. No one, be he ever so daring, would dare such a thing. But
+the figure down there among the trees, passing about among the warriors,
+many of whom did not know one another, certainly looked familiar,
+despite the Indian paint and garb. Only that of Timmendiquas could rival
+it in height and nobility. These were facts that could not be hidden by
+any disguise.
+
+“What is it, Wyatt?” asked Sir John. “What do you see? Why do you look
+so startled?”
+
+Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+
+“There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not
+seen here before,” he replied, “he is as tall and as powerful as
+Timmendiquas, and there is only one such. There is a spy among us, and
+it is Henry Ware.”
+
+He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the
+flitting figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and the
+warriors.
+
+“What do you say?” exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, “a spy,
+and you know him to be such!”
+
+“Yes, he is the worst of them all,” replied Wyatt. “I know him. I could
+not mistake him. But he has dared too much. He cannot get away.”
+
+The great camp was now in an uproar. The tall figure was seen here and
+there, always to vanish quickly. Twenty shots were fired at it. None
+hit. Many more would have been fired, but the camp was too much crowded
+to take such a risk. Every moment the tumult and confusion increased,
+but Thayendanegea quickly posted warriors on the embankment and
+the flanks, to prevent the escape of the fugitive in any of those
+directions.
+
+But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. It was
+next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving to strike with
+a tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great force. The next instant
+the figure leaped far out into the stream. The moonlight glimmered an
+instant on the bare head, while bullets the next moment pattered on the
+water where it had been. Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger
+reclaimed the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods
+with more vain bullets flying about him. But he sent back a shout of
+irony and triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the bank
+bite their lips in anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+
+
+Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a
+trumpet awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henry was
+standing beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's excitement,
+danger, and escape, but his face was flushed and his eyes sparkled.
+
+“Up, Paul! Up!” he cried. “We know the enemy's position, and we will be
+in battle before another sun sets.”
+
+Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on his feet,
+rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great attack. He, like all
+the others, had slept on such a night fully dressed. Shif'less Sol, Long
+Jim, Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the rest were by the side of him, and
+all about them rose the sounds of an army going into battle, commands
+sharp and short, the rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of
+bayonets, the clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of
+men talking in half-finished sentences.
+
+It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was the first time
+that they had ever beheld a large and regular army going into action,
+and they were a part of it, a part by no means unimportant. It was
+Henry, with his consummate skill and daring, who had uncovered the
+position of the enemy, and now, without snatching a moment's sleep, he
+was ready to lead where the fray might be thickest.
+
+The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and the
+army began to move through the thick forest. A light wind, crisp with
+the air of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. The sun, swinging
+upward in the east, poured down a flood of brilliant rays that lighted
+up everything, the buff and blue uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the
+bayonets, and the forest, still heavy with foliage.
+
+“Now! now!” thought every one of the five, “we begin the vengeance for
+Wyoming!”
+
+The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the thickets
+for the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so terribly. As Braxton
+Wyatt had truly said, these scouts were the best in the world. Nothing
+could escape the trained eyes of Henry Ware and his comrades, and those
+of Murphy, Ellerson, and the others, while off on either flank of the
+army heavy detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement.
+They saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deep silence in
+front of them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its golden light down
+upon the army in such an intense, vivid flood that rifle barrels and
+bayonets gave back a metallic gleam. All around them the deep woods
+swayed and rustled before the light breeze, and now and then they caught
+glimpses of the river, its surface now gold, then silver, under the
+shining sun.
+
+Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, but he had
+seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he could not keep
+down the desire to see punishment. It is only those in sheltered homes
+who can forgive the tomahawk and the stake. Now he was the very first of
+the scouts, although his comrades and a dozen others were close behind
+him.
+
+The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them by the
+forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and the sound of
+commands.
+
+Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankment ran, and
+he knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by timber. They
+were not far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded very slowly, examining
+every tree and clump of bushes to see whether a lurking enemy was hidden
+there. The silence endured longer than he had thought. Nothing could be
+seen in front save the waving forest.
+
+Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown shoulder's edge
+showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all the scouts sank to the
+ground.
+
+The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle, whistled over
+their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loud at such a time, came
+back from the forest in many echoes, and a light puff of smoke arose.
+Quick as a flash, before the brown shoulder and body exposed to take aim
+could be withdrawn, Tom Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his
+death yell. The Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a
+war whoop, fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and
+before it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in
+tremendous volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout that had
+often appalled the bravest, but the little band of scouts were not
+afraid. When its last echo died they sent forth a fierce, defiant note
+of their own, and, crawling forward, began to send in their bullets.
+
+The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers, who
+replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line through the
+undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of smoke arose and,
+uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed. Twigs and bark fell, and
+now and then a man, as they fought from tree to tree. Henry caught one
+glimpse of a face that was white, that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought
+a shot at the renegade leader, but he could not get it. But the scouts
+pushed on, and the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on
+the flanks they began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of the
+army were in action, but the main body still advanced without firing a
+shot.
+
+The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and rifle
+pits, and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and Tory
+skirmishers leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge with their
+army. Then they turned back and saw the long line of their own army
+steadily advancing, while the sounds of heavy firing still continued on
+both flanks. Henry looked proudly at the unbroken array, the front of
+steel, and the cannon. He felt prouder still when the general turned to
+him and said:
+
+“You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
+lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of
+the rifles shall talk.”
+
+The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest
+of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there
+among the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.
+
+Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
+waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
+be thickest.
+
+The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
+and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells,
+new and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
+position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in
+a curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
+followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
+aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+like cry came back.
+
+
+Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.
+
+“That's the medicine!” he cried. “I wonder how you like that, you
+Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your
+scalp-taking crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!”
+
+The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
+the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower
+of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short,
+and the whoop hurt no one.
+
+The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision,
+while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
+engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
+his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
+from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
+bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field.
+They could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork,
+the dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by
+shell and shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the
+great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men,
+and striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
+bullets at close quarters, but more terrifying.
+
+Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian camp,
+creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance to shoot down
+the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watching them.
+
+“Come, boys,” exclaimed Henry. “Here's work for us now.”
+
+He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the skirmishers,
+who were soon driven in again. The artillery fire had never ceased for a
+moment, the shells and balls passing over their heads. Their work done,
+the sharpshooters fell back again, the gunners worked faster for a
+while, and then at a command they ceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all
+the others knew instinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in
+every bone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+
+“Now!” Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment the order was
+given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke floating away for
+the moment and the sun flashing off the bayonets. The five sprang up
+and rushed on ahead. A sheet of flame burst from the embankment, and the
+rifle pits sprang into fire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past
+them, and the sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never
+ceased to rush straight for the embankment.
+
+It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. There was
+one continuous flash from the earthwork, and a continuous flash replied.
+The rifles were at work now, thousands of them, and they kept up an
+incessant crash, while above them rose the unbroken thunder of the
+cannon. The volume of smoke deepened, and it was shot through with the
+sharp, pungent odor of burned gunpowder.
+
+Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded, and
+fired again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had never
+ceased. It had not been checked even for a moment, and the bayonets of
+one of the regiments glittered in the sun a straight line of steel.
+
+Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was lowest.
+He saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he intended to strike
+if he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulating and shouting to his men to
+stand fast and drive back the charge. He believed even then, and he knew
+later, that Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were showing courage superior
+to that of the Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian
+allies. The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the
+Iroquois did not cease to send a stream of bullets from the earthwork.
+
+Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and closer.
+He saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he snapped his
+empty pistol at it. But it was hidden the next instant behind others,
+and then they were at the embankment. He saw the glowing faces of
+his comrades at his side, the singular figure of Heemskerk revolving
+swiftly, and behind them the line of bayonets closing in with the
+grimness of fate.
+
+Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him point blank, and
+he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then his comrades were by his
+side, and they leaped down into the Indian camp. After them came the
+riflemen, and then the line of bayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and
+the great Wyandot shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+
+Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
+had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
+of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown
+faces before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and
+there, shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that
+the battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best
+of the Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they
+fell back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest
+fighter, the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly
+Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who
+were most strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield,
+with its numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.
+They retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of
+bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+
+Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
+face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+
+“The victory is won already!” said he. “Now to drive it home!”
+
+“Come on,” cried Henry in return, “and we'll lead!”
+
+A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long
+Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed,
+and they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they
+now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down
+in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their
+bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled
+them to retreat anew.
+
+The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
+the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
+Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of
+their allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and
+white force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives
+from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics
+to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but
+the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
+their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the
+Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
+
+The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but
+the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army
+was driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
+confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
+the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere.
+The victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties
+that had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The
+Iroquois were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might
+be hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford.
+Uttering their cry of despair, “Oonali! Oonali!” a wail for a battle
+lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them throwing away their
+rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the
+Scouts and a body of riflemen were after them.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
+opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
+men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men
+in the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
+pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
+kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering
+fire over their heads.
+
+Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton
+Wyatt again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the
+riflemen, he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders
+were driven back. Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence,
+escaped among the thickets.
+
+The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Little
+groups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together
+enough men for an ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but
+they were pushed too hard and fast. A rally was always destroyed in the
+beginning, and the chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives. The
+pursuit was continued for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the
+army itself moved forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest
+on the trail of the flying Iroquois.
+
+The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close watch,
+nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then they exchanged shots with
+a band, but the Indians always fled quickly, and at last they stopped
+because they could no longer find any resistance. They had been in
+action or pursuit for many hours, and they were black with smoke, dust,
+and sweat, but they were not yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk
+drew a great red silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his
+glowing face, which was as red as the handkerchief.
+
+“It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a year,” he
+said. “The Iroquois have always thought they were invincible, and now
+the spell's been broke. If we only follow it up.”
+
+“That's sure to be done,” said Henry. “I heard General Sullivan himself
+say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois power.”
+
+They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps over
+the path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. They beheld a dead
+warrior at every step, and at intervals were rifles, tomahawks, scalping
+knives, blankets, and an occasional shot pouch or powder horn. Presently
+they reached the main army, which was going into camp for the night.
+Many camp fires were built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory,
+were getting ready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been
+told already that they were to march again in the morning.
+
+Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field of
+battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was now coming, and
+it was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets, and the trees were
+torn by cannon balls. Some tents raised by the Tories lay in ruins, and
+the earth was stained with many dark splotches. But the army had passed
+on, and it was silent and desolate where so many men had fought. The
+twilight drew swiftly on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome
+sounds. The wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done
+so much to turn into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they
+were telling it to one another. By and by, as the night deepened, the
+five saw fiery eyes in the thickets, and the long howls came again.
+
+“It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House,” said Paul,
+upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+
+The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush of victory
+in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoice over a fallen
+foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory, and none of them could
+wish any part of it undone. They returned slowly to the camp, and once
+more they heard behind them the howl of the wolves as they invaded the
+battlefield.
+
+They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp fires
+twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many men talking.
+Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+
+“Come, lads,” he said. “You must eat-you won't find out until you begin,
+how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we march early
+to-morrow, and we march fast.”
+
+The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food since morning;
+they had never thought of it, but now, with the relaxation from battle,
+they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+
+“It's mighty good,” said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and ate
+bread and meat and drank coffee, “but I'll say this for you, you old
+ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than the venison an'
+bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a time.”
+
+“An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more,” said Long Jim
+complacently.
+
+“But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo again,
+Jim,” said Henry. “We are going on a long campaign through the Iroquois
+country.”
+
+“An' it's shore to be a dangerous one,” said Shif'less Sol. “Men like
+warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one fight. They'll
+be hangin' on our flanks like wasps.”
+
+“That's true,” said Henry, “but in my opinion the Iroquois are
+overthrown forever. One defeat means more to them than a half dozen to
+us.”
+
+
+They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the fires.
+They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
+scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could
+not sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He
+watched the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth
+around the camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank
+to sleep. The fires which had formed a great core of light also sank,
+and the shadows crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing
+sentinels, rifle on shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves,
+attuned so long to great effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over
+him, and his eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the
+lowest murmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from the
+battlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirge of the
+Iroquois.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+
+
+The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose,
+refreshed, ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and
+breakfast was cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as
+all had eaten, the army marched, going northward and westward, intending
+to cut through the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come
+from the great commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had
+been so long such a terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be
+annihilated. They must be made strangers in their own country. Women and
+children were not to be molested, but their towns must perish.
+
+As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung,
+the power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the
+border did not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had
+promised them certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the
+promises would come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were
+fugitives in their own country.
+
+The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
+and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for
+a surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still
+lurked in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the
+bullets of ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible.
+Nothing could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory
+chiefs might plan.
+
+They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
+sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little danger of
+the latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at least, bring a
+sufficient force into the field. But after the moon had risen, the five,
+with Heemskerk, went ahead through the forest. The Iroquois town of
+Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the army would reach it on the morrow.
+It was the intention of the scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+
+It was near midnight when the little party drew near to Kanawaholla
+and watched it from the shelter of the forest. Like most other Iroquois
+towns, it contained wooden houses, and cultivated fields were about it.
+No smoke rose from any of the chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts
+saw loaded figures departing through a great field of ripe and waving
+corn. It was the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could
+carry. Two or three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives,
+but the scouts made no attempt to pursue. They could not restrain a
+little feeling of sympathy and pity, although a just retribution was
+coming.
+
+“If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the war, as
+we asked them,” said Heemskerk, “how much might have been spared to both
+sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a moment.”
+
+The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of the
+corn field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were taking a
+last look at their town, and the feeling of pity and sympathy deepened,
+despite Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the rest. But that feeling
+never extended to the white allies of the Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea
+characterized in word and in writing as “more savage than the savages
+themselves.”
+
+The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul was in
+Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken away, but that
+was all. Most of the houses were in disorder, showing the signs of hasty
+flight, but the town lay wholly at the mercy of the advancing army.
+Henry and his comrades withdrew with the news, and the next day, when
+the troops advanced, Kanawaholla was put to the torch. In an hour it was
+smoking ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+
+Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the Iroquois
+power under foot and laying waste the country. One after another
+the Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown, Kendaia,
+Kanadesaga, Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye, Kanaghsawa,
+Gathtsewarohare, and others, forming a long roll, bearing the sounding
+Iroquois names. Villages around Cayuga and other lakes were burned
+by detachments. The smoke of perishing towns arose everywhere in
+the Iroquois country, while the Iroquois themselves fled before the
+advancing army. They sent appeal after appeal for help from those to
+whom they had given so much help, but none came.
+
+It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold. The forests blazed
+with brilliant colors. The winds blew, leaves rustled and fell. The
+winter would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so proud of what they
+had achieved, would have to find what shelter they could in the forests
+or at the British posts on the Canadian frontier. Thayendanegea was
+destined to come again with bands of red men and white and inflict great
+loss, but the power of the Six Nations was overthrown forever, after
+four centuries of victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all
+the time in the thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched
+into the Genesee Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul, as
+they lay on their blankets one night, counted fires in three different
+directions, and every one of the three marked a perishing Indian
+village. It was not a work in which they took any delight; on the
+contrary, it often saddened them, but they felt that it had to be done,
+and they could not shirk the task.
+
+In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of scouts
+and riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in advance of the
+army. It was a democratic little band, everyone saying what he pleased,
+but yielding in the end to the authority of the leader. They were now
+far up the Genesee toward the Great Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of
+advancing ahead of the army on the great Seneca village known variously
+as the Seneca Castle and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full
+match in cruelty for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. Several causes
+led to this decision. It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+all the Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there. While not
+likely to be true about all, it was probably true about some of them,
+and a bold stroke might effect much.
+
+It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind. The renegade
+was in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he had developed
+great abilities as a partisan, being skillfully seconded by the squat
+Tory, Coleman. His reputation now was equal at least to that of Walter
+Butler, and he had skirmished more than once with the vanguard of the
+army. Growing in Henry's heart was a strong desire to match forces with
+him, and it was quite probable that a swift advance might find him at
+the Seneca Castle.
+
+The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late autumn. The
+night had been clear and cold, with a touch of winter in it, and
+the brilliant colors of the foliage had now turned to a solid brown.
+Whenever the wind blew, the leaves fell in showers. The sky was a fleecy
+blue, but over hills, valley, and forest hung a fine misty veil that is
+the mark of Indian summer. The land was nowhere inhabited. They saw
+the cabin of neither white man nor Indian. A desolation and a silence,
+brought by the great struggle, hung over everything. Many discerning
+eyes among the riflemen noted the beauty and fertility of the country,
+with its noble forests and rich meadows. At times they caught glimpses
+of the river, a clear stream sparkling under the sun.
+
+“Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in Kentucky,” said
+Shif'less Sol, “an' it seems to me I like one about ez well ez t'other.
+Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go back home? 'Pears to me that
+we're always goin' farther an' farther away.”
+
+Henry laughed.
+
+“It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us away,
+Sol,” he replied.
+
+“Then,” said the shiftless one with a resigned air, “I hope them same
+circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me gently, but
+strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest fur a lazy an'
+tired man like me.”
+
+“I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at least,” said
+Henry.
+
+The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were wholly
+irrelevant.
+
+“S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow night?” he
+asked.
+
+“It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely anxious
+for a fight,” Henry replied.
+
+“I try to be resigned,” said Shif'less Sol. But his eyes were sparkling
+with the light of battle.
+
+They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca Castle
+about ten miles ahead. Henry was quite sure that the Senecas to whom it
+belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with the aid of the other tribes
+might make a stand there. It was more than likely, too, that the Senecas
+had sharpshooters and sentinels well to the south of their town, and
+it behooved the riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a
+hornet's nest. Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind
+that searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their
+blankets.
+
+The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in the
+thickets. Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry. He had observed
+his young leader's face closely that day, and he had a mind of uncommon
+penetration.
+
+“Henry,” he whispered, “you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton Wyatt an'
+his band at Little Beard's town?”
+
+“That among other things,” replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+
+“That first, and the others afterwards,” persisted the shiftless one.
+
+“It may be so,” admitted Henry.
+
+“I feel the same way you do,” said Shif'less Sol. “You see, we've knowed
+Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that one who started out
+a boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. An' think uv all the cruel
+things that he's done an' helped to do. I ain't hidin' my feelin's. I'm
+jest itchin' to git at him.”
+
+“Yes,” said Henry, “I'd like for our band to have it out with his.”
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that night,
+because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the following
+night, in view of an enterprise that he had in mind. The rosy Dutchman,
+Heemskerk, was in command of the guard, and he revolved continually
+about the camp with amazing ease, and with a footstep so light that it
+made no sound whatever. Now and then he came back in the thicket and
+looked down at the faces of the sleeping five from Kentucky. “Goot
+boys,” he murmured to himself. “Brave boys, to stay here and help. May
+they go through all our battles and take no harm. The goot and great God
+often watches over the brave.”
+
+Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to the new
+nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout man, despite a
+life of danger and hardship. The people of the woods do not lose faith,
+and he looked up at the dark skies as if he found encouragement there.
+Then he resumed his circle about the camp. He heard various noises-the
+hoot of an owl, the long whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of
+deer going down to the river to drink. But the sounds were all natural,
+made by the animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it.
+Once or twice he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to
+indicate the presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and beat up
+the woods, the night passed, eventless, away.
+
+They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw sure
+indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois evidently were
+not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. Henry had learned that
+this was one of the largest and strongest of all the Iroquois towns,
+containing between a hundred and two hundred wooden houses, and with a
+population likely to be swollen greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois
+towns already destroyed. The need of caution--great caution--was borne
+in upon him, and he paid good heed.
+
+The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about three
+miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry, according
+to his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross. He was
+resolved to find out more about this important town, and his enterprise
+was in full accord with his duties, chief among which was to save the
+vanguard of the army from ambush.
+
+When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the covert,
+and, after traveling a short distance through the forest, turned in
+toward the river. As the town lay on or near the river, Henry thought
+they might see some signs of Indian life on the stream, and from this
+they could proceed to discoveries.
+
+But when they first saw the river it was desolate. Not a canoe was
+moving on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the undergrowth,
+followed the bank toward the town. But the forest soon ceased, and they
+came upon a great field, where the Senecas had raised corn, and where
+stalks, stripped of their ears and browned by the autumn cold, were
+still standing. But all the work of planting, tending, and reaping this
+great field, like all the other work in all the Iroquois fields, had
+been done by the Iroquois women, not by the warriors.
+
+Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint lines
+of smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca Castle. The dry
+cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew across the field.
+
+“The stalks will make a little shelter,” said Henry, “and we must cross
+the field. We want to keep near the river.”
+
+“Lead on,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and
+bearing back toward the river. They crossed the field without being
+observed, and came into a thick fringe of trees and undergrowth along
+the river. They moved cautiously in this shelter for a rod or two,
+and then the three, without word from any one of them, stopped
+simultaneously. They heard in the water the unmistakable ripple made by
+a paddle, and then the sound of several more. They crept to the edge of
+the bank and crouched down among the bushes. Then they saw a singular
+procession.
+
+A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. They were
+in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. But the aspect of
+the little fleet was wholly different from that of an ordinary group
+of Iroquois war canoes. It was dark, somber, and funereal, and in
+every canoe, between the feet of the paddlers, lay a figure, stiff
+and impassive, the body of a chief slain in battle. It had all the
+appearance of a funeral procession, but the eyes of the three, as they
+roved over it, fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as
+they were to the strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+
+The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who half
+sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. Her long
+black hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered head. She wore a
+brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but it was stained and torn.
+The woman's whole attitude expressed grief, anger, and despair.
+
+“Queen Esther!” whispered Henry. The other two nodded.
+
+So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman at
+Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now. The picture of the
+great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound prisoners was still too
+vivid. She had several sons, one or two of whom were slain in battle
+with the colonists, and the body that lay in the boat may have been one
+of them. Henry always believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+
+As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and now she
+raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+
+“They're goin' to land,” whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it approached,
+a group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca chief, appeared
+among the trees, coming forward to meet them. The three in their covert
+crouched closer, interested so intensely that they were prepared to
+brave the danger in order to remain. But the absorption of the Iroquois
+in what they were about to do favored the three scouts.
+
+As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her
+crouching position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of grief,
+rage, and despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. It was
+fiercer than the cry of a wolf, and it came back from the dark forest in
+terrifying echoes.
+
+“It's not a woman, but a fiend,” whispered Henry; and, as before, his
+comrades nodded in assent.
+
+The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty that
+had once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was long since
+gone. Her white half of blood had been submerged years ago in her Indian
+half, and there was nothing now about her to remind one of civilization
+or of the French Governor General of Canada who was said to have been
+her father.
+
+The Iroquois stood respectfully before her. It was evident that she had
+lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power proceeding partly
+from her force and partly from superstition. As the bodies were brought
+ashore, one by one, and laid upon the ground, she uttered the long
+wailing cry again and again, and the others repeated it in a sort of
+chorus.
+
+When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the ground, and
+began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to interpret roughly
+to the others. She sang:
+
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory.
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could ever
+remember or translate. But every verse ended with the melancholy
+refrain: “Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!” which the
+others also repeated in chorus. Then the warriors lifted up the bodies,
+and they moved in procession toward the town. The three watched them,
+but they did not rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit
+trees. Then they stood up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of
+relief.
+
+“I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in,” said Shif'less Sol. “She
+gives me the creeps. She must be a witch huntin' for blood. She is shore
+to stir up the Iroquois in this town.”
+
+“That's true,” said Henry, “but I mean to go nearer.”
+
+“Wa'al,” said Tom Ross, “I reckon that if you mean it we mean it, too.”
+
+“There are certainly Tories in the town,” said Henry, “and if we are seen
+we can probably pass for them. I'm bound to find out what's here.”
+
+“Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I mean to know if he's here,” said Henry.
+
+“Lead on,” said the shiftless one.
+
+They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of sight,
+and entered the orchard. From that point they saw the houses and great
+numbers of Indians, including squaws and children, gathered in the open
+spaces, where the funeral train was passing. Queen Esther still stalked
+at its head, but her chant was now taken up by many scores of voices,
+and the volume of sound penetrated far in the night. Henry yet relied
+upon the absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him
+a chance for a good look through the town, and he and his comrades
+advanced with boldness.
+
+They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as their occupants had
+gone to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white men-a few
+of the Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other Tories, who were
+dressed much like Henry and his comrades. One of them spoke to Shif'less
+Sol, who nodded carelessly and passed by. The Tory seemed satisfied and
+went his way.
+
+“Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead o' the
+army,” said the shiftless one.
+
+Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. He
+saw that no preparations for defense had been made, and there was no
+evidence that any would be made. All was confusion and despair. Already
+some of the squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy burdens. The three
+coupled caution with boldness. If they met a Tory they merely exchanged
+a word or two, and passed swiftly on. Henry, although he had seen enough
+to know that the army could advance without hesitation, still pursued
+the quest. Shif'less Sol was right. At the bottom of Henry's heart was
+a desire to know whether Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a
+desire soon satisfied, as they reached the great Council House, turned a
+corner of it, and met the renegade face to face.
+
+Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he uttered
+a cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. There was no light
+but that of the moon, but he knew his foe in an instant.
+
+“Henry Ware!” he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+
+They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a
+weapon. Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching Wyatt on the
+jaw, and sending him down as if he had been shot. Shif'less Sol and Tom
+Ross ran bodily over Coleman, hurling him down, and leaping across his
+prostrate figure. Then they ran their utmost, knowing that their lives
+depended on speed and skill.
+
+They quickly put the Council House between them and their pursuers, and
+darted away among the houses. Braxton Wyatt was stunned, but he speedily
+regained his wits and his feet.
+
+“It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again!” he cried to his
+lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up. “Come, men! After
+them! After them!”
+
+A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they began a
+search among the houses. But it was hard to find the fugitives. The
+light was not good, many flitting figures were about, and the frantic
+search developed confusion. Other Tories were often mistaken for the
+three scouts, and were overhauled, much to their disgust and that of the
+overhaulers. Iroquois, drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join
+in the hunt, but Wyatt could give them little information. He had merely
+seen an enemy, and then the enemy had gone. It was quite certain that
+this enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+
+Henry and his comrades were crafty. Trained by ambush and escape, flight
+and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive their pursuers. When
+Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran around the Council House, a
+large and solid structure, and, finding a door on the opposite side and
+no one there or in sight from that point, they entered it, closing the
+door behind them.
+
+They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they made
+out the log wall of the great, single room which constituted the Council
+House. After that, with more accustomed eyes, they saw on the wall arms,
+pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some with long hair and some with
+short. The hair was usually blonde, and most of the scalps had been
+stretched tight over little hoops. Henry clenched his fist in the
+darkness.
+
+“Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“I don't think so,” said Henry. “At any rate they'd find us if we were
+rushing about the village. Here we at least have a chance.”
+
+At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes, and the
+three sat down behind them in the very heart of the Iroquois sanctuary.
+Should anyone casually enter the Council House they would still be
+hidden. They sat in Turkish fashion on the floor, close together and
+with their rifles lying across their knees. A thin light filtered
+through a window and threw pallid streaks on the floor, which they could
+see when they peeped around the edge of the mats. But outside they
+heard very clearly the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the
+village. Shif'less Sol chuckled. It was very low, but it was a chuckle,
+nevertheless, and the others heard.
+
+“It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em,” said the shiftless one,
+“layin' here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're ragin' an'
+tearin' up the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. Gives me a mighty
+snug feelin', though, like the one you have when you're safe in a big
+log house, an' the wind an' the hail an' the snow are beatin' outside.”
+
+“You're shorely right, Sol,” said Tom Ross.
+
+“Seems to me,” continued the irrepressible Sol, “that you did git in a
+good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all. Ain't he unhappy now, bitin' his
+fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? I feel real sorry,
+I do, fur Braxton. It's hard fur a nice young feller to have to suffer
+sech disappointments.”
+
+Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in the
+darkness. Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong. It would be a bitter blow
+to Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, it was pleasant where they sat. A hard floor
+was soft to them, and as they leaned against the wall they could relax
+and rest.
+
+“What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?” asked Tom Ross.
+
+“They won't have to think,” replied Henry. “They'll sit quiet as we're
+doing and wait.”
+
+The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops came
+from different points of the village. There were shrill cries of women
+and children, and the sound of many running feet. After a while it began
+to sink, and soon after that they heard no more noises than those of
+people preparing for flight. Henry felt sure that the town would be
+abandoned on the morrow, but his desire to come to close quarters with
+Braxton Wyatt was as strong as ever. It was certain that the army could
+not overtake Wyatt's band, but he might match his own against it. He was
+thinking of making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their
+great amazement, they heard the door of the Council House open and shut,
+and then footsteps inside.
+
+Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky figures
+near the window.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINAL FIGHT
+
+
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and the
+three would have recognized those figures anywhere. The taller was
+Timmendiquas, the other Thayendanegea. The thin light from the window
+fell upon their faces, and Henry saw that both were sad. Haughty and
+proud they were still, but each bore the look that comes only from
+continued defeat and great disappointment. It is truth to say that
+the concealed three watched them with a curiosity so intense that
+all thought of their own risk was forgotten. To Henry, as well as his
+comrades, these two were the greatest of all Indian chiefs.
+
+The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the Mohawks
+stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window, taking a last
+look at the great Seneca Castle. It was Thayendanegea who spoke first,
+using Wyandot, which Henry understood.
+
+“Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots,” he said. “You have
+come far with your warriors, and you have been by our side in battle.
+The Six Nations owe you much. You have helped us in victory, and you
+have not deserted us in defeat. You are the greatest of warriors, the
+boldest in battle, and the most skillful.”
+
+Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went on:
+
+“I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots. We owe you much,
+and some day we may repay. Here the Bostonians crowd us hard, and the
+Mohawks may yet fight by your side to save your own hunting grounds.”
+
+“It is true,” said Timmendiquas. “There, too, we' must fight the
+Americans.”
+
+“Victory was long with us here,” said Thayendanegea, “but the rebels
+have at last brought an army against us, and the king who persuaded
+us to make war upon the Americans adds nothing to the help that he has
+given us already. Our white allies were the first to run at the Chemung,
+and now the Iroquois country, so large and so beautiful, is at the mercy
+of the invader. We perish. In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes.
+The American army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca
+Castle, the last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames.
+I know not how our people will live through the Winter that is yet to
+come. Aieroski has turned his face from us.”
+
+But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+
+“The Six Nations will regain their country,” he said. “The great
+League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so many
+generations, cannot be destroyed. All the tribes from here to the
+Mississippi will help, and will press down upon the settlements. I will
+return to stir them anew, and the British posts will give us arms and
+ammunition.”
+
+The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of Thayendanegea.
+
+“You raise my spirits again,” he said. “We flee now, but we shall come
+back again. The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit. We will ravage all
+their settlements, and burn and destroy. We will make a wilderness where
+they have been. The king and his men will yet give us more help.”
+
+Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding Thayendanegea
+was long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had refused the requested
+neutrality, had lost their Country forever, save such portions as the
+victor in the end chose to offer to them.
+
+“And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I give
+you a last farewell,” said Thayendanegea.
+
+The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the white
+man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House, shutting the
+door behind him. Thayendanegea lingered a while at the window, and
+the look of sadness returned to his face. Henry could read many of the
+thoughts that were passing through the Mohawk's proud mind.
+
+Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the
+power and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory of
+the Iroquois, of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by Sir
+John Johnson, the half brother of the children of Molly Brant,
+Thayendanegea's own sister, of the Butlers and all the others who had
+said that the rebels would be easy to conquer. He knew better now,
+he had long known better, ever since that dreadful battle in the dark
+defile of the Oriskany, when the Palatine Germans, with old Herkimer at
+their head, beat the Tories, the English, and the Iroquois, and made the
+taking of Burgoyne possible. The Indian chieftain was a statesman,
+and it may be that from this moment he saw that the cause of both the
+Iroquois and their white allies was doomed. Presently Thayendanegea left
+the window, walking slowly toward the door. He paused there a moment or
+two, and then went out, closing it behind him, as Timmendiquas had done.
+The three did not speak until several minutes after he had gone.
+
+“I don't believe,” said Henry, “that either of them thinks, despite
+their brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back again.”
+
+“Serves 'em right,” said Tom Ross. “I remember what I saw at Wyoming.”
+
+“Whether they kin do it or not,” said the practical Sol, “it's time for
+us to git out o' here, an' go back to our men.”
+
+“True words, Sol,” said Henry, “and we'll go.”
+
+Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened
+slightly, they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. The
+preparations for departure had probably ceased until morning. Forth
+stole the three, passing swiftly among the houses, going, with silent
+foot toward the orchard. An old squaw, carrying a bundle from a house,
+saw them, looked sharply into their faces, and knew them to be white.
+She threw down her bundle with a fierce, shrill scream, and ran,
+repeating the scream as she ran.
+
+Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. Wyatt
+caught a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on each side,
+running toward the orchard, and he knew it. Hate and the hope to capture
+or kill swelled afresh. He put a whistle to his lip and blew shrilly.
+It was a signal to his band, and they came from every point, leading the
+pursuit.
+
+Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt who had
+made the sound. A single glance backward confirmed him. He knew Wyatt's
+figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark mass with him was
+certainly composed of his own men. The other Indians and Tories, in
+all likelihood, would turn back soon, and that fact would give him the
+chance he wished.
+
+They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the orchard,
+and Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at once.
+
+“We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark,” he said.
+
+“We don't want to dodge 'em,” said Henry.
+
+The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's face he
+understood.
+
+“You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?” he said.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+“Glad you thought uv it,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They crossed the very corn field through which they had come, Braxton
+Wyatt and his band in full cry after them. Several shots were fired, but
+the three kept too far ahead for any sort of marksmanship, and they were
+not touched. When they finally entered the woods they curved a little,
+and then, keeping just far enough ahead to be within sight, but not
+close enough for the bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of
+the riflemen. As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered
+the long shout of the forest runner. He shouted a second time, and
+now Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry
+penetrating far through the woods.
+
+Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and Tories
+suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never knew, but the
+pursuit came on with undiminished speed. There was a good silver moon
+now, shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt still in the van, with
+his Tory lieutenant close behind, and after them red men and white,
+spreading out like a fan to inclose the fugitives in a trap. The blood
+leaped in his veins. It was a tide of fierce joy. He had achieved both
+of the purposes for which he had come. He had thoroughly scouted the
+Seneca Castle, and he was about to come to close quarters with Braxton
+Wyatt and the band which he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+
+Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was startled.
+He had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute, and so pitiless. He
+seemed to remember as one single, fearful picture all the ruthless and
+terrible scenes of the last year. Henry uttered again that cry which was
+at once a defiance and a signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was
+answered, signal for signal. The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim,
+and Heemskerk at their head. They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw the
+flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them. From the Indians
+and Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and every one in either
+band knew that the issue was now about to be settled by battle, and
+by battle alone. They used all the tactics of the forest. Both sides
+instantly dropped down among the trees and undergrowth, three or four
+hundred yards apart, and for a few moments there was no sound save heavy
+breathing, heard only by those who lay close by. Not a single human
+being would have been visible to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight,
+which tipped boughs and bushes with ghostly silver. Yet no area so small
+ever held a greater store of resolution and deadly animosity. On one
+side were the riflemen, nearly every one of whom had slaughtered kin to
+mourn, often wives and little children, and on the other the Tories and
+Iroquois, about to lose their country, and swayed by the utmost passions
+of hate and revenge.
+
+“Spread out,” whispered Henry. “Don't give them a chance to flank us.
+You, Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you, Heemskerk, take ten
+and go to the left.”
+
+“It is well,” whispered Heemskerk. “You have a great head, Mynheer
+Henry.”
+
+Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen remained
+in the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim on one side of
+him, and Silent Tom on the other. When he thought that the two flanking
+parties had reached the right position, he uttered a low whistle, and
+back came two low whistles, signals that all was ready. Then the line
+began its slow advance, creeping forward from tree to tree and from
+bush to bush. Henry raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see
+anything where the hostile force lay hidden. They went a little farther,
+and then all lay down again to look.
+
+Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. He was
+almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling himself along by a
+sort of muscular action of his whole body. Now he was so still that
+he did not seem to breathe. Yet his eyes, uncommonly eager now, were
+searching the thickets ahead. They rested at last on a spot of brown
+showing through some bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure
+aim. The Iroquois uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and
+then fell back prone. Shots were fired in return, and a dozen riflemen
+replied to them. The battle was joined.
+
+They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of the
+Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack of the
+rifles. The riflemen continued to advance in slow, creeping fashion,
+always pressing the enemy. Every time they caught sight of a hostile
+face or body they sent a bullet at it, and Wyatt's men did the same. The
+two lines came closer, and all along each there were many sharp little
+jets of fire and smoke. Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two
+were slain, dying quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who
+continued to press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+
+This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a moment, and
+which was now without the sound of voices, continued without a moment's
+cessation in the dark forest. The fury of the combatants increased as
+the time went on, and neither side was yet victorious. Closer and closer
+came the lines. Meanwhile dark clouds were piling in a bank in the
+southwest. Slow thunder rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at
+intervals by lightning. But the combatants did not notice the heralds of
+storm. Their attention was only for each other.
+
+It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had culminated.
+Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his pitiless resolve
+was not relaxed a particle. The thunder and the lightning, although he
+did not notice them, seemed to act upon him as an incitement, and with
+low words he continually urged those about him to push the battle.
+
+Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver on
+boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire, pressed
+down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees, and the moon was
+partly hidden. But file combat did not relax because of the obscurity.
+Wandering Indians, hearing the firing, came to Wyatt's relief, but,
+despite their aid, he was compelled to give ground. His were the most
+desperate and hardened men, red and white, in all the allied forces, but
+they were faced by sharpshooters better than themselves. Many of them
+were already killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and
+Coleman raged and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so
+hard pressed were they that the Iroquois could not perform the sacred
+duty of carrying off their dead. No one sought to carry away the Tories,
+who lay with the rain, that had now begun to fall, beating upon them.
+
+So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point where
+bodies of their enemies lay. Again that fierce joy surged up in Henry's
+heart. His friends and he were winning. But he wished to do more than
+win. This band, if left alone, would merely flee from the Seneca Castle
+before the advance of the army, and would still exist to ravage and slay
+elsewhere.
+
+“Keep on, Tom! Keep on!” he cried to Ross and the others. “Never let
+them rest!”
+
+“We won't! We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing,” replied the
+redoubtable one as he loaded and fired. “Thar, I got another!”
+
+The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way faster.
+Some sought to dart away to right or left, and bury themselves in the
+forest, but they were caught by the flanking parties of Shif'less Sol
+and Heemskerk, and driven back on the center. They could not retreat
+except straight on the town, and the riflemen followed them step for
+step. The moan of the distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell,
+but the deadly crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note
+that claimed the whole attention of both combatants.
+
+It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help. Twenty or more
+scouts and others abroad in the forest were called by the rifle fire,
+and went at once into the battle. Then Wyatt was helped a second time by
+a band of Senecas and Mohawks, but, despite all the aid, they could not
+withstand the riflemen. Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to
+them and sometimes cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat
+could not be stopped. Men fell fast. Every one of the riflemen was a
+sharpshooter, and few bullets missed.
+
+Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field through
+which Henry had passed. Here the retreat became faster, and, with shouts
+of triumph, the riflemen followed after. Wyatt lost some men in the
+flight through the field, but when he came to the orchard, having the
+advantage of cover, he made another desperate stand.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks, pouring in
+a destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth of his band, all
+that survived, broke into a run for the town.
+
+The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was impossible
+to restrain their pursuit. Henry would have stopped here, knowing the
+danger of following into the town, especially when the army was near at
+band with an irresistible force, but he could not stay them. He decided
+then that if they would charge it must be done with the utmost fire and
+spirit.
+
+“On, men! On!” he cried. “Give them no chance to take cover.”
+
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties, and
+the riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of pursuit. Wyatt
+and his men had no chance to turn and fire, or even to reload. Bullets
+beat upon them as they fled, and here perished nearly all of that savage
+band. Wyatt, Coleman, and only a half dozen made good the town, where
+a portion of the Iroquois who had not yet fled received them. But the
+exultant riflemen did not stop even there. They were hot on the heels of
+Wyatt and the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who came to
+their relief. So fierce was their rush that these new forces were driven
+back at once. Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a dozen more, seeing no other
+escape, fled to a large log house used as a granary, threw themselves
+into it, barred the doors heavily, and began to fire from the upper
+windows, small openings usually closed with boards. Other Indians from
+the covert of house, tepee, or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a
+fresh battle began in the town.
+
+The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation promptly.
+Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into a house some
+forty yards from that of Braxton Wyatt. Others seized another house,
+while the rest remained outside, sheltered by little outhouses, trees,
+or inequalities of the earth, and maintained rapid sharpshooting in
+reply to the Iroquois in the town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the
+house. Now the combat became fiercer than ever. The warriors uttered
+yells, and Wyatt's men in the house sent forth defiant shouts. From
+another part of the town came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on
+their fighting men.
+
+It was now about four o'clock in the morning. The thunder and lightning
+had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling. The Indians had lighted
+fires some distance away. Several carried torches. Helped by these, and,
+used so long to the night, the combatants saw distinctly. The five lay
+behind a low embankment, and they paid their whole attention to the big
+house that sheltered Wyatt and his men. On the sides and behind they
+were protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+
+“Keep low, Paul,” said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. “Those
+fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose you. There,
+didn't I tell you!”
+
+A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's cap, but
+clipped only his hair. Before the flash from the window passed, Long Jim
+fired in return, and something fell back inside. Bullets came from other
+windows. Shif'less Sol fired, and a Seneca fell forward banging half out
+of the window, his naked body a glistening brown in the firelight. But
+he hung only a few seconds. Then he fell to the ground and lay still.
+The five crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity. Behind them, and
+on either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and challenging
+cries.
+
+Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were still
+alive in the strong log house. Two or three were wounded, but they
+scarcely noticed it in the passion of conflict. The house was a
+veritable fortress, and the renegade's hopes rose high as he heard
+the rifle fire from different parts of the town. His own band had been
+annihilated by the riflemen, led by Henry Ware, but he had a sanguine
+hope now that his enemies had rushed into a trap. The Iroquois would
+turn back and destroy them.
+
+Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they crouched in
+the room and fired from the two little windows. His clothes and those
+of the white men had been torn by bushes and briars in their flight, and
+their faces had been raked, too, until they bled, but they had paid
+no attention to such wounds, and the blood was mingled with sweat and
+powder smoke. The Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion,
+and streaked, too, with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the
+muz'zles of their rifles at the windows, seeking something human to
+kill. One and all, red and white, they were now raging savages, There
+was not one among them who did not have some foul murder of woman or
+child to his credit.
+
+Wyatt himself was mad for revenge. Every evil passion in him was up and
+leaping. His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than a human being,
+blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black. By the side of him the
+dark Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses fully as fierce.
+
+“To think of it!” exclaimed Wyatt. “He led us directly into a trap, that
+Ware! And here our band is destroyed! All the good men that we gathered
+together, except these few, are killed!”
+
+“But we may pay them back,” said Coleman. “We were in their trap, but
+now they are in ours! Listen to that firing and the war whoop! There are
+enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill every one of those rebels!”
+
+“I hope so! I believe so!” exclaimed Wyatt. “Look out, Coleman! Ah, he's
+pinked you! That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and he's the best
+sharpshooter of them all except Ware!”
+
+Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a good
+aim at something. He had disclosed only a little of his face, but in an
+instant a bullet had seared his forehead like the flaming stroke of a
+sword, passing on and burying itself in the wall. Fresh blood dripped
+down over his face. He tore a strip from the inside of his coat, bound
+it about his head, and went on with the defense.
+
+A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window. Like a flash
+came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the room, stone dead,
+with a bullet through his bead.
+
+“That was Ware himself,” said Wyatt. “I told you he was the best shot of
+them all. I give him that credit. But they're all good. Look out!
+There goes another of our men! It was Ross who did that! I tell you, be
+careful! Be careful!”
+
+It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head on the
+window sill until another Indian pulled him inside. A minute later a
+Tory, who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a bullet through his
+head, and sank down on the floor. A sort of terror spread among the
+others. What could they do in the face of such terrible sharpshooting?
+It was uncanny, almost superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one
+another. Smoke from their own firing had gathered in the room, and it
+formed a ghastly veil about their faces. They heard the crash of the
+rifles outside from every point, but no help came to them.
+
+“We're bound to do something!” exclaimed Wyatt. “Here you, Jones, stick
+up the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it I'll put a bullet in
+the man who pulls the trigger.”
+
+Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be taken
+in by an old trick. The cap remained unhurt, but when Jones in his
+eagerness thrust it higher until he exposed his arm, his wrist was
+smashed in an instant by a bullet, and he fell back with a howl of pain.
+Wyatt swore and bit his lips savagely. He and all of them began to fear
+that they were in another and tighter trap, one from which there was no
+escape unless the Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that
+they could as yet see no sign. The sharpshooters held their place behind
+the embankment and the little outhouse, and so little as a finger, even,
+at the windows became a sure mark for their terrible bullets. A Seneca,
+seeking a new trial for a shot, received a bullet through the shoulder,
+and a Tory who followed him in the effort was slain outright.
+
+The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was coming.
+Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened into red and
+yellow. The beams reached the room where the beleaguered remains of
+Wyatt's band fought, but, mingling with the smoke, they gave a new and
+more ghastly tint to the desperate faces.
+
+“We've got to fight!” exclaimed Wyatt. “We can't sit here and be taken
+like beasts in a trap! Suppose we unbar the doors below and make a rush
+for it?”
+
+Coleman shook his head. “Every one of us would be killed within twenty
+yards,” he said.
+
+“Then the Iroquois must come back,” cried Wyatt. “Where is Joe Brant?
+Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John Johnson? Will
+they come?”
+
+“They won't come,” said Coleman.
+
+They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which swayed
+hither and thither. The smoke in the room thinned somewhat, and the
+daylight broadened and deepened. As a desperate resort they resumed fire
+from the windows, but three more of their number were slain, and, bitter
+with chagrin, they crouched once more on the floor out of range. Wyatt
+looked at the figures of the living and the dead. Savage despair tore at
+his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this increased.
+It was being served out to him and his band as they had served it out
+to many a defenseless family in the beautiful valleys of the border.
+Despite the sharpshooters, he took another look at the window, but kept
+so far back that there was no chance for a shot.
+
+“Two of them are slipping away,” he exclaimed. “They are Ross and the
+one they call Long Jim! I wish I dared a shot! Now they're gone!”
+
+They lay again in silence for a time. There was still firing in
+the town, and now and then they heard shouts. Wyatt looked at his
+lieutenant, and his lieutenant looked at him.
+
+“Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw,” said Wyatt.
+
+“I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine,” said Coleman.
+
+The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed faces of
+each other, and then laughed wildly. A wounded Seneca sitting with his
+back against the wall began to chant a low, wailing death song.
+
+“Shut up! Stop that infernal noise!” exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+
+The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued his
+chant. Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. He knew
+that everything was lost. The main force of the Iroquois would not
+come back to his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. He sat down on the
+floor, and muttered fierce words under his breath.
+
+“Hark!” suddenly exclaimed Coleman. “What is that?”
+
+A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+instantly. It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood, and of
+that wood was built the house they now held. Even as they listened they
+could hear the flames leap and roar into new and larger life.
+
+“This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!” exclaimed Wyatt.
+“We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in our trap!”
+
+“Not I,” said Coleman, “I'm goin' to make a rush for it.”
+
+“It's the only thing to be done,” said Wyatt. “Come, all of you that are
+left!”
+
+The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca,
+who sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant.
+Wyatt glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed
+down the stairs.
+
+The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were
+roaring. They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower
+of bullets met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up
+his arms, and fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the
+smaller men, and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the
+fire of his foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man
+whom he held was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he
+made the corner. In an instant he put the burning building between him
+and his pursuers, and ran as he had never run before in all his life,
+deadly fear putting wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom
+of a cannon, and he knew that the American army was entering the Seneca
+Castle. Ahead of him he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the
+woods, and behind him the burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping
+flames and sparks in myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO
+
+
+“We didn't get Wyatt,” said Henry, “but we did pretty well,
+nevertheless.”
+
+“That's so,” said Shif'less Sol. “Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
+hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I
+guess we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this
+morning's work.”
+
+“Never a doubt of it,” said Henry, “and here's the army now finishing up
+the task.”
+
+The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
+hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no
+part in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had
+been grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed.
+As they rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by
+so much material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes
+drifted over all the forest beyond the fields.
+
+All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
+British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
+already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for
+two or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its steps
+down the Genesee.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was finished.
+Kentucky was calling to them. They had no doubt that Braxton Wyatt, now
+that his band was destroyed, would return there, and he would surely
+be plotting more danger. It was their part to meet and defeat him. They
+wished, too, to see again the valley, the river, and the village in
+which their people had made their home, and they wished yet more to look
+upon the faces of these people.
+
+They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others of the
+riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant Dutchman and
+his comrades.
+
+“It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends,” said Heemskerk,
+“and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry; to you, Mynheer
+Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom; and to you, Mynheer
+Jim.”
+
+He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away to hide
+his emotion.
+
+The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. When
+they looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his hand to them.
+They waved in return, and then disappeared in the forest. It was a long
+journey to Pittsburgh, but they found it a pleasant one. It was yet
+deep autumn on the Pennsylvania hills, and the forest was glowing with
+scarlet and gold. The air was the very wine of life, and when they
+needed game it was there to be shot. As the cold weather hung off, they
+did not hurry, and they enjoyed the peace of the forest. They realized
+now that after their vast labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed
+a great rest, and they took it. It was singular, and perhaps not so
+singular, how their minds turned from battle, pursuit, and escape, to
+gentle things. A little brook or fountain pleased them. They admired the
+magnificent colors of the foliage, and lingered over the views from the
+low mountains. Doe and fawn fled from them, but without cause. At night
+they built splendid fires, and sat before them, while everyone in his
+turn told tales according to his nature or experience.
+
+They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at the point
+where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set sail down the
+Ohio. It was winter now, but in their stout caravel they did not care.
+They had ample supplies of all kinds, including ammunition, and their
+hearts were light when they swung into the middle of the Ohio and moved
+with its current.
+
+“Now for a great voyage,” said Paul, looking at the clear stream with
+sparkling eyes.
+
+“I wonder what it will bring to us,” said Shif'less Sol.
+
+“We shall see,” said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, by Joseph A. Altsheler
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+    <title>
+      The Scouts of the Valley, by Joseph A. Altsheler
+    </title>
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, 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 Scouts of the Valley
+
+Author: Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+Release Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #1078]
+Last Updated: March 10, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY ***
+
+
+
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+Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger
+
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+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Joseph A. Altsheler
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE LONE CANOE
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        MYSTERIOUS HAND <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        HUT ON THE ISLET <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        RED CHIEFS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        IROQUOIS TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;CATHARINE
+        MONTOUR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        CHANGE OF TENANTS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;WYOMING
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        BLOODY ROCK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        MELANCHOLY FLIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        SHADES OF DEATH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        FOREST PAGE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        PURSUIT ON THE RIVER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV.
+        </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;"THE ALCOVE&rdquo; <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER
+        XVI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE FIRST BLOW <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017">
+        CHAPTER XVII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE DESERTED CABIN <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;HENRY'S SLIDE <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE SAFE RETURN
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A GLOOMY
+        COUNCIL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;BATTLE
+        OF THE CHEMUNG <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;LITTLE
+        BEARD'S TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        FINAL FIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;DOWN
+        THE OHIO <br /><br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. THE LONE CANOE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly up
+      one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and deep,
+      coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it lapped
+      the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and without
+      noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over
+      the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun,
+      which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft,
+      piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank, fell
+      directly upon the figure in the boat, as a hidden light illuminates a
+      great picture, while the rest is left in shadow. It was no common forest
+      runner who sat in the middle of the red beam. Yet a boy, in nothing but
+      years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that the strongest
+      man in the West might have envied. His rifle, with the stock carved
+      beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of the border, lay by his
+      side. He could bring the paddle into the boat, grasp the rifle, and carry
+      it to his shoulder with a single, continuous movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even would have
+      noticed, was an extraordinary vitality. He created in the minds of those
+      who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely every moment of his life.
+      Born and-bred in the forest, he was essentially its child, a perfect
+      physical being, trained by the utmost hardship and danger, and with every
+      faculty, mental and physical, in complete coordination. It is only by a
+      singular combination of time and place, and only once in millions of
+      chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light, and its
+      occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle, held it steady in
+      the current, while he listened. Every feature stood out in the glow, the
+      firm chin, the straight strong nose, the blue eyes, and the thick yellow
+      hair. The red blue, and yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned
+      deerskin flashed in the brilliant rays. He was the great picture of fact,
+      not of fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into the shadow.
+      His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern shore, where bushes
+      and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. It would have taken a keen eye
+      now to have seen either the canoe or its occupant, and Henry Ware paddled
+      slowly and without noise in the darkest heart of the shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the stream. Then
+      the red changed to pink. The pink, in its turn, faded, and the whole
+      surface of the river was somber gray, flowing between two lines of black
+      forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy. He swung a little farther
+      out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging boughs would not get in
+      his way, and continued his course with some increase of speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length of stroke
+      was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster, and the muscles on
+      his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were the play of a child. Henry
+      was in waters unknown to him. He had nothing more than hearsay upon which
+      to rely, and he used all the wilderness caution that he had acquired
+      through nature and training. He called into use every faculty of his
+      perfect physical being. His trained eyes continually pierced the darkness.
+      At times, he stopped and listened with ears that could hear the footfall
+      of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought report of anything unusual.
+      The river flowed with a soft, sighing sound. Now and then a wild creature
+      stirred in the forest, and once a deer came down to the margin to drink,
+      but this was the ordinary life of the woods, and he passed it by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He went on, hour after hour. The river narrowed. The banks grew higher and
+      rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the moon, flowed in a
+      somewhat swifter current. Henry gave a little stronger sweep to the
+      paddle, and the speed of the canoe was maintained. He still kept within
+      the shadow of the northern bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before the moon.
+      The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind came out of the
+      southwest. The touch of the air on, his face was damp. It was the token of
+      rain, and he felt that it would not be delayed long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the Monongahela.
+      Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might sink his frail canoe,
+      and he looked for a refuge. The river was widening again, and the banks
+      sank down until they were but little above the water. Presently he saw a
+      place that he knew would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and weeds
+      growing into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred yards or
+      more along the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it in
+      shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could scarcely see
+      the main stream of the river. The water where he came to rest was not more
+      than a foot deep, but he remained in the canoe, half reclining and
+      wrapping closely around himself and his rifle a beautiful blanket woven of
+      the tightest fiber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and his
+      shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to him, and he
+      awaited calmly whatever might come. Here and there were little spaces
+      among the leaves overhead, and through them he saw a moon, now almost
+      hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a sky that had grown dark and
+      somber. The last timid star had ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind was
+      wet and cold. He was glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner that
+      he was, he never traveled without it. Henry remained perfectly still. The
+      light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction of an inch. His
+      upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed through the leaves
+      grow darker and darker. The bushes about him were now bending before the
+      wind, which blew steadily from the south, and presently drops of rain
+      began to fall lightly on the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness, surrounded by
+      danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black midnight sky above him,
+      felt neither fear nor awe. Being what nature and circumstance had made
+      him, he was conscious, instead, of a deep sense of peace and comfort. He
+      was at ease, in a nest for the night, and there was only the remotest
+      possibility that the prying eye of an enemy would see him. The leaves
+      directly over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as he
+      heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof, that
+      soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled along the
+      southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a rain, not hard, but
+      cold and persistent, began to fall, coming straight down. Henry saw that
+      it might last all night, but he merely eased himself a little in the
+      canoe, drew the edges of the blanket around his chin, and let his eyelids
+      droop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but he did not
+      care. It could not penetrate the close fiber of the blanket, and the fur
+      cap drawn far down on his head met the blanket. Only his face was
+      uncovered, and when a cold drop fell upon it, it was to him, hardened by
+      forest life, cool and pleasant to the touch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the tendency to
+      sleep. It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with the body completely
+      relaxed, but with the senses alert. The wind ceased to blow, and the rain
+      came down straight with an even beat that was not unmusical. No other
+      sound was heard in the forest, as the ripple of the river at the edges was
+      merged into it. Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by and by, and,
+      laying the paddle across the boat in such a way that it sheltered his
+      face, he closed his eyes. In five minutes he would have been sleeping as
+      soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with a quick motion he
+      suddenly put the paddle aside and raised himself a little in the canoe,
+      while one hand slipped down under the folds of the blanket to the hammer
+      of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the river. He
+      heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a soft sound, long and
+      sighing, but regular. He listened, and then he knew it. It was made by
+      oars, many of them swung in unison, keeping admirable time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full of
+      Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would be abroad
+      upon these waters at such a time. He made no attempt to move. Where he lay
+      it was black as the darkest cave, and his cool judgment told him that
+      there was no need of flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently as he
+      looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a great war canoe
+      came into view. It contained at least twenty warriors, of what tribe he
+      could not tell, but they were wet, and they looked cold and miserable.
+      Soon they were opposite him, and he saw the outline of every figure. Scalp
+      locks drooped in the rain, and he knew that the warriors, hardy as they
+      might be, were suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned toward a
+      shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they beached it there. Then
+      all sprang out, drew it up on the land, and, after turning it over,
+      propped it up at an angle. When this was done they sat under it in a close
+      group, sheltered from the rain. They were using their great canoe as a
+      roof, after the habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little openings in
+      the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as they were all night,
+      but presently he saw a movement among them, and a little flash of light.
+      He understood it. They were trying to kindle a fire-with flint and steel,
+      under the shelter of the boat. He continued to watch them 'lazily and
+      without alarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light upon him
+      in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against the flame, and he
+      could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to tell to what tribe they
+      belonged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered in a
+      close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind, strove with flint
+      and steel. Sparks sprang up and went out, but Henry at last saw a little
+      blaze rise and cling to life. Then, fed with tinder and bark, it grew
+      under the roof made by the boat until it was ruddy and strong. The boat
+      was tilted farther back, and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled
+      cheerfully, while the flames leaped higher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the thick
+      blackness felt the influence of the fire, also. Its warmth was upon his
+      face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow light victorious
+      against the sodden background of the rain and dripping forest. The figures
+      of the warriors passed and repassed before the fire, and the boy in the
+      boat moved suddenly. His body was not shifted more than an inch, but his
+      surprise was great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly against the
+      red light. It was a splendid figure, young, much beyond the average
+      height, the erect and noble head crowned with the defiant scalplock, the
+      strong, slightly curved nose and the massive chin cut as clearly as if
+      they had been carved in copper. The man who had laid aside a wet blanket
+      was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play
+      on chest and shoulders as he moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy knew him. It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+      Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all the Western
+      chiefs. Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight of his old foe and
+      almost friend. As always, he felt admiration at the sight of the young
+      chief. It was not likely that he would ever behold such another
+      magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of significance.
+      The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry and his comrades in the
+      van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. Thence the arms, ammunition, and
+      other supplies were started on the overland journey for the American army,
+      but the five lingered before beginning the return to Kentucky. A rumor
+      came that the Indian alliance was spreading along the entire frontier,
+      both west and north. It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to fiery energy
+      by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the Iroquois, the
+      famous Six Nations. These warlike tribes were friendly with the Wyandots,
+      and the league would be a formidable danger to the Colonies, the full
+      strength of which was absorbed already in the great war.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol, and the
+      others. The return to Kentucky was postponed. They could be of greater
+      service here, and they plunged into the great woods to the north and, east
+      to see what might be stirring among the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry, as he looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had told the
+      truth. The great chief would not be on the fringe of the Iroquois country,
+      if he did not have such a plan, and he had the energy and ability to carry
+      it through. Henry shuddered at the thought of the tomahawk flashing along
+      every mile of a frontier so vast, and defended so thinly. He was glad in
+      every fiber that he and his comrades had remained to hang upon the Indian
+      hordes, and be heralds of their marches. In the forest a warning usually
+      meant the saving of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the trees
+      everywhere. But the big fire made an area of dry earth about it, and the
+      warriors replaced the long boat in the water. Then all but four or five of
+      them lay beside the coals and went to sleep. Timmendiquas was one of those
+      who remained awake, and Henry saw that he was in deep thought. He walked
+      back and forth much like a white man, and now and then he folded his hands
+      behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it. Henry could
+      guess what was in his mind. He would draw forth the full power of the Six
+      Nations, league them with the Indians of the great valley, and hurl them
+      all in one mass upon the frontier. He was planning now the means to the
+      end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the edge of
+      the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable that he would
+      conclude to search among them, but some accident, a chance, might happen,
+      and Henry began to feel a little alarm. Certainly, the coming of the day
+      would make his refuge insecure, and he resolved to slip away while it was
+      yet light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost caution,
+      because the slightest sound out of the common might arouse Timmendiquas to
+      the knowledge of a hostile presence. The canoe must make no plash in the
+      water. Gradually he unwrapped the blanket and tied it in a folded square
+      at his back. Then he took thought a few moments. The forest was so silent
+      now that he did not believe he could push the canoe through the bushes
+      without being heard. He would leave it there for use another day and go on
+      foot through the woods to his comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the bottom, and
+      then he remained still. The chief had paused in his restless walk back and
+      forth. Could it be possible that he had heard so slight a sound as that of
+      a human foot sinking softly into the water? Henry waited with his rifle
+      ready. If necessary he would fire, and then dart away among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his restless
+      pacing. If he had heard, he had passed it by as nothing, and Henry raised
+      the other foot out of the canoe. He was as delicate in his movement as a
+      surgeon mending the human eye, and he had full cause, as not eye alone,
+      but life as well, depended upon his success. Both feet now rested upon the
+      muddy bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher, his
+      features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk back and forth
+      before the flames. Henry took a final look at the lofty features,
+      contracted now into a frown, then began to wade among the bushes, pushing
+      his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of all. The
+      water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes to rustle as
+      he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and his feet were
+      about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged in the mud broke
+      under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the silence of the
+      night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
+      glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
+      which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
+      his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
+      resolved to know its nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the protecting
+      darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing and defiant,
+      a cry of a quality that could come only from a white throat. The warriors
+      would know it, and he intended for them to know it. Then, holding his
+      rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly away through the
+      black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came to his, the Indian
+      yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the night would not check
+      pursuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
+      places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
+      then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
+      grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
+      clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
+      dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
+      and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity of
+      Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness, but
+      the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
+      thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
+      under his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed its
+      regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He thought at
+      first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second thought
+      convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the thicket, he
+      saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking searchingly about
+      him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a different direction,
+      approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were of the party of
+      Timmendiquas. They had followed him in some manner, perhaps by chance, and
+      it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. Henry
+      realized that it was much lighter. Keen eyes under such a starry sky could
+      see much, and they might strike his trail. The fear quickly became fact.
+      One of the warriors, uttering a short cry, raised his head and beckoned to
+      the others. He had seen broken twigs or trampled grass, and Henry, knowing
+      that it was no time to hesitate, sprang from his covert. Two of the
+      warriors caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the bullets
+      cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that he was
+      lost to view in an instant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements of danger.
+      He was about to have another example of the tenacity and resource of the
+      great young chief of the Wyandots, and he felt a certain anger. He, did
+      not wish to be disturbed in his plans, he wished to rejoin his comrades
+      and move farther east toward the chosen lands of the Six Nations; instead,
+      he must spend precious moments running for his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends. He was too wise,
+      too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he curved away in a
+      course that would take him to the south of them. He glanced up and saw
+      that the heavens were lightening yet more. A thin gray color like a mist
+      was appearing in the east. It was the herald of day, and now the Indians
+      would be able to find his trail. But Henry was not afraid. His anger over
+      the loss of time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of his
+      moccasins making scarcely any noise as he passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no unusual incident. Thousands of such pursuits occurred in the
+      border life of our country, and were lost to the chronicler. For
+      generations they were almost a part of the daily life of the frontier, but
+      the present, while not out of the common in itself, had, uncommon phases.
+      It was the most splendid type of white life in all the wilderness that
+      fled, and the finest type of red life that followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward Timmendiquas. In
+      his place he would have done what he was doing. It was hard to give up
+      these great woods and beautiful lakes and rivers, and the wild life that
+      wild men lived and loved. There was so much chivalry in the boy's nature
+      that he could think of all these things while he fled to escape the
+      tomahawk or the stake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up came the sun. The gray light turned to silver, and then to red and
+      blazing gold. A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry of the pursuing
+      warriors, rose behind him. Henry turned his head for one look. He saw a
+      group of them poised for a moment on the crest of a low hill and outlined
+      against the broad flame in the east. He saw their scalp locks, the rifles
+      in their hands, and their bare chests shining bronze in the glow. Once
+      more he sent back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs, and then,
+      calling upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with a speed
+      that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to evade the
+      pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs, and wading in
+      brooks. He did not see the warriors again, but instinct warned him that
+      they were yet following. At long intervals he would rest for a quarter of
+      an hour or so among the bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the venison
+      that he always carried. Three hours later he came to the river again, and
+      swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern side. When
+      the twilight was falling once more he sat still in dense covert for a long
+      time. He neither saw nor heard a sign of human presence, and he was sure
+      now that the pursuit had failed. Without an effort he dismissed it from
+      his mind, ate a little more of the venison, and made his bed for the
+      night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the forest
+      was dry once more. As far as Henry could see it circled away on every
+      side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and beech, maple and elm
+      making a soft, sighing sound as they waved gently in the wind. It told
+      Henry of nothing but peace. He had eluded the pursuit, hence it was no
+      more. This was a great, friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe
+      him, and to receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year lay deep
+      upon the ground. He drew up enough of them for a soft bed, because now and
+      for the moment he was a forest sybarite. He was wise enough to take his
+      ease when he found it, knowing that it would pay his body to relax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and spread the
+      blanket over himself and the weapon. The twilight was gone, and the night,
+      dark and without stars, as he wished to see it, rolled up, fold after
+      fold, covering and hiding everything. He looked a little while at a
+      breadth of inky sky showing through the leaves, and then, free from
+      trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves, fell upon
+      his face. Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once more upon his back,
+      and looked about him. Nothing had come in the night to disturb him, no
+      enemy was near, and the morning sun was bright and beautiful. The venison
+      was exhausted, but he bathed his face in the brook and resumed his
+      journey, traveling with a long, swift stride that carried him at great
+      speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well, although
+      nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to him. The country
+      here was rougher than it usually is in the great valley to the west, and
+      as he advanced it became yet more broken, range after range of steep,
+      stony hills, with fertile but narrow little valleys between. He went on
+      without hesitation for at least two hours, and then stopping under a great
+      oak he uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating, carrying far
+      through the forest. A sound like an echo came back, but Henry knew that
+      instead of an echo it was a reply to his own signal. Then he advanced
+      boldly and swiftly and came to the edge of a snug little valley set deep
+      among rocks and trees like a bowl. He stopped behind the great trunk of a
+      beech, and looked into the valley with a smile of approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals that gave
+      forth no smoke. They appeared to be absorbed in some very pleasant task,
+      and a faint odor that came to Henry's nostrils filled him with agreeable
+      anticipations. He stepped forward boldly and called:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim, save that piece for me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that he had
+      toasted on a stick. Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his feet, Silent Tom
+      Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded him
+      keenly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot race,&rdquo; he
+      drawled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why do you think that?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. Reckon
+      that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Now, Jim, you've been holding that venison in
+      the air long enough. Give it to me, and after I've eaten it I'll tell you
+      all that I've been doing, and all that's been done to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in the circle
+      before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a powerful human
+      creature whose food had been more than scanty for at least two days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take another piece,&rdquo; said Long Jim, observing him with approval. &ldquo;Take
+      two pieces, take three, take the whole deer. I always like to see a hungry
+      man eat. It gives him sech satisfaction that I git a kind uv taste uv it
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
+      Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Boys, I've got a lot to tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has,&rdquo; continued Henry with emphasis, &ldquo;and I want to say to you boys
+      that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Timmendiquas!&rdquo; exclaimed the others together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No less a man than he,&rdquo; resumed Henry. &ldquo;I've looked upon his very face,
+      I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
+      pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you see
+      those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to continued
+      war,&rdquo; said Paul Cotter, &ldquo;and he will succeed. He is a mighty chief, and
+      his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet. I'm glad that
+      we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees and the Miamis;
+      I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some people out of the
+      way before the blow falls.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?&rdquo;
+       asked Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their name is as big as it sounds,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They are the
+      Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
+      used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south and
+      fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the league, as
+      a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard, formed the league
+      a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the grand sachem or high
+      priest of them all, but the head chief of the Mohawks is the leading war
+      chief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all these
+      tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
+      friendliness to Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to me,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
+      job ahead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we must make a most tremendous big effort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; agreed all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
+      remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on the
+      leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have something
+      worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but they always
+      came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of a famous
+      Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to the Americans
+      as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense animosity against
+      the white people, who encroached, every year, more and more upon the
+      Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of Timmendiquas,
+      and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater endeavor for the
+      undoing of the white man. What more likely than that they intended to
+      meet?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him. I remember
+      hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred miles to the east
+      of this point was a Long House or Council House of the Six Nations.
+      Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we must go, too. We must find out
+      where they intend to strike. What do you say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We go there!&rdquo; exclaimed four voices together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and the others rose with him. Saying
+      no more, he led toward the east, and the others followed him, also saying
+      no more. Separately every one of them was strong, brave, and resourceful,
+      but when the five were together they felt that they had the skill and
+      strength of twenty. The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored them after
+      the dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New Orleans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and bullet, and
+      they did not fear any task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy forest,
+      but often without undergrowth. They avoided the open spaces, preferring to
+      be seen of men, who were sure to be red men, as little as possible. Their
+      caution was well taken. They saw Indian signs, once a feather that had
+      fallen from a scalp lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a deer
+      recently thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it. The country
+      seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky. Small settlements, so they had
+      heard, were scattered at great distances through the forest, but they saw
+      none. There was no cabin smoke, no trail of the plow, just the woods and
+      the hills and the clear streams. Buffalo had never reached this region,
+      but deer were abundant, and they risked a shot to replenish their
+      supplies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula at the
+      confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. Henry judged
+      that they were well within the western range of the Six Nations, and they
+      cooked their deer meat over a smothered fire, nothing more than a few
+      coals among the leaves. When supper was over they arranged soft places for
+      themselves and their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose turn it was to
+      scout among the woods for a possible foe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be gone long, Jim,&rdquo; said Henry as he composed himself in a
+      comfortable position. &ldquo;A circle of a half mile about us will do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll not be gone more'n an hour,&rdquo; said Long Jim, picking up his rifle
+      confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not likely he'll see anything,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but I'd shorely like
+      to know what White Lightning is about. He must be terrible stirred up by
+      them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an' they say that Mohawk,
+      Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. They'll shorely make a heap of
+      trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But both of them are far from here just now,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we won't
+      bother about either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm under his
+      head and his blanket over his body. He had a remarkable capacity for
+      dismissing trouble or apprehension, and just then he was enjoying great
+      physical and mental peace. He looked through half closed eyes at his
+      comrades, who also were enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce
+      Long Jim in the forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and
+      finding no menace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;I like a clean,
+      bold country like this. No more plowin' around in swamps for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry sleepily, &ldquo;it's a good country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Time for Long Jim to be back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim don't do things by halves,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;Guess he's
+      beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes. He'll be here soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half hour, and
+      no sign of him. Henry cast off the blanket and stood up. The night was not
+      very dark and he could see some distance, but he did not see their
+      comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder why he's so slow,&rdquo; he said with a faint trace of anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll be 'long directly,&rdquo; said Tom Ross with confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim. Henry sent forth the low
+      penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a signal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He cannot fail to hear that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and he'll answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer came. The four looked at one another in alarm. Long Jim had been
+      gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue. His failure to reply to
+      the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened or that&mdash;he
+      had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think it means?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be all right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Mebbe Jim has lost the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Jim is too good a woodsman for such a mistake.
+      I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think something has
+      happened to Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suppose you an' me go an' look for him,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;while Paul
+      and Tom stay here an' keep house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd better do it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Come, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the darkness,
+      while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of the trees and
+      waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about the camp
+      in a great circle and then in another yet greater. They did not find Jim,
+      and the dusk was so great that they saw no evidences of his trail. Long
+      Jim had disappeared as completely as if he had left the earth for another
+      planet. When they felt that they must abandon the search for the time,
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a dismay that the dusk
+      could not hide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it,&rdquo; said the
+      shiftless one hopefully. &ldquo;If anything looked mysterious an' troublesome,
+      Jim would want to hunt it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we've got to go back to the camp now and
+      report failure. Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I don't like it, Sol,
+      I don't like it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No more do I,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;'Tain't like Jim not to come back, ef
+      he could. Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out of the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ain't seen him?&rdquo; said Tom, noting that but two figures had returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a trace,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;It's a singular thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The four talked together a little while, and they were far from cheerful.
+      Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch, sitting with his
+      back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. All the peace and content
+      that he had felt earlier in the evening were gone. He was oppressed by a
+      sense of danger, mysterious and powerful. It did not seem possible that
+      Long Jim could have gone away in such a noiseless manner, leaving no trace
+      behind. But it was true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an enemy. He
+      was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin figure coming among the
+      bushes, and then hear the old pleasant drawl. But he did not see the
+      figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches. Paul, Sol, and Tom
+      were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his life. He tried to put
+      away the feeling of mystery and danger. He assured himself that Long Jim
+      would soon come, delayed by some trail that he had sought to solve.
+      Nothing could have happened to a man so brave and skillful. His nerves
+      must be growing weak when he allowed himself to be troubled so much by a
+      delayed return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none of them.
+      The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but the light that it
+      threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. Henry's feeling of mystery and
+      danger deepened. Once he thought he heard a rustling in the thicket and,
+      finger on the trigger of his rifle, he stole among the bushes to discover
+      what caused it. He found nothing and, returning to his lonely watch, saw
+      that Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly. But Henry was annoyed
+      greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to trace its origin.
+      After an hour's watching he looked a second time. The result was once more
+      in vain, and he resumed his seat upon the leaves, with his back reclining
+      against an oak. Here, despite the fact that the night was growing darker,
+      nothing within range of a rifle shot could escape his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing stirred. The noise did not come a second time from the thicket.
+      The very silence was oppressive. There was no wind, not even a stray puff,
+      and the bushes never rustled. Henry longed for a noise of some kind to
+      break that terrible, oppressive silence. What he really wished to hear was
+      the soft crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. Long Jim
+      was still missing and their alarm was justified. Whatever trail lie might
+      have struck, he would have returned in the night unless something had
+      happened to him. Henry had vague theories, but nothing definite, and he
+      kept them to himself. Yet they must make a change in their plans. To go on
+      and leave Long Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable. No task
+      could interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian countries,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;We are on the fringe of the region over which the Six Nations
+      roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a band of the Wyandots are here
+      also. Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees have come, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to find Long Jim,&rdquo; said Silent Tom briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went about their task in five minutes. Breakfast consisted of cold
+      venison and a drink from a brook. Then they began to search the forest.
+      They felt sure that such woodsmen as they, with the daylight to help them,
+      would find some trace of Long Jim, but they saw none at all, although they
+      constantly widened their circle, and again tried all their signals. Half
+      the forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held a council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'd better scatter,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' meet here again
+      when the sun marks noon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little hill
+      crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy to remember.
+      Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was so dense that in two
+      minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. He went several miles, and
+      his search was most rigid. He was amazed to find that the sense of mystery
+      and danger that he attributed to the darkness of the night did not
+      disappear wholly in the bright daylight. His spirit, usually so
+      optimistic, was oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would find
+      Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the black
+      oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw Shif'less Sol coming
+      from another. The shiftless one walked despondently. His gait was loose
+      and shambling-a rare thing with him, and Henry knew that he, too, had
+      failed. He realized now that he had not expected anything else. Shif'less
+      Sol shook his head, sat down on a root and said nothing. Henry sat down,
+      also, and the two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The others will be here directly,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and perhaps Long Jim will
+      be with one of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the shiftless one
+      knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If not,&rdquo; said Henry, resolved to see the better side, &ldquo;we'll stay anyhow
+      until we find him. We can't spare good old Long Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie saw the
+      bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There comes Tom,&rdquo; he said, after a single comprehensive glance, &ldquo;and he's
+      alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross was also a dejected figure. He looked at the two on the hill,
+      and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was not with them,
+      became more dejected than before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul's our last chance,&rdquo; he said, as he joined them. &ldquo;He's gen'rally a
+      lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry fervently. &ldquo;He ought to be along in a few
+      minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that Paul would
+      bring in the missing man, but Paul was late. The noon hour was well past.
+      Henry took a glance at the sun. Noon was gone at least a half hour, and he
+      stirred uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;he couldn't get lost!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry noticed his emphasis on the word &ldquo;lost,&rdquo; and a sudden fear sprang up
+      in his heart. Some power had taken away Long Jim; could the same power
+      have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and he paled under his brown,
+      turning away lest the others see his face. All three now examined the
+      whole circle of the horizon for a sight of moving bushes that would tell
+      of the boy's coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over everything, and
+      Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an hour past due, and the three,
+      oppressed already by Long jim's disappearance, were convinced that he
+      would not return. But they gave him a half hour longer. Then Henry said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever happens we three
+      must stay together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself,&rdquo; said the
+      shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw trace of
+      footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly, lost
+      on hard ground, and after that there was nothing. They stopped shortly
+      before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what to think,&rdquo; replied the youth, &ldquo;but it seems to me that
+      whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Looks like it,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;an' I guess it follers that we're in the same
+      kind o' danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We three of us could put up a good fight,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and I propose
+      that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, an' watch good,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the low
+      boughs of a tree. Their supper was a little venison, and then they watched
+      the coming of the darkness. It was a heavy hour for the three. Long Jim
+      was gone, and then Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the pet of the
+      little band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ef we could only know how it happened,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;then we
+      might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim back. But you
+      can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. In all them fights o'
+      ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed what wuz ag'inst us, but here
+      we don't know nothin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true, Sol,&rdquo; sighed Henry. &ldquo;We were making such big plans, too, and
+      before we can even start our force is cut nearly in half. To-morrow we'll
+      begin the hunt again. We'll never desert Paul and Jim, so long as we don't
+      know they're dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's my watch,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;You two sleep. We've got to keep our
+      strength.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest spots
+      under the tree sat down. Tom Ross took his place about ten feet in front
+      of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands clasped around his knees,
+      and his rifle resting on his arm. Henry watched him idly for a little
+      while, thinking all the time of his lost comrades. The night promised to
+      be dark, a good thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away, knew by
+      his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was still wide-eyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping slowly, and
+      the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small circle. Within this area
+      the distinctive object was the figure of Tom Ross, sitting with his rifle
+      across his knees. Tom had an infinite capacity for immobility. Henry had
+      never seen another man, not even an Indian, who could remain so long in
+      one position contented and happy. He believed that the silent one could
+      sit as he was all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for him. Would
+      he remain absolutely still? He would certainly shift an arm or a leg.
+      Henry's interest in the question kept him awake. He turned silently on the
+      other side, but, no matter how intently he studied the sitting figure of
+      his comrade, he could not see it stir. He did not know how long he had
+      been awake, trying thus to decide a question that should be of no
+      importance at such a time. Although unable to sleep, he fell into a dreamy
+      condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent sentinel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. The
+      exciting question was solved at last. The man would not sit all night
+      absolutely immovable. There could be no doubt of the fact that he had
+      raised an arm, and that his figure had straightened. Then he stood up,
+      full height, remained motionless for perhaps ten seconds, and then
+      suddenly glided away among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew what this meant. Tom had heard something moving in the
+      thickets, and, like a good sentinel, he had gone to investigate. A rabbit,
+      doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. Henry rose to a sitting
+      position, and drew his own rifle across his knees. He would watch while
+      Tom was gone, and then lie would sink quietly back, not letting his
+      comrade know that lie had taken his place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets. Light clouds
+      drifted before the moon. Henry, sitting with his rifle across his knees,
+      and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were invisible, but Henry saw
+      beyond the circle of darkness that enveloped them into the grayish light
+      that fell over the bushes. He marked the particular point at which he
+      expected Tom Ross to appear, a slight opening that held out invitation for
+      the passage of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the sentinel
+      did not return. Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy state. He felt with
+      all the terrible thrill of certainty that what happened to Long Jim and
+      Paul had happened also to Silent Tom Ross. He stood erect, a tense, tall
+      figure, alarmed, but not afraid. His eyes searched the thickets, but saw
+      nothing. The slight movement of the bushes was made by the wind, and no
+      other sound reached his ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions were
+      sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank down in a
+      crouching position, where he would offer the least target for the eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
+      of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
+      that he had seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him,&rdquo; whispered the shiftless one at
+      once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' we're bound to look for him right now,&rdquo; continued Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
+      Sol, we must follow 'em together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be safer,&rdquo; said Sol. &ldquo;I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an' I
+      want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
+      the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
+      same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
+      But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too, had
+      vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
+      strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
+      to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
+      stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost like
+      walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be daylight soon,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' I think we'd better
+      lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything, so
+      we'd better wait an' see what will find us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like the best plan to me,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I think we might
+      first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
+      over there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but the water is at least seven feet
+      deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose you go
+      up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin give a
+      signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four hundred
+      yards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
+      stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
+      soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred yards
+      lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he uttered the
+      low cry that was their signal, and went back to meet Shif'less Sol. He
+      reached the exact point at which they had parted, and waited. The
+      shiftless one did not come. The last of his comrades was gone, and he was
+      alone in the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the exact
+      spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had parted,
+      but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming. The same
+      powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had taken him, the
+      wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and with all the
+      five senses developed to the highest pitch. Yet his powers had availed him
+      nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running down his spine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his
+      instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the
+      forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly
+      hidden that no one could see him ten feet away. There he lay down and
+      rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four
+      disappearances. They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his
+      duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the
+      greater. Such a thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own life
+      never entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would
+      penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and method. To
+      approach an arduous task right one must possess freshness and vigor, and
+      one could have neither without sleep. His present place of hiding seemed
+      to be as secure as any that could be found. So composing himself he took
+      all chances and sought slumber. Yet it needed a great effort of the will
+      to calm his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any of
+      the soothing effect that precedes sleep. But fall asleep he did at last,
+      and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry did not awake to a bright day. The sun had risen, but it was
+      obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. A cold wind
+      began to blow, and with it came drops of rain. He shivered despite the
+      enfolding blanket. The coming of the morning had invariably brought
+      cheerfulness and increase of spirits, but now he felt depression. He
+      foresaw heavy rain again, and it would destroy any but the deepest trail.
+      Moreover, his supplies of food were exhausted and he must replenish them
+      in some manner before proceeding further.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have despaired. He
+      had found his comrades, only to lose them again, and the danger that had
+      threatened them, and the elements as well, now threatened him, too. An
+      acute judge of sky and air, he knew that the rain, cold, insistent,
+      penetrating, would fall all day, and that he must seek shelter if he would
+      keep his strength. The Indians themselves always took to cover at such
+      times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well from neck to
+      ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but with his hand upon it,
+      ready for instant use if it should be needed. Then he started, walking
+      straight ahead until he came to the crown of a little hill. The clouds
+      meanwhile thickened, and the rain, of the kind that he had foreseen and as
+      cold as ice, was blown against him. The grass and bushes were reeking, and
+      his moccasins became sodden. Despite the vigorous walking, lie felt the
+      wet cold entering his system. There come times when the hardiest must
+      yield, and he saw the increasing need of refuge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill. All around was a
+      dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped everywhere. There was no
+      open country. All was forest, and the heavy rolling masses of foliage
+      dripped with icy water, too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised that in a
+      valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that he craved. He
+      needed it badly. As he stood there he shivered again and again from head
+      to foot, despite the folds of the blanket. So he started at once, walking
+      fast, and feeling little fear of a foe. It was not likely that any would
+      be seeking him at such a time. The rain struck him squarely in the face
+      now. Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was pressed against
+      the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds of the blanket,
+      little streams of it, like ice to the touch, flowed down his neck and made
+      their way under his clothing. He could not remember a time when he had
+      felt more miserable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised, was the
+      edge of a considerable valley. He ran down the slope, and looked all about
+      for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak in the lee of a hill, or an
+      outcropping of stone, but he saw neither, and, as he continued the search,
+      he came to marshy ground. He saw ahead among the weeds and bushes the
+      gleam of standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when he noticed
+      three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one another,
+      projecting slightly above the black muck. It struck him that the stones
+      would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity aroused, he
+      stepped lightly from one stone to another. When he came to the last stone
+      that he had seen from the hard ground he beheld several more that had been
+      hidden from him by the bushes. Sure now that he had happened upon
+      something not created by nature alone, he followed these stones, leading
+      like steps into the very depths of the swamp, which was now deep and dark
+      with ooze all about him. He no longer doubted that the stones, the
+      artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest eye and most
+      logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he was resolved to know
+      its nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and the last
+      thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. Then he came to a bit
+      of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire, upon which he could stand
+      without sinking at all. He looked back from there, and he could not see
+      his point of departure. Bushes, weeds, and saplings grew out of the swamp
+      to a height of a dozen or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed completely.
+      All the vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place was one of the
+      most dismal that he had ever seen. But he had no thought of turning back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he inferred from
+      the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from the fact that an odd
+      one here and there had sunk completely out of sight-that they had not been
+      used in a long time, perhaps for years. He found on the other side of the
+      islet a second line of stones, and they led across a marsh, that was
+      almost like a black liquid, to another and larger island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of large trees.
+      It seemed to Henry that this island might be seventy or eighty yards
+      across, and he began at once to explore it. In the center, surrounded so
+      closely by swamp oaks that they almost formed a living wall, he found what
+      he had hoped to find, and his relief was so great that, despite his
+      natural and trained stoicism, he gave a little cry of pleasure when he saw
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois fashion,
+      stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost the whole of the
+      space. It was apparently abandoned long ago, and time and weather had done
+      it much damage. But the bark walls, although they leaned in places at
+      dangerous angles, still stood. The bark roof was pierced by holes on one
+      side, but on the other it was still solid, and shed all the rain from its
+      slope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark cunningly
+      joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw that he could make
+      use of it. He stepped inside. The hut had a bark floor which was dry on
+      one side, where the roof was solid, but dripping on the other. Several old
+      articles of Indian use lay about. In one corner was a basket woven of
+      split willow and still fit for service. There were pieces of thread made
+      of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm. There were also a piece of
+      pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon such as every
+      Iroquois carried. In the corner farthest from the door was a rude
+      fireplace made of large flat stones, although there was no opening for the
+      smoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion that it
+      was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an inquiring mind who had
+      found this secret place, and who had recognized its possibilities. Here
+      after an expedition for game he could lie hidden from enemies and take his
+      comfort without fear. Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy days like
+      the present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm of which the
+      Indian is capable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and carved
+      beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf. Henry picked it tip and examined
+      the bowl. It was as dry as a bone, and not a particle of tobacco was left
+      there. He believed that it had not been used for at least a year.
+      Doubtless the Indian who had built this hunting lodge had fallen in some
+      foray, and the secret of it had been lost until Henry Ware, seeking
+      through the cold and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark, all
+      a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry was strong and
+      skillful. He covered the holes in the roof with fallen pieces of bark,
+      laying heavy pieces of wood across them to hold them in place. Then he
+      lifted the bark shutter into position and closed the door. Some drops of
+      rain still came in through the roof, but they were not many, and he would
+      not mind them for the present. Then he opened the door and began his
+      hardest task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing fallen wood,
+      he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the inside. It was slow
+      work and he was very cold, his wet feet sending chills through him, but he
+      persevered, and the little heap of dry splinters grew to a respectable
+      size. Then he cut larger pieces, laying them on one side while he worked
+      with his flint and steel on the splinters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful, and
+      Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it finally took
+      hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. He watched it as it ran
+      along the little piece of wood and ignited another and then another, the
+      beautiful little red and yellow flames leaping up half a foot in height.
+      Already he felt the grateful warmth and glow, but he would not let himself
+      indulge in premature joy. He fed it with larger and larger pieces until
+      the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and yellow, rose at least two
+      feet, and big coals began to form. He left the door open a while in order
+      that the smoke might go out, but when the fire had become mostly coals he
+      closed it again, all except a crack of about six inches, which would serve
+      at once to let any stray smoke out, and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected, proceeded to
+      luxuriate. He spread the soaked blanket out on the bark floor, took off
+      the sodden moccasins and placed them at one angle of the fire, while he
+      sat with his bare feet in front. What a glorious warmth it was! It seemed
+      to enter at his toes and proceed upward through his body, seeking out
+      every little nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full of new
+      glow and life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat there a long time, his being radiating with physical comfort. The
+      moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the other. Finally they dried
+      all over and all through, and he put them on again. Then he hung the
+      blanket on the bark wall near the fire, and it, too, would be dry in
+      another hour or so. He foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and
+      sleep. Now if one only had food! But he must do without that for the
+      present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose and tested all his bones and muscles. No stiffness or soreness had
+      come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. He was fit for any
+      physical emergency. He looked out through the crevice. Night was coming,
+      and on the little island in the swamp it looked inexpressibly black and
+      gloomy. His stomach complained, but he shrugged his shoulders,
+      acknowledging primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire. There
+      he sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the last hour or two Henry did not move. He remained before the fire,
+      crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed the flame of life
+      in him. A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice at the door, fell on the
+      earth outside, but it did not pass beyond the close group of circling
+      trees. The rain still fell with uncommon steadiness and persistence, but
+      at times hail was mingled with it. Henry could not remember in his
+      experience a more desolate night. It seemed that the whole world dwelt in
+      perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it. Yet
+      within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm and bright, and
+      he was not unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the dry
+      blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first raked ashes
+      over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of his life. All night
+      long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it, at intervals, came gusts of
+      hail that rattled like bird shot on the bark walls of the hut. Some of the
+      white pellets blew in at the door, and lay for a moment or two on the
+      floor, then melted in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry. He was as safe, for the time,
+      in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at Pittsburgh or behind
+      the palisades at Wareville. Dawn came, the sky still heavy and dark with
+      clouds, and the rain still falling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became conscious
+      of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now keep quiet. His
+      was a powerful system, needing much nourishment, and he must eat. That
+      hunger became so great that it was acute physical pain. He was assailed by
+      it at all points, and it could be repelled by only one thing, food. He
+      must go forth, taking all risks, and seek it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it might not
+      blaze too high, and left the islet. The stepping stones were slippery with
+      water, and his moccasins soon became soaked again, but he forgot the cold
+      and wet in that ferocious hunger, the attacks of which became more violent
+      every minute. He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or even a squirrel,
+      but the animals themselves were likely to keep under cover in such a rain.
+      He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended also by much danger&mdash;these
+      woods must be full of Indians&mdash;but he thought little of the risk. His
+      hunger was taking complete possession of his mind. He was realizing now
+      that one might want a thing so much that it would drive away all other
+      thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
+      through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce as a
+      famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to anything.
+      The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his hollow tree,
+      and the deer did not leave his covert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so fearfully
+      long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that it must be
+      about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished panther to
+      which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the circle of the
+      dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and he knew that he
+      could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he had no idea of
+      returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else could resist was
+      pushing him on his search.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a thin and
+      darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with certainty,
+      that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation, turned his
+      course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and containing the
+      deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived beside himself in
+      this wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
+      Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
+      warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
+      bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
+      roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
+      bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils. But
+      it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible pang of
+      hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels, and
+      they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they wanted.
+      Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them as they
+      ate strip after strip of the delicate, tender meat with the wonderful
+      appetite that the Indian has after long fasting. A fierce, unreasoning
+      anger and jealousy laid hold of him. He was starving, and they rejoiced in
+      plenty only fifty yards away. He began to form plans for a piratical
+      incursion upon them. Half the body of a deer lay near the edge of the
+      opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away. It might be
+      possible to escape with such spoil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he recalled his prudence. Such a thing was impossible. The whole band
+      of warriors would be upon him in an instant. The best thing that he could
+      do was to shut out the sight of so much luxury in which he could not
+      share, and he crept away among the bushes wondering what he could do to
+      drive away those terrible pains. His vigorous system was crying louder
+      than ever for the food that would sustain it. His eyes were burning a
+      little too brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the feasting
+      Indians under the bark shelters. He saw a warrior raise a bone, grasping
+      it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender flesh that clothed it. The
+      sight inflamed him into an anger almost uncontrollable. He clenched his
+      fist and shook it at the warrior, who little suspected the proximity of a
+      hatred so intense. Then he bent his head down and rushed away among the
+      wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him across the
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. The aspect
+      of air and sky had not changed. The heavens still dripped icy water, and
+      there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. The game remained well hidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing weak he
+      made no haste. He came to dense clumps of bushes, and plowing his way
+      through them, he saw a dark opening under some trees thrown down by an old
+      hurricane. Having some vague idea that it might be the lair of a wild
+      animal, he thrust the muzzle of his rifle into the darkness. It touched a
+      soft substance. There was a growl, and a black form shot out almost into
+      his face. Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his powers and
+      faculties returned. He had stirred up a black bear, and before the animal,
+      frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far the boy, careless how
+      many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle and fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His aim was good. The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was dead.
+      Henry, transformed, ran up to him. Bear life had been given up to sustain
+      man's. Here was food for many days, and he rejoiced with a great joy. He
+      did not now envy those warriors back there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear, although small, was very fat. Evidently he had fed well on
+      acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks which, to one with
+      Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare. He calculated that it was more
+      than a mile to the swamp, and, after a few preliminaries, he flung the
+      body of the bear over his shoulder. Through some power of the mind over
+      the body his full strength had returned to him miraculously, and when he
+      reached the stepping stones he crossed from one to another lightly and
+      firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. The night
+      had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the ashes, and there
+      was plenty of dry wood. He did everything decently and in order. He took
+      the pelt from the bear, carved the body properly, and then, just as the
+      Indians had done, he broiled strips over the coals. He ate them one after
+      another, slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as was the mere
+      physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness. Not only was
+      the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain the strength to
+      seek his comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in several
+      portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which evidently had been
+      placed there by the former owner of the hut for this very purpose. Then,
+      sure that the savor of the food would draw other wild animals, he brought
+      one of the stepping stones and placed it on the inside of the door. The
+      door could not be pushed aside without arousing him, and, secure in the
+      knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THE RED CHIEFS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between midnight and
+      morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even in sleep, warned him
+      that something was at the door. He rose cautiously upon his arm, saw a
+      dark muzzle at the crevice, and behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming eyes.
+      He knew at once that it was a panther, probably living in the swamp and
+      drawn by the food. It must be very hungry to dare thus the smell of man.
+      Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the other end of which
+      was a glowing coal. Then he seized it and hurled it directly at the
+      inquisitive head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. There
+      was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the big cat's feet
+      as it fled into the swamp. Then he turned over on his side, and laughed in
+      genuine pleasure at what was to him a true forest joke. He knew the
+      panther would not come, at least not while he was in the hut, and he
+      calmly closed his eyes once more. The old Henry was himself again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still falling. It
+      seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever, but he was resolved,
+      nevertheless, now that he had food and the strength that food brings, to
+      begin the search for his comrades. The islet in the swamp would serve as
+      his base-nothing could be better-and he would never cease until he found
+      them or discovered what had become of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet to lose
+      itself quickly in the swamp. Henry drank there after his breakfast, and
+      then felt as strong and active as ever. As he knew, the mind may triumph
+      over the body, but the mind cannot save the body without food. Then he
+      made his precious bear meat secure against the prowling panther or others
+      of his kind, tying it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and too
+      slender to support the weight of a large animal. This task finished
+      quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie had seen
+      the Mohawks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as the
+      whole forest was enveloped in a sort of gloom, and he was less likely to
+      be seen. But when he had gone about half the distance he heard Indians
+      signaling to one another, and, burying himself as usual in the wet bushes,
+      he saw two small groups of warriors meet and talk. Presently they
+      separated, one party going toward the east and the other toward the west.
+      Henry thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took little
+      care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no matter how
+      great the supply might be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these were
+      traveling directly south. He was quite sure now that his theory was
+      correct. They were sending out hunters in every direction, in order that
+      they might beat up the woods thoroughly for game, and his own position
+      anywhere except on the islet was becoming exceedingly precarious.
+      Nevertheless, using all his wonderful skill, he continued the hunt. He had
+      an abiding faith that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant to
+      prove it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain decreased,
+      though it did not cease. The Indian signs multiplied, and Henry felt sure
+      that the forest within a radius of twenty miles of his islet contained
+      more than one camp. Some great gathering must be in progress and the
+      hunters were out to supply it with food. Four times he heard the sound of
+      shots, and thrice more he saw warriors passing through the forest. Once a
+      wounded deer darted past him, and, lying down in the bushes, he saw the
+      Indians following the fleeing animal. As the day grew older the trails
+      multiplied. Certainly a formidable gathering of bands was in progress,
+      and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in a net, he returned to
+      the islet, which had now become a veritable fort for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had been
+      except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which he had
+      fastened the big pieces of bear meat. Henry felt a malicious satisfaction
+      at the disappointment of the panthers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come again, and have the same bad luck,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey in the
+      night. He examined his powder carefully to see that no particle of it was
+      wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and then examined the skies. There
+      was a little moon, not too much, enough to show him the way, but not
+      enough to disclose him to an enemy unless very near. Then he left the
+      islet and went swiftly through the forest, laying his course a third time
+      toward the Indian camp. He was sure now that all the hunters had returned,
+      and he did not expect the necessity of making any stops for the purpose of
+      hiding. His hopes were justified, and as he drew near the camp he became
+      aware that its population had increased greatly. It was proved by many
+      signs. New trails converged upon it, and some of them were very broad,
+      indicating that many warriors had passed. They had passed, too, in perfect
+      confidence, as there was no effort at concealment, and Henry surmised that
+      no white force of any size could be within many days' march of this place.
+      But the very security of the Indians helped his own design. They would not
+      dream that any one of the hated race was daring to come almost within the
+      light of their fires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs. If the Indians had any
+      of their mongrel curs with them, they would quickly scent him out and give
+      the alarm with their barking. But he believed that the probabilities were
+      against it. This, so he thought then, was a war or hunting camp, and it
+      was likely that the Indians would leave the dogs at their permanent
+      villages. At any rate he would take the risk, and he drew slowly toward
+      the oak opening, where some Indians stood about. Beyond them, in another
+      dip of the valley, was a wider opening which he had not seen on his first
+      trip, and this contained not only bark shelters, but buildings that
+      indicated a permanent village. The second and larger opening was filled
+      with a great concourse of warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many trees and
+      thickets everywhere. Henry crept to the very rim, where, lying in the
+      blackest of the shadows, and well hidden himself, he could yet see nearly
+      everything in the camp. The men were not eating now, although it was
+      obvious that the hunters had done well. The dressed bodies of deer and
+      bear hung in the bark shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the fires,
+      and it seemed to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At least two
+      hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint, although there
+      were several styles of paint. There was a difference in appearance, too,
+      in the warriors, and Henry surmised that representatives of all the tribes
+      of the Iroquois were there, coming to the extreme western boundary or
+      fringe of their country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing and
+      manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him and talked
+      together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward the forest, and he was
+      quite sure that they were expecting somebody, a person of importance. He
+      became deeply interested. He was lying in a dense clump of hazel bushes,
+      flat upon his stomach, his face raised but little above the ground. He
+      would have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet away, but the
+      faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight were so clearly
+      visible to him that he could see every change of expression. They were
+      fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall, lean, their noses hooked,
+      features cut clean and strong, and their heads shaved, all except the
+      defiant scalp lock, into which the feather of an eagle was twisted. Their
+      bodies were draped in fine red or blue blankets, and they wore leggins and
+      moccasins of beautifully tanned deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing note from
+      the west. Some one in the camp replied with a cry in kind, and then a
+      silence fell upon them all. The chiefs stood erect, looking toward the
+      west. Henry knew that he whom they expected was at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into the
+      opening, in the full blaze of the firelight. He was entirely naked save
+      for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild and savage figure. He
+      stood for a moment or two, then faced the chiefs, and, bowing before them,
+      spoke a few words in the Wyandot tongue-Henry knew already by his paint
+      that he was a Wyandot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning, leaped
+      back into the forest. In two or three minutes six men, including the
+      herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a little when he saw the
+      first of the six, all of whom were Wyandots. It was Timmendiquas, head
+      chief of the Wyandots, and Henry had never seen him more splendid in
+      manner and bearing than he was as he thus met the representatives of the
+      famous Six Nations. Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was
+      its valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only as an
+      equal, in his heart a superior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment, burrowing
+      in the earth that he might not lose his life at the hands of either, was
+      an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas. It was the young Wyandot chief whom he
+      wished to be first, to make the greatest impression, and he was pleased
+      when he heard the low hum of admiration go round the circle of two hundred
+      savage warriors. It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that the Iroquois
+      had looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the chiefs, and the
+      Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois. Henry could tell by the manner of the
+      chiefs that the reputation of the famous White Lightning had preceded him,
+      and that they had already found fact equal to report.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the fire, and
+      all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance, where they stood and
+      watched in silence. The oldest chief took his long pipe, beautifully
+      carved and shaped like a trumpet, and filled it with tobacco which he
+      lighted with a coal from the fire. Then he took two or three whiffs and
+      passed the pipe to Timmendiquas, who did the same. Every chief smoked the
+      pipe, and then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a spectacle
+      and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and that he was an enemy.
+      He wondered now at their silence. If this was a council surely they would
+      discuss whatever question had brought them there! But he was soon
+      enlightened. That low far cry came again, but from the east. It was
+      answered, as before, from the camp, and in three or four minutes a warrior
+      sprang from the forest into the opening. Like the first, he was naked
+      except for the breech cloth and moccasins. The chiefs rose at his coming,
+      received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. Then he returned
+      to the forest, and all waited in the splendid calm of the Indian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle. Who was coming now? It must be some
+      man of great importance, or they would not wait so silently. There was the
+      same air of expectancy that had preceded the arrival of Timmendiquas. All
+      the warriors looked toward the eastern wall of the forest, and Henry
+      looked the same way. Presently the black foliage parted, and a man stepped
+      forth, followed at a little distance by seven or eight others. The
+      stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to Timmendiquas, but he,
+      too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it was evident to anyone
+      versed at all in forest lore that here was a great chief. He was lean but
+      sinewy, and he moved with great ease and grace. He reminded Henry of a
+      powerful panther. He was dressed, after the manner of famous chiefs, with
+      the utmost care. His short military coat of fine blue cloth bore a silver
+      epaulet on either shoulder. His head was not bare, disclosing the scalp
+      lock, like those of the other Indians; it was covered instead with a small
+      hat of felt, round and laced. Hanging carelessly over one shoulder was a
+      blanket of blue cloth with a red border. At his side, from a belt of blue
+      leather swung a silver-mounted small sword. His leggins were of superfine
+      blue cloth and his moccasins of deerskin. Both were trimmed with small
+      beads of many colors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence that still
+      held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet him. These two held the
+      gaze of everyone, and what they and they alone did had become of
+      surpassing interest. Each was haughty, fully aware of his own dignity and
+      importance, but they met half way, looked intently for a moment or two
+      into the eyes of each other, and then saluted gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All at once Henry knew the stranger. He had never seen him before, but his
+      impressive reception, and the mixture of military and savage attire
+      revealed him. This could be none other than the great Mohawk war chief,
+      Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white men, terrible name on the border.
+      Henry gazed at him eagerly from his covert, etching his features forever
+      on his memory. His face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of
+      Timmendiquas, and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the fire, and
+      once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. The two young chiefs
+      received the seats of favor, and others sat about them. But they were not
+      the only great chiefs present, though all yielded first place to them
+      because of their character and exploits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important council,
+      although its extent exceeded even his surmise. Delegates and head chiefs
+      of all the Six Nations were present to confer with the warlike Wyandots of
+      the west who had come so far east to meet them. Thayendanegea was the
+      great war chief of the Mohawks, but not their titular chief. The latter
+      was an older man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.
+      The other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled); the
+      Oneida, O-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver); the Cayuga, Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He
+      Who Looks Both Ways); the Seneca, Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake); and the
+      Tuscarora, Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a Tree). The
+      names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had formed the great
+      confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council, and were also the
+      high priests and titular head of the Six Nations. But the Mohawks were
+      first on-the war path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan, camping in
+      its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their wonderful
+      league, and their wonderful history. He knew that according to the legend
+      the league had been formed by Hiawatha, an Onondaga. He was opposed in
+      this plan by Tododaho, then head chief of the Onondagas, but he went to
+      the Mohawks and gained the support of their great chief, Dekanawidah. With
+      his aid the league was formed, and the solemn agreement, never broken, was
+      made at the Onondaga Lake. Now they were a perfect little state, with
+      fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs, fifty-six.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn many
+      of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he little
+      dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the meeting of the
+      fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike power of the Six
+      Nations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
+      listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the trope,
+      allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the unseen
+      deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic dreams. He
+      spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which to the
+      Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit, which was
+      Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in the Iroquois
+      belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was so mighty that
+      he did not need body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
+      brave Wyandots,&rdquo; he said to Timmendiquas. &ldquo;Once there was no land, only
+      the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam. Then
+      he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls grew the
+      Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined us and other
+      tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker at
+      this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other tribes.
+      A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished to unite
+      the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio valley. The
+      coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense heat.
+      Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back, revealing a
+      bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of the Mohawks, a
+      flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca head
+      chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest of the
+      Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great pipe, and
+      the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said
+      Thayendanegea, &ldquo;and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
+      Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
+      Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
+      all our brethren of the Six Nations. All the land from the salt water to
+      the setting sun was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not
+      defend it we cannot keep it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time. &ldquo;We have
+      fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come with their
+      rifles and axes. The whole might of the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the
+      Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the Ottawas has gone forth
+      against them. We have slain many of them, but we have failed to drive them
+      back. Now we have come to ask the Six Nations to press down upon them in
+      the east with all your power, while we do the same in the west. Surely
+      then your Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not refuse us
+      success.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak well, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the red men must unite to
+      fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised above the sea, and
+      we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to lead them to battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes. He had forgotten about the dogs
+      that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his surmise that the camp
+      contained none. Nothing disturbed him while he stared at what was passing
+      by the firelight. There could be no doubt that the meeting of Timmendiquas
+      and Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not be stirred from
+      his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse. Others-older men,
+      chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them. But these two, proud,
+      dominating, both singularly handsome men of the Indian type, were always
+      there. Henry was almost ready to steal away when he saw a new figure
+      approaching the two chiefs. The walk and bearing of the stranger were
+      familiar, and HENRY knew him even before his face was lighted tip by the
+      fire. It was Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great
+      battles on both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+      Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. Henry
+      felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could inspire in him.
+      They fought for their own land and their own people, but Braxton Wyatt had
+      violated everything that an honest man should hold sacred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him. Such a chance was sure
+      to draw Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, the war, so far as it pertained to the
+      border, seemed to be sweeping toward the northeast, and it bore many
+      stormy petrels upon its crest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires. There the renegade
+      sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the best of terms. He
+      was presently joined by two more renegades, whom Henry recognized as
+      Blackstaffe and Quarles. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea rose after a
+      while, and walked toward the center of the camp, where several of the bark
+      shelters had been enclosed entirely. Henry judged that one had been set
+      apart for each, but they were lost from his view when they passed within
+      the circling ring of warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a fortified camp
+      here, a place from which they would make sudden and terrible forays upon
+      the settlements. He based his opinion upon the good location and the great
+      number of saplings that had been cut down already. They would build strong
+      lodges and then a palisade around them with the saplings. He was speedily
+      confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to the forest with
+      hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings. He knew then that it was
+      time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him at any time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. His limbs
+      were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position, but that soon wore
+      away, and he was comparatively fresh when he came once more to the islet
+      in the swamp. A good moon was now shining, tipping the forest with a fine
+      silvery gray, and Henry purveyed with the greatest satisfaction the simple
+      little shelter that he had found so opportunely. It was a good house, too,
+      good to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry. It was made of
+      nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all that long, penetrating
+      rain of the last three or four days, and when he lifted the big stone
+      aside and opened the door it seemed as snug a place as he could have
+      wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat stones,
+      having no fear that it would be seen through the dense curtain that shut
+      him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the coals. When he had eaten and
+      the fire had died he went out and sat beside the hut. He was well
+      satisfied with the day's work, and he wished now to think with all the
+      concentration that one must put upon a great task if he expects to achieve
+      it. He intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well that it
+      was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted. Yet scouts
+      and hunters had done such things and had escaped with their lives. He must
+      not shrink from the path that others had trodden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of operations.
+      Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament that he began to
+      regard the deed itself as almost achieved. Decision is always soothing
+      after doubt, and he fell into a pleasant dreamy state. A gentle wind was
+      blowing, the forest was dry and the leaves rustled with the low note that
+      is like the softest chord of a violin. It became penetrating, thrillingly
+      sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew. It was the same
+      voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling him to be of
+      heart and courage. He would triumph over hardships and dangers, and he
+      would see his friends again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry started up from his vision. The song was gone, and he heard only the
+      wind softly moving the leaves. It had been vague and shadowy as gossamer,
+      light as the substance of a dream, but it was real to him, nevertheless,
+      and the deep glow of certain triumph permeated his being, body and mind.
+      It was not strange that he had in his nature something of the Indian
+      mysticism that personified the winds and the trees and everything about
+      him. The Manitou of the red man and the ancient Aieroski of the Iroquois
+      were the same as his own God. He could not doubt that he had a message.
+      Down on the Ohio he had had the same message more than once, and it had
+      always come true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting perfectly still,
+      he saw a black bear emerge into the open. It had gained the islet in some
+      manner, probably floundering through the black mire, and the thought
+      occurred to him that it was the mate of the one he had slain, drawn
+      perhaps by instinct on the trail of a lost comrade. He could have shot the
+      bear as he sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food soon-but he did
+      not have the heart to do it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the human odor
+      away from him, and sat back on his haunches. Henry did not believe that
+      the animal had seen him or was yet aware of his presence, although he
+      might suspect. There was something humorous and also pathetic in the
+      visitor, who cocked his head on one side and looked about him. He made a
+      distinct appeal to Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that the
+      little bear could not be sure at first that he was a human being. A minute
+      passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy. Henry felt
+      pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain friendly relations
+      only by remaining quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I have eaten your comrade, my friend,&rdquo; he said to himself, &ldquo;it is only
+      because of hard necessity.&rdquo; The bear, little, comic, and yet with that
+      touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little further over on one
+      side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell upon him Henry could see one
+      red eye gleaming. It was a singular fact, but the boy, alone in the
+      wilderness, and the loser of his comrades, felt for the moment a sense of
+      comradeship with the bear, which was also alone, and doubtless the loser
+      of a comrade, also. He uttered a soft growling sound like the satisfied
+      purr of a bear eating its food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and looked in
+      astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered sounds so familiar. Yet
+      the figure was not familiar. He had never seen a human being before, and
+      the shape and outline were very strange to him. It might be some new kind
+      of animal, and he was disposed to be inquiring, because there was nothing
+      in these forests which the black bear was afraid of until man came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced a step or two and growled gently. Then he reared up again on
+      his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his amusing manner.
+      Henry, still motionless, smiled at him. Here, for an instant at least, was
+      a cheery visitor and companionship. He at least would not break the spell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow,&rdquo; he said to himself,
+      &ldquo;and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. It
+      certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or twenty yards
+      before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to solve the mystery of
+      this creature. But caution held him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze. It shifted about and brought
+      the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest black bear. It was
+      something entirely new to him, but it contained the quality of fear. That
+      still strange figure was his deadliest foe. Dropping down upon his four
+      paws, he fled among the trees, and then scrambled somehow through the
+      swamp to the mainland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sighed. Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned by
+      instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
+      himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into the
+      hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left the islet
+      once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he found it a
+      most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting. As he had
+      judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking in several
+      directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the thickets,
+      willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was advisable,
+      moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was going to
+      succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there through the
+      forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed so numerous
+      in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
+      distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
+      cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
+      would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected. He
+      waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer. He knew
+      that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first opinion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
+      hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its discovery.
+      Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness came, hiding
+      his trail, to double back and regain the hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
+      It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as possible,
+      annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along, stopping at
+      intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had drawn near,
+      but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the sky, willing
+      that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was setting.
+      The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the east the
+      forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and went back
+      toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much closer to
+      the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over the curve of
+      the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs melted into a
+      solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and with it its
+      petty annoyances. He directed his course boldly now for the stepping
+      stones, and traveled fast. Soon the first of them would be less than a
+      hundred yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the incident was not over. Wary and skillful though the young forest
+      runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and it led to great
+      consequences. As he skirted the edge of the swamp in the darkness, now
+      fully come, a dusky figure suddenly appeared. It was a stray warrior from
+      some small band, wandering about at will. The meeting was probably as
+      little expected by him as it was by Henry, and they were so close together
+      when they saw each other that neither had time to raise his rifle. The
+      warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching out a knife,
+      sprang at once upon his enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an immense
+      effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of the Indian's knife
+      hand, exerted all his great strength. The warrior wished to change the
+      weapon from his right band, but he dared not let go with the other lest he
+      be thrown down at once, and with great violence. His first rush having
+      failed, he was now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not generally a
+      wrestler. Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter and tighter
+      around the red wrist. He wished to tear the knife from it, but he, too,
+      was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two remained locked
+      fast. Neither uttered a cry after the first contact, and the only sounds
+      in the dark were their hard breathing, which turned to a gasp now and
+      then, and the shuffle of their feet over the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt that it must end soon. One or the other must give way. Their
+      sinews were already strained to the cracking point, and making a supreme
+      effort he bore all his weight upon the warrior, who, unable to sustain
+      himself, went down with the youth upon him. The Indian uttered a groan,
+      and Henry, leaping instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen
+      antagonist, who did not stir. He knew the cause. As they fell the point of
+      the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the slain man
+      in a sort of pity. He had not wished to take anyone's life, and, in
+      reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. But it was a stern time
+      and the feeling soon passed. The Wyandot, for such he was by his paint,
+      would never have felt a particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully at the
+      still face. Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up in his brain,
+      with such an impulse that it carried conviction. He would take this
+      warrior's place and go to the Indian camp. So eager was he, and so full of
+      his plan, that he did not feel any repulsion as he opened the warrior's
+      deerskin shirt and took his totem from a place near his heart. It was a
+      little deerskin bag containing a bunch of red feathers. This was his
+      charm, his magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had failed him so
+      woefully this time. Henry, not without a touch of the forest belief, put
+      it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although he laughed at himself,
+      that if the red man's medicine had any potency it should be on his own
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his war
+      paint and the feather brush with which he put it on. The next hour
+      witnessed a singular transformation. A white youth was turned into a red
+      warrior. He cut his own hair closely, all except a tuft in the center,
+      with his sharp hunting knife. The tuft and the close crop he stained black
+      with the Indian's paint. It was a poor black, but he hoped that it would
+      pass in the night. He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and intertwined it
+      with a feather from the Indian's own tuft. Then he stained his face, neck,
+      hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood forth a powerful young
+      warrior of a western nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the brush.
+      Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge of the swamp and
+      dropped it in. His object was not alone concealment, but burial as well.
+      He still felt sorry for the unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him until
+      he sank completely from sight in the mire. Then he turned away and
+      traveled a straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the bright
+      moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection. By night, at least,
+      it was certainly that of an Indian, and, summoning all his confidence, he
+      continued upon his chosen and desperate task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his disguise, but
+      he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was prepared to incur all
+      risks and to endure all penalties. He even felt a certain lightness of
+      heart as he hurried on his way, and at length saw through the forest the
+      flare of light from the Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a good look
+      into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In a single day the
+      village had been enlarged much more. It seemed to him that it contained at
+      least twice as many warriors. Women and children, too, had come, and he
+      heard a stray dog barking here and there. Many more fires than usual were
+      burning, and there was a great murmur of voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about to plunge
+      into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a time, too, when
+      something of extreme importance was going on, but a little reflection
+      showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many people, and so much ferment it
+      was not at all likely that he would be noticed closely. It was his
+      intention, if the necessity came, to pass himself off as a warrior of the
+      Shawnee tribe who had wandered far eastward, but he meant to avoid
+      sedulously the eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size and
+      stature, divine his identity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether to wait a
+      little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he became aware that
+      all sounds in the village-for such it was instead of a camp-had ceased
+      suddenly, except the light tread of feet and the sound of many people
+      talking low. He saw through the bushes that all the Iroquois, and with
+      them the detachment of Wyandots under White Lightning, were going toward a
+      large structure in the center, which he surmised to be the Council House.
+      He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west that the
+      Iroquois built such structures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest importance was
+      about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he left the bushes and entered
+      the village, going with the crowd toward the great pole building, which
+      was, indeed, the Council House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But little attention was paid to Henry. He would have drawn none at all,
+      had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two glanced at him
+      he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he had wandered far, and was
+      glad to come to the hospitable Iroquois. One who could speak a little
+      Shawnee bade him welcome, and they went on, satisfied, their minds more
+      intent upon the ceremony than upon a visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles and thatch,
+      was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet wide, with a large door
+      on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other sides. As
+      Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois were
+      entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and women,
+      and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and, knowing
+      the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the ceremony,
+      whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He himself drew
+      to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow, but he was using
+      to its utmost power every faculty of observation that Nature had given
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with great
+      brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and investing
+      with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive this ceremony,
+      held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the primeval forest.
+      Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which was at once a
+      mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east with his own
+      people and the election and welcome of their successors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was more
+      generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
+      Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient and
+      undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of the Six
+      Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were: Atotarho
+      (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons (Looking Both
+      Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The Scattered). They were
+      men of stature and fine countenance, proud of the titular primacy that
+      belonged to them because it was the Onondaga, Hiawatha, who had formed the
+      great confederacy more than four hundred years before our day, or just
+      about the time Columbus was landing on the shores of the New World.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
+      nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
+      were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
+      should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
+      was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
+      (Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih (The
+      Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed the three
+      senior nations. After them, in order of precedence, came the chiefs of the
+      three junior nations, the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. All of the
+      great chiefs had assistant chiefs, usually relatives, who, in case of
+      death, often succeeded to their places. But these assistants now remained
+      in the crowd with other minor chiefs and the mass of the warriors. A
+      little apart stood Timmendiquas and his Wyandots. He, too, was absorbed in
+      the ceremony so sacred to him, an Indian, and he did not notice the tall
+      figure of the strange Shawnee lingering in the deepest of the shadows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched across the
+      clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where two young warriors
+      had kindled a little fire of sticks as a signal of welcome. The chiefs
+      gathered around the fire and spoke together in low tones. This was
+      Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means &ldquo;The Reception at the Edge of the Wood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see, and his
+      interest increased. He shared the spiritual feeling which was impressed
+      upon the red faces about him. The bright moonlight, too, added to the
+      effect, giving it the tinge of an old Druidical ceremony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. Then rose
+      the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a procession of young and
+      inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas, appeared, slowly approaching the fire.
+      Behind them were warriors, and behind the warriors were many women and
+      children. All the women were in their brightest attire, gay with feather
+      headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the British posts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from the
+      chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon, formed the men
+      in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women and children grouped in
+      an irregular mass behind them. The singing meanwhile had stopped. The two
+      groups stood facing each other, attentive and listening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth in the
+      space between the two groups, chanting a welcome. Like all Indian songs it
+      was monotonous. Every line he uttered with emphasis and a rising
+      inflection, the phrase &ldquo;Haih-haih&rdquo; which may be translated &ldquo;Hail to thee!&rdquo;
+       or better, &ldquo;All hail!&rdquo; Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the wilderness
+      and with rapt faces about him, it was deeply impressive. Henry found it
+      so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the fire.
+      Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his hands beautifully
+      beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward and made a speech of
+      condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. Then the head chiefs and the
+      minor chiefs smoked pipes together, after which the head chiefs, followed
+      by the minor chiefs, and these in turn by the crowd, led the way back to
+      the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still very
+      grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by the sacred nature of this
+      ancient rite. The chief entered the great door of the Long House, and all
+      who could find places not reserved followed. Henry went in with the
+      others, and sat in a corner, making himself as small as possible. Many
+      women, the place of whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in the
+      Long House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great room. In
+      front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of the three older
+      nations on the left, and of the three younger nations on the right. In
+      front of these, but sitting on the bark floor, was a group of warriors. At
+      the east end, on both high and low seats, were warriors, and facing them
+      on the western side were women, also on both high and low seats. The
+      southern side facing the chiefs was divided into sections, each with high
+      and low seats. The one on the left was occupied by men, and the one on the
+      right by women. Two small fires burned in the center of the Long House
+      about fifteen feet apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes that Henry
+      had ever beheld. When all had found their seats there was a deep silence.
+      Henry could hear the slight crackling made by the two fires as they
+      burned, and the light fell faintly across the multitude of dark, eager
+      faces. Not less than five hundred people were in the Long House, and here
+      was the red man at his best, the first of the wild, not the second or
+      third of the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins brings to the
+      white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it does when that
+      blood belongs to some other races.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect upon Henry was singular. He almost forgot that he was a foe
+      among them on a mission. For the moment he shared in their feelings, and
+      he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great chiefs.
+      The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho, the Onondaga, but
+      the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion to Thayendanegea, and there
+      was no objection. Thayendanegea was an educated man, he had been in
+      England, he was a member of a Christian church, and he had translated a
+      part of the Bible from English into his own tongue, but now he was all a
+      Mohawk, a son of the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six Nations, how
+      Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired Hiawatha to form the
+      Great Confederacy of the Five Nations, afterwards the Six; how they had
+      held their hunting grounds for nearly two centuries against both English
+      and French; and how they would hold them against the Americans. He stopped
+      at moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long House. The
+      eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator spoke of their glory and
+      greatness. Timmendiquas, in a place of honor, nodded approval. If he could
+      he would form such another league in the west.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. It seemed
+      to have in it a touch of fire. The orator's words burned. Swift and deep
+      impressions were left upon the excited brain. The tall figure of the
+      Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the half light, and the spell that he threw
+      over all was complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit down.
+      Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long House that
+      something more was coming from Thayendanegea. Suddenly the red chief began
+      to sing in a deep, vibrant voice, and this was the song that he sung:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      There was the same incessant repetition of &ldquo;Haih haih!&rdquo; that Henry had
+      noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it seemed to give a
+      cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and at every slight pause
+      that deep breath of approval ran through the crowd in the Long House. The
+      effect of the song was indescribable. Fire ran in the veins of all, men,
+      women, and children. The great pulses in their throats leaped up. They
+      were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+      Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the English
+      since first a white man was seen in the land, and that would keep back the
+      Americans now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry glanced at Timmendiquas. The nostrils of the great White Lightning
+      were twitching. The song reached to the very roots of his being, and
+      aroused all his powers. Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he saw
+      that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than English or
+      French had ever been. The Americans were upon the ground, and incessantly
+      pressed upon the red man, eye to eye. Only powerful leagues like those of
+      the Iroquois could withstand them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period
+      lasting about two minutes. These silences seemed to be a necessary part of
+      all Iroquois rites. When it closed two young warriors stretched an elm
+      bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling, but
+      between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs. Then they hung dressed skins
+      all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the view of
+      each other. This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a silence.
+      The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little was to be
+      seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. Then a slender man of
+      middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation, arose and sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song was
+      sad. At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd in the
+      Long House. Grief for the dead held them all. When he finished,
+      Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum,
+      uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to which
+      they listened patiently. The chant over, he handed the belts to an
+      attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few moments
+      and looked at them gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was
+      purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace. They
+      were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a lake
+      supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man tiny
+      black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the shore he
+      found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred to him to
+      use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He strung them
+      on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league was formed,
+      the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For four hundred
+      years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
+      returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once more,
+      and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now he did
+      not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and the time became
+      faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow to exultation and
+      menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and victory. The song sung
+      as it was now became a genuine battle song, rousing and thrilling. The
+      Long House trembled with the mighty chorus, and its volume poured forth
+      into the encircling dark woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
+      holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
+      attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now went
+      to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires, asked who
+      were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among their
+      own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and Henry
+      was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of the brave
+      Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as a great sign of
+      friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the Mohawks, Keepers of
+      the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the Iroquois tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
+      than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long House,
+      and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons of the
+      Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among the
+      Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+      Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened in grave
+      silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was concluded.
+      Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside&mdash;although that was
+      much&mdash;and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the
+      Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest
+      two red chiefs on all the American continent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping somewhat
+      and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. But there was little
+      danger now that any one would notice him, as long as he behaved with
+      prudence, because all grief and solemnity were thrown aside, and a
+      thousand red souls intended to rejoice. A vast banquet was arranged. Great
+      fires leaped up all through the village. At every fire the Indian women,
+      both young and old, were already far forward with the cooking. Deer, bear,
+      squirrel, rabbit, fish, and every other variety of game with which the
+      woods and rivers of western New York and Pennsylvania swarmed were frying
+      or roasting over the coals, and the air was permeated with savory odors.
+      There was a great hum of voices and an incessant chattering. Here in the
+      forest, among themselves, and in complete security, the Indian stoicism
+      was relaxed. According to their customs everybody fell to eating at a
+      prodigious rate, as if they had not tasted anything for a month, and as if
+      they intended to eat enough now to last another month.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a long time,
+      but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting crowd, and the flames of
+      the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped and danced. This was an oasis of
+      light and life. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together before the
+      largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the others. Even at
+      the banquet they would not relax their dignity as great chiefs. Old
+      Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too, Satekariwate, the
+      Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs though they were of
+      the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as the rich Romans of the
+      Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all kinds of meat, and
+      drinking a sort of cider that the women made. Several warriors ate and
+      drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires. The same warriors on
+      the hunt or the war path would go for days without food, enduring every
+      manner of hardship. Now and then a warrior would leap up and begin a chant
+      telling of some glorious deed of his. Those at his own fire would listen,
+      but elsewhere they took no notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face suddenly
+      uttered a sharp cry: &ldquo;Hehmio!&rdquo; which he rapidly repeated twice. Two score
+      voices instantly replied, &ldquo;Heh!&rdquo; and a rush was made for him. At least a
+      hundred gathered around him, but they stood in a respectful circle, no one
+      nearer than ten feet. He waved his hand, and all sat down on the ground.
+      Then, he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and with expectancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and honored among
+      the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than Hiawatha. He began at
+      once the story of the warrior who learned to talk with the deer and the
+      bear, carrying it on through many chapters. Now and then a delighted
+      listener would cry &ldquo;Hah!&rdquo; but if anyone became bored and fell asleep it
+      was considered an omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he was chased
+      ignominiously to his tepee. The Iroquois romancer was better protected
+      than the white one is. He could finish some of his stories in one evening,
+      but others were serials. When he arrived at the end of the night's
+      installment he would cry, &ldquo;Si-ga!&rdquo; which was equivalent to our &ldquo;To be
+      continued in our next.&rdquo; Then all would rise, and if tired would seek
+      sleep, but if not they would catch the closing part of some other
+      story-teller's romance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden flute of
+      their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not without a certain
+      sweetness. In a corner a half dozen warriors hurt in battle were bathing
+      their wounds with a soothing lotion made from the sap of the bass wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the feasting,
+      hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a space to the
+      story-tellers and the enthusiastic &ldquo;Hahs!&rdquo; They were so full of feasting
+      and merrymaking now that one could almost do as he pleased, and he stole
+      toward the southern end of the village, where he had noticed several huts,
+      much more strongly built than the others. Despite all his natural skill
+      and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the first. He was
+      about to achieve the great exploration upon which he had ventured so much.
+      Whether he would find anything at the end of the risk he ran, he was soon
+      to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was built
+      strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a clapboard door
+      fastened stoutly on the outside with withes. The hut was well in the
+      shadow of tepees, and all were still at the feasting and merrymaking. He
+      cut the withes with two sweeps of his sharp hunting knife, opened the
+      door, bent his head, stepped in and then closed the door behind him, in
+      order that no Iroquois might see what had happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between the poles,
+      and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of bark. They revealed
+      also a figure lying full length on one side of the hut. A great pulse of
+      joy leaped up in Henry's throat, and with it was a deep pity, also. The
+      figure was that of Shif'less Sol, but he was pale and thin, and his arms
+      and legs were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he did not
+      stir. Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually so sensitive to
+      the lightest movement, he perceived nothing now, and, had he not found him
+      bound, Henry would have been afraid that he was looking upon his dead
+      comrade. The hands of the shiftless one, when the hands were cut, had
+      fallen limply by his side, and his face looked all the more pallid by
+      contrast with the yellow hair which fell in length about it. But it was
+      his old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the five to
+      vanish so mysteriously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder. The captive yawned,
+      stretched himself a little, and lay still again with closed eyes. Henry
+      shook him a second time and more violently. Shif'less Sol sat up quickly,
+      and Henry knew that indignation prompted the movement. Sol held his arms
+      and legs stiffly and seemed to be totally unconscious that they were
+      unbound. He cast one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the tall
+      warrior bending over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever name you
+      like better!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;I won't show you how to surprise the white
+      settlements. You can burn me at the stake or tear me in pieces first. Now
+      go away and let me sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. It was then
+      that he noticed for the first time that his hands were unbound. He held
+      them up before his face, as if they were strange objects wholly unattached
+      to himself, and gazed at them in amazement. He moved his legs and saw that
+      they, too, were unbound. Then he turned his startled gaze upward at the
+      face of the tall warrior who was looking down at him. Shif'less Sol was
+      wholly awake now. Every faculty in him was alive, and he pierced through
+      the Shawnee disguise. He knew who it was. He knew who had come to save
+      him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the one word:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which only many
+      dangers endured together can give.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did you get here?&rdquo; asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met an Indian in the forest,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;and well I am now he.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but how did you get through the camp? It's a big one,
+      and the Iroquois are watchful. Timmendiquas is here, too, with his
+      Wyandots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are having a great feast,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;and I could go about
+      almost unnoticed. Where are the others, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the cabins close by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we'll get out of this place. Quick! Tie up your hair! In the
+      darkness you can easily pass for an Indian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two slipped
+      from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly retying the
+      thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape might occur as late as
+      possible. Then they stood a few moments in the shadow of the hut and
+      listened to the sounds of revelry, the monotone of the story-tellers, and
+      the chant of the singers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't know which huts they are in, do you?&rdquo; asked Henry, anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't,&rdquo; replied the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get back!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry softly. &ldquo;Don't you see who's passing out
+      there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Sol. &ldquo;I'd like to get my hands on that scoundrel.
+      I've had to stand a lot from him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The score must wait. But first we'll provide you with weapons. See, the
+      Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while they're at the
+      feast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by, and
+      Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best, with its
+      ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his semi-civilized attire,
+      still remained in the shadow of the other hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not take four?&rdquo; whispered the shiftless one. &ldquo;We'll need them for the
+      other boys.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily slipped
+      back to the other side of the hut. A Wyandot and a Mohawk were passing,
+      and they had eyes of hawks. Henry and Sol waited until the formidable pair
+      were gone, and then began to examine the huts, trying to surmise in which
+      their comrades lay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;but I reckon from the talk
+      that they are here. I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. A half dozen reds
+      jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to draw a weepin. Timmendiquas
+      was at the head uv 'em an' he just grinned. Well, he is a great chief, if
+      he did truss me up like a fowl. I reckon the same thing happened to the
+      others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come closer, Sol! Come closer!&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;More warriors are
+      walking this way. The feast is breaking up, and they'll spread all through
+      the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A terrible problem was presented to the two. They could no longer search
+      among the strong huts, for their comrades. The opportunity to save had
+      lasted long enough for one only. But border training is stern, and these
+      two had uncommon courage and decision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must go now, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we'll come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;we'll come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the forest
+      before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence of an enemy.
+      Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not pause. Henry led the way,
+      and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair degree of speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry,&rdquo; said Sol in
+      a tone of humility. &ldquo;When I wuz layin' thar in the lodge with my hands an'
+      feet tied I wuz about eighty years old, jest ez stiff ez could be from the
+      long tyin'. When I reached the edge o' the woods the blood wuz flowin'
+      lively enough to make me 'bout sixty. Now I reckon I'm fifty, an' ef
+      things go well I'll be back to my own nateral age in two or three hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall have rest before morning,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it will be in a
+      good place, too. I can promise that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say anything. Like
+      the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most implicit confidence in
+      their bold young leader. He had every reason to feel good. That painful
+      soreness was disappearing from his ankles. As they advanced through the
+      woods, weeks dropped from him one by one. Then the months began to roll
+      away, and at last time fell year by year. As they approached the deeps of
+      the forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde, the so called shiftless one,
+      and wholly undeserving of the name, was young again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got a fine little home for us, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Best we've had
+      since that time we spent a winter on the island in the lake. This is
+      littler, but it's harder to find. It'll be a fine thing to know you're
+      sleeping safe and sound with five hundred Iroquois warriors only a few
+      miles away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it'll suit me mighty well,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, grinning broadly.
+      &ldquo;That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble servant, which is
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Jest you jump
+      on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me only one jump behind
+      you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and behind
+      him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one. It was now past midnight,
+      and the moon was obscured. The keenest eyes twenty yards away could not
+      have seen the two dusky figures as they went by leaps into the very heart
+      of the great, black swamp. They reached the solid ground, and then the
+      hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;is my house, and yours, also, and soon, I hope,
+      to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;I'm shorely glad to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall, and soon
+      were sound asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. They had
+      eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily. Many times had they told the
+      glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League, and many times had they
+      gladly acknowledged the valor and worth of Timmendiquas and the brave
+      little Wyandot nation. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side by side
+      throughout the feast, but often other great chiefs were with
+      them-Skanawati, Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the
+      Mohawk; Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges, and soon
+      the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on the ground, wrapped in
+      their blankets. The fires were allowed to sink low, and at last the older
+      chiefs withdrew, leaving only Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+      &ldquo;We can bring many more warriors than are here into the field, and we will
+      strike the white settlements with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great League,&rdquo; said
+      Timmendiquas proudly, &ldquo;but no one has ever been before them in battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak truth, as I have often heard it,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea
+      thoughtfully. Then he showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor, the finest
+      in the village, and retired to his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous decision.
+      Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they would make a new and
+      formidable attack upon the white settlements, and Timmendiquas and his
+      fierce Wyandots would help them. All of them, from the oldest to the
+      youngest, rejoiced in the decision, and, not least, the famous
+      Thayendanegea. He hated the Americans most because they were upon the
+      soil, and were always pressing forward against the Indian. The Englishmen
+      were far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the march of the
+      American would be less rapid. He would strike once more with the
+      Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on the American
+      rearguard. He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the Western Gate, would
+      lead in the onset. Thayendanegea considered it a good night's work, and he
+      slept peacefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great camp relapsed into silence. The warriors on the ground breathed
+      perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the fires were
+      permitted to smolder down to coals. Wolves and panthers drawn by the scent
+      of food crept through the thickets toward the faint firelight, but they
+      were afraid to draw near. Morning came, and food and drink were taken to
+      the lodges in which four prisoners were held, prisoners of great value,
+      taken by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his urgent insistence
+      as hostages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were loosened
+      they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty. The one who spoke in a
+      slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to be the most dangerous of
+      them all, was gone. Henry and Sol had taken the severed thongs with them,
+      and there was nothing to show how the prisoner had disappeared, except
+      that the withes fastening the door had been cut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The news spread through the village, and there was much excitement.
+      Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at the empty hut.
+      Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol had gone, but he said
+      nothing. Others believed that it was the work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The
+      Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh (The Spirit of the Winds) had taken him
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is well to keep a good watch on the others,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, and
+      Thayendanegea nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a great war
+      council. A string of white wampum about a foot in length was passed to
+      every chief, who held it a moment or two before handing it to his
+      neighbors. It was then laid on a table in the center of the room, the ends
+      touching. This signified harmony among the Six Nations. All the chiefs had
+      been summoned to this place by belts of wampum sent to the different
+      tribes by runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this honor belonged.
+      All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of belts, and now this was
+      done by the assembled chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the real head of
+      a brave and allied nation, was present throughout the council. His advice
+      was asked often, and when he gave it the others listened with gravity and
+      deference. The next day the village played a great game of lacrosse, which
+      was invented by the Indians, and which had been played by them for
+      centuries before the arrival of the white man. In this case the match was
+      on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas and Senecas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great natural meadow
+      surrounded by forest. The rival sides assembled opposite each other and
+      bet heavily. All the stakes, under the law of the game, were laid upon the
+      ground in heaps here, and they consisted of the articles most precious to
+      the Iroquois. In these heaps were rifles, tomahawks, scalping knives,
+      wampum, strips of colored beads, blankets, swords, belts, moccasins,
+      leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in forays on the white
+      settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of various kinds, boots,
+      shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast assortment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older chiefs
+      sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five hundred on
+      each side, and already they began to show an excitement approaching that
+      which animated them when they would go into battle. Their eyes glowed, and
+      the muscles on their naked backs and chests were tense for the spring. In
+      order to leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they wore no clothing
+      at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist to the knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of &ldquo;byes&rdquo; like
+      those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart. But the goals of
+      each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants arranged
+      themselves in two parallel lines facing each other, inside the area and
+      about ten rods apart. Every man was armed with a strong stick three and a
+      half to four feet in length, and curving toward the end. Upon this curved
+      end was tightly fastened a network of thongs of untanned deerskin, drawn
+      until they were rigid and taut. The ball with which they were to play was
+      made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about the size of an
+      ordinary apple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the chiefs,
+      who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also score keepers. They
+      kept tally of the game by cutting notches upon sticks. Every time one side
+      put the ball through the other's goal it counted one, but there was an
+      unusual power exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to the games of
+      white men. If one side got too far ahead, its score was cut down at the
+      discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more even, and also to
+      protract it sometimes over three or four days. The warriors of the leading
+      side might grumble among one another at the amount of cutting the chiefs
+      did, but they would not dare to make any protest. However, the chiefs
+      would never cut the leading side down to an absolute parity with the
+      other. It was always allowed to retain a margin of the superiority it had
+      won.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became intense. Even
+      the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness, while the brown bodies
+      of the warriors shone in the sun, and the taut muscles leaped up under the
+      skin. Fifty players on each side, sticks in hand, advanced to the center
+      of the ground, and arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion of
+      football players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their goals.
+      Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+      beautiful of these appeared. She was not more than sixteen or seventeen
+      years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer, and she was dressed
+      in the finest and most richly embroidered deerskin. Her head was crowned
+      with a red coronet, crested with plumes, made of the feathers of the eagle
+      and heron. She wore silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very center of the
+      arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors, she placed it upon the
+      ground. Then she sprang back and joined the throng of spectators. Two of
+      the players, one from each side, chosen for strength and dexterity,
+      advanced. They hooked the ball together in their united bats and thus
+      raised it aloft, until the bats were absolutely perpendicular. Then with a
+      quick, jerking motion they shot it upward. Much might be gained by this
+      first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two players were equal, and
+      it shot almost absolutely straight into the air. The nearest groups made a
+      rush for it, and the fray began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually twenty or
+      thirty on each side struck for the ball, and when they became exhausted or
+      disabled were relieved by similar groups. All eventually came into action.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity, assuming
+      sometimes the aspect of a battle. Blows with the formidable sticks were
+      given and received. Brown skins were streaked with blood, heads were
+      cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. Such killings were not unusual in these
+      games, and it was always considered the fault of the man who fell, due to
+      his own awkwardness or unwariness. The body of the dead Cayuga was taken
+      away in disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and zeal,
+      party relieving party. The meadow and the surrounding forest resounded
+      with the shouts and yells of combatants and spectators. The old squaws
+      were in a perfect frenzy of excitement, and their shrill screams of
+      applause or condemnation rose above every other sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one day, the
+      chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. The game closed at
+      sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas triumphant, and richer by far than
+      they were in the morning. The Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped of
+      their goods and crestfallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the game closely
+      to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton Wyatt and Blackstaffe.
+      They and Quarles had wandered eastward with some Delawares, and had
+      afterward joined the band of Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave them no
+      very warm welcome. Quarles had left on some errand a few days before. They
+      had rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by one, in the deep
+      bush. But they had felt anger and disappointment when the fifth was not
+      taken, also. Now both were concerned and alarmed over the escape of
+      Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew apart from the Indians to
+      discuss it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; said Wyatt, &ldquo;that Hyde did not manage it himself, all alone.
+      How could he? He was bound both hand and foot; and I've learned, too,
+      Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles have been taken. That
+      means one apiece for Hyde and the three prisoners that are left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away,&rdquo; said
+      Blackstaffe, &ldquo;and their taking of the rifles means that he and Hyde expect
+      to rescue the other three in the same way. You think so, too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; replied Wyatt. &ldquo;What makes the Indians, who are so
+      wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so careless when
+      they have a great feast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is their way,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;You cannot change it. Ware must have
+      noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of it. But I don't
+      think any of the others will go that way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boy Cotter is in here,&rdquo; said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the side of a
+      small hut. &ldquo;Let's go in and see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good enough,&rdquo; said Blackstaffe. &ldquo;But we mustn't let him know that Hyde
+      has escaped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. He, too, was
+      pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon him heavily-but Paul's
+      spirit could never be daunted. He looked at the two renegades with hatred
+      and contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you're in a fine fix,&rdquo; said Wyatt sneeringly. &ldquo;We just came in to
+      tell you that we took Henry Ware last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that the
+      renegade was lying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know better,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we will get him,&rdquo; said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, &ldquo;and all of you
+      will die at the stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, will not get him,&rdquo; said Paul defiantly, &ldquo;and as for the rest of us
+      dying at the stake, that's to be seen. I know this: Timmendiquas considers
+      us of value, to be traded or exchanged, and he's too smart a man to
+      destroy what he regards as his own property. Besides, we may escape. I
+      don't want to boast, Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're hard to hold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if he were
+      through with them. They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said sulkily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing to be got out of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Blackstaffe, &ldquo;but we must urge that the strictest kind of guard
+      be kept over the others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all their
+      forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had in mind. The
+      Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum belts of purple shells,
+      sign of war, to distant villages of the tribes, and parties of warriors
+      were still coming in. A band of Cayugas arrived that night, and with them
+      they brought a half starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had picked
+      up near the camp. The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might have been
+      when in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had reached him
+      through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the Iroquois on the
+      white settlements, and the spirits would not let him rest unless he bore
+      his part in it. He prayed therefore to be accepted among them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to a lodge
+      to rest. To-morrow he would be well, and he would be welcomed to the ranks
+      of the Cayugas, a Younger nation. But when the morning came, the lodge was
+      empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was gone, and with him the boy, Paul, the
+      youngest of the prisoners. Guards bad been posted all around the camp, but
+      evidently the two had slipped between. Brave and advanced as were the
+      Iroquois, superstition seized upon them. Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work
+      among them, coming in the form of the famished Lenni-Lenape. He had
+      steeped them in a deep sleep, and then he had vanished with the prisoner
+      in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had taken away the boy, who was one of a
+      hated race, for some sacrifice or mystery of his own. The fears of the
+      Iroquois rose. If the Spirit of Evil was among them, greater harm could be
+      expected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did not believe
+      in the interference of either good spirits or bad spirits, and just now
+      their special hatred was a famished Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why on earth didn't I think of it?&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;I'm sure now by his
+      size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he slipped to the lodge, let
+      Cotter out, and they dodged about in the darkness until they escaped in
+      the forest. I'll complain to Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both Iroquois and
+      Wyandots. The great White Lightning regarded him with an icy stare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do,&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did you not prevent it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since when,&rdquo; continued Timmendiquas, &ldquo;have you, a deserter front your own
+      people, had the right to hold to account the head chief of the Wyandots?&rdquo;
+       Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly was, trembled yet more. He knew
+      that Timmendiquas did not like him, and that the Wyandot chieftain could
+      make his position among the Indians precarious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in particular,&rdquo; he
+      exclaimed hastily, &ldquo;but I've been hearing so much talk about the Spirit of
+      Evil having a hand in this that I couldn't keep front saying something. Of
+      course, it was Henry Ware and Hyde who did it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas icily, &ldquo;but neither the Manitou of the
+      Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me the eyes to see
+      everything that happens in the dark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more. He and Blackstaffe
+      held many conferences through the day, and they longed for the presence of
+      Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest villages of
+      the Mohawks, far east toward Albany. He had been sent from a farther
+      village, and was not known personally to the warriors in the great camp,
+      but he bore a wampum belt of purple shells, the sign of war, and he
+      reported directly to Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and
+      satisfactory words. After ample feasting, as became one who had come so
+      far, he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep. His evil spirit warned
+      him to rise and go to the huts, where the two remaining prisoners were
+      kept. It was then about one o'clock in the morning, and as he passed he
+      saw the Onondaga runner at the door of one of the prison lodges. He was
+      about to cry out, but the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent
+      blow with the butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic,
+      that he fell senseless. When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him an
+      hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the prisoners,
+      the one called Ross, was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil was among
+      them. When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were deceived,
+      how could a common warrior hope to escape its wicked influence!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a bed of
+      skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him no comfort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous storm of
+      thunder and lightning, wind and rain. Many of the lodges were thrown down,
+      and when the storm finally whirled itself away, it was found that the last
+      of the prisoners, he of the long arms and long legs, had gone on the edge
+      of the blast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. CATHARINE MONTOUR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of content.
+      The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his comrades, had
+      disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward. The lightning was flaring
+      its last on the distant horizon, but the rain still pattered in the great
+      woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it. They were dry, warm,
+      and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and the wilderness. The
+      four after their imprisonment and privations were recovering their weight
+      and color. Paul, who had suffered the most, had, on the other hand, made
+      the quickest recovery, and their present situation, so fortunate in
+      contrast with their threatened fate a few days before, made a great appeal
+      to his imagination. The door was allowed to stand open six inches, and
+      through the crevice he watched the rain pattering on the dark earth. He
+      felt an immense sense of security and comfort. Paul was hopeful by nature
+      and full of courage, but when he lay bound and alone in a hut in the
+      Iroquois camp it seemed to him that no chance was left. The comrades had
+      been kept separate, and he had supposed the others to be dead. But here he
+      was snatched from the very pit of death, and all the others had been saved
+      from a like fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I'd
+      never have given up hope. It was a wonderful thing you did to start the
+      chain that drew us all away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might have tried it,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;but I ain't sure that we'd
+      have done it. Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me my scalp would be
+      dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a Mohawk village. Say, Sol, how
+      wuz it that you talked Onondaga when you played the part uv that Onondaga
+      runner. Didn't know you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a thoughtful hand
+      once or twice across his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the instincts uv
+      the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty strong hold on me. Ef I'd
+      had the chance, I might be a purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin' poetry. I
+      ain't told you about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I moved with
+      the settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk Iroquois a
+      heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been now. Ain't it
+      funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an' it gits all covered
+      with rust and mold, the time comes when that same forgot little thing is
+      the most vallyble article in the world to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weren't you scared, Sol,&rdquo; persisted Paul, &ldquo;to face a man like Brant, an'
+      pass yourself off as an Onondaga?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I wuzn't,&rdquo; replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, &ldquo;I've been wuss
+      scared over little things. I guess that when your life depends on jest a
+      motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word, Natur' somehow comes to your
+      help an' holds you up. I didn't get good an' skeered till it wuz all over,
+      an' then I had one fit right after another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin',&rdquo; said Tom Ross; &ldquo;jest
+      beginnin' to git over it. I tell you, Henry, it wuz pow'ful lucky fur us
+      you found them steppin' stones, an' this solid little place in the middle
+      uv all that black mud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island in the
+      lake,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;That waz shorely a nice place an' pow'ful
+      comf'table we wuz thar. But we're a long way from it now. That island uv
+      ours must be seven or eight hundred miles from here, an' I reckon it's
+      nigh to fifteen hundred to New Orleans, whar we wuz once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shet up,&rdquo; said Tom Ross suddenly. &ldquo;Time fur all uv you to go to sleep,
+      an' I'm goin' to watch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll watch,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time,&rdquo; said Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Needn't quarrel with me about it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;A lazy man like
+      me is always willin' to go to sleep. You kin hev my watch, Tom, every
+      night fur the next five years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was sound asleep.
+      Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they, too, soon slept. Tom sat
+      at the door, one of the captured rifles across his knees, and watched the
+      forest and the swamp. He saw the last flare of the distant lightning, and
+      he listened to the falling of the rain drops until they vanished with the
+      vanishing wind, leaving the forest still and without noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although powerful
+      in action, he was singularly chary of speech. Henry was the leader, but
+      somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other four, a sort
+      of elder brother. As the moon came out a little in the wake of the
+      retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, two, three, four, five,&rdquo; he murmured to himself. &ldquo;We're all here,
+      an' Henry come fur us. That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez ever
+      seed. Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal that Paul talks about couldn't
+      hev been knee high to Henry. Besides, ef them old Greeks an' Romans hed
+      hed to fight Wyandots an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've done, whar'd they
+      hev been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of that
+      sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. Then he went
+      outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for the tenth time what a
+      wonderful little refuge it was. He was about to return to the hut when he
+      saw a dozen dark blots along the high bough of a tree. He knew them. They
+      were welcome blots. They were wild turkeys that had found what had seemed
+      to be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted, and here
+      was more food come to their hand. &ldquo;We're five pow'ful feeders, an' we'll
+      need you,&rdquo; he murmured, looking up at the turkeys, &ldquo;but you kin rest thar
+      till nearly mornin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the hut to
+      resume his watch. Just before the first dawn he awoke Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest on the
+      limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv ourn. 'Pears to
+      me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers like us to eat. Kin we
+      risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too dangerous?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we can risk the shots,&rdquo; said Henry, rising and taking his rifle.
+      &ldquo;We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely that Indians are
+      anywhere near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound asleep,
+      and stepped noiselessly among the trees. The first pale gray bar that
+      heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thar they are,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots on the
+      high bough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull trigger,&rdquo;
+       said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but he noticed when he
+      drew the bead that a second turkey just behind the first was directly in
+      his line of fire. The fact aroused his ambition to kill both with one
+      bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display marksmanship,
+      but they needed the extra turkey for food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you ready, Tom?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Then fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
+      under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
+      turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
+      and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!&rdquo; he cried in tense
+      tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, what's the matter?&rdquo; asked the boy in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot? An
+      Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv them
+      turkeys at the same time we did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's no Indian about,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I killed two turkeys with one shot,
+      and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the line
+      of the bullet, and it went through both.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now when I saw that
+      third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe more
+      had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that we'd hev
+      to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind just
+      natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I want to
+      eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight, 'though I
+      'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the woods?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found them
+      large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to their
+      relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life of the
+      frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
+      westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures, all
+      three with leveled rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right, boys,&rdquo; sang out Henry. &ldquo;It's nobody but Tom and myself,
+      bringing in our breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three dropped their rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's good,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;When them shots roused us out o' our
+      beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot, artillery
+      an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned we'd better go
+      out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I
+      reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down
+      with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and
+      Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.
+      But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+      &ldquo;Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you
+      back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued on
+      the turkeys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin',&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I'm goin' to
+      help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The quicker
+      they are cooked the better it'll suit me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the
+      sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and
+      scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence, and,
+      relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a contented five
+      that worked on one of the turkeys&mdash;the other two being saved for
+      further needs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?&rdquo; asked
+      Long Jim as they ate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us,&rdquo; replied the boy.
+      &ldquo;It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that
+      they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has
+      told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, and
+      from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a big
+      army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named the
+      Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river, and
+      they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by British
+      from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but shall we go
+      and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said the four together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference,&rdquo; said Shif'less
+      Sol. &ldquo;We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we sent word back
+      from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while here in the east
+      on mighty important business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to a
+      place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv
+      'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our
+      Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our
+      people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole
+      ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John Butler
+      is to command 'em.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul shuddered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard of him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They called him 'Indian' Butler at
+      Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the
+      Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is as
+      bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the
+      Johnsons and Claus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears ez ef we would be needed,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we ought to hurry,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;The more we know about the
+      Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a safe
+      and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the Indian
+      movements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suits me,&rdquo; drawled Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;My legs an' arms are still stiff from
+      them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I guess
+      I'll take a rest from travelin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself,&rdquo; rejoined Long Jim; &ldquo;an' I'm
+      afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal
+      better than you deserve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch on the
+      Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting parties,
+      as the region was far from any settled portion of the country, and the
+      Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence. But the
+      hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy jerking
+      meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great campaign,
+      but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting was done by
+      Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick brushwood and
+      watched, by the light of the fires, what was passing in the Indian camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and Shif'less Sol
+      lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned in
+      the Indian camp, warriors were polishing their weapons, and the women were
+      cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard from a
+      point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a kind of
+      chant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another war party comin',&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' singin' about
+      the victories that they're goin' to win.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But did you notice that voice?&rdquo; Henry whispered back. &ldquo;It's not a man's,
+      it's a woman's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now that you speak of it, you're right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;It's funny
+      to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into camp.
+      That's the business o' warriors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then this is no ordinary woman,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and
+      we want to see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So we do,&rdquo; said Sol, &ldquo;but I ain't breathin' while they pass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could
+      not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing louder,
+      and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman. The trail
+      was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The fierce Indian
+      chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that either had ever
+      seen came into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most of
+      her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a
+      strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and
+      moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European cloth
+      with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright feathers,
+      thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her back. She held
+      in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung fiercely in time to
+      her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression of one who had taken
+      some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked neither to right nor to left
+      as she strode on, chanting a song of blood, and swinging the keen blade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human
+      figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength of a
+      man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and awful in
+      the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian chant.
+      Brave as they were, Henry and the shiftless one felt fear, as perhaps they
+      had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might! They were
+      destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the most awful of
+      which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery almost
+      unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know it, but they
+      were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French Governor General
+      of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the Iroquois, and of a
+      memory infamous forever on the border, where she was known as &ldquo;Queen
+      Esther.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and their
+      manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every sense. She
+      was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great Thayendanegea himself
+      wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois. In her youth she had been
+      treated as a white woman, educated and dressed as a white woman, and she
+      had played a part in colonial society at Albany, New York, and
+      Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned toward the savage half
+      of herself, had become wholly a savage, had married a savage chief, bad
+      been the mother of savage children, and here she was, at midnight,
+      striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness, her head aflame with
+      visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
+      still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol was
+      so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to see
+      her entry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
+      and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
+      welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
+      stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he received
+      her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest, though an
+      ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the Six
+      Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame the
+      Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village died
+      down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they had
+      been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
+      formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
+      be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
+      their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+      shivered slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
+      comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
+      afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think she
+      is a witch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
+      Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to happen is right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the islet. Tom
+      Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered peacefully on. They told Tom
+      what they had seen, and he told them the identity of the terrible woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about her
+      afore I went to Kentucky to live. She's got a tre-men-jeous power over the
+      Iroquois. They think she ken throw spells, an' all that sort of thing-an'
+      mebbe she kin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets, and then
+      they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. Now they were white
+      men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens,
+      as Henry afterward learned; and with them was the infamous John Butler, or
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, as he was generally known on the New York and
+      Pennsylvania frontier, middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant of
+      appearance, but energetic, savage and cruel in nature. He was a descendant
+      of the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the terrible
+      battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council around
+      one of the fires. In this group were Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea, Queen
+      Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations, and the white men, John
+      Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy, Braxton Wyatt. It seemed to Henry
+      that Timmendiquas, King of the Wyandots, was superior to all the other
+      chiefs present, even to Thayendanegea. His expression was nobler than that
+      of the great Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they felt sure
+      the Iroquois were about to break up their village and march on the great
+      campaign they had planned. The two and their comrades could render no
+      greater service than to watch their march, and then warn those upon whom
+      the blow was to fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well equipped
+      with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois dismantle their
+      village, all except the Long House and two or three other of the more
+      solid structures, and begin the march. Henry and his comrades went
+      parallel with them, watching their movements as closely as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to keep with
+      the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to observe what was
+      going on, and to divine what was intended from what they observed.
+      Fortunately it, was early summer, and the weather being very beautiful
+      they could sleep without shelter. Hence they found it convenient to sleep
+      sometimes by daylight, posting a watch always, and to spy upon the Indian
+      camp at night. They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian army,
+      particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war chiefs of
+      theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of Tories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga, preparatory to
+      their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. About four hundred white men,
+      English Canadians and Tories, were present, and eight hundred picked
+      warriors of the Six Nations under Thayendanegea, besides the little band
+      of Wyandots led by the resolute Timmendiquas. &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler was in
+      general command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the high priestess of
+      the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and chanting songs that
+      made the warriors see red. Upon the rear of this extraordinary army hung a
+      band of fierce old squaws, from whom every remnant of mercy and Gentleness
+      had departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler's force
+      start for its final march upon Wyoming. It was composed of many diverse
+      elements, and perhaps none more bloodthirsty ever trod the soil of
+      America. In some preliminary skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been
+      slain, and now her fury knew no limits. She took her place at the very
+      head of the army, whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and neither
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in anything
+      great or small.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened toward the
+      valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into contact with the
+      great war itself. They had looked upon a uniformed enemy for the first
+      time, and they might soon see the colonial buff and blue of the eastern
+      army. Their hearts thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of the four in
+      the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the Wyoming Valley and
+      the direction in which it lay, and, taking one last look at the savage
+      army, they sped toward it. The time was the close, of June, and the
+      foliage was still dark green. It was a land of low mountain, hill, rich
+      valley, and clear stream, and it was beautiful to every one of the five.
+      Much of their course lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they saw signs of
+      a more extended cultivation than any that was yet to be witnessed in
+      Kentucky. From the brow of a little hill they beheld a field of green, and
+      in another field a man plowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's wheat,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we can't leave the man to plow,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;or he'll never harvest
+      that wheat. We'll warn him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into his field.
+      He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay across the plow
+      handles. Neither Henry nor his companions realized that their forest garb
+      and long life in the wilderness made them look more like Indians than
+      white men. But Henry threw up a hand as a sign of peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're white like yourselves,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;and we've come to warn you! The
+      Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little wood,
+      where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising. He could not doubt on a
+      near view that these were white like himself, and the words rang true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My house is strong,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I can beat them off. Maybe you will
+      help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd help you willingly enough,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;if this were any ordinary
+      raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen Esther are coming at
+      the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. How could we hold a house, no
+      matter how thick its walls, against such an army as that? Don't hesitate a
+      moment! Get up what you can and gallop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his plow in the
+      furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted his wife and children
+      on other horses, and, taking only food and clothing, fled to Stroudsburg,
+      where there was a strong fort. At a later day he gave Henry heartfelt
+      thanks for his warning, as six hours afterward the vanguard of the horde
+      burned his home and raged because its owner and his family were gone with
+      their scalps on their own heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the Lenni-Lenape,
+      until they were pushed westward by other tribes, had had their village
+      Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language Wyoming. It was a beautiful
+      valley running twenty miles or more along the Susquehanna, and about three
+      miles broad. On either side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in height,
+      and further away were peaks with mists and vapors around their crests. The
+      valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river sparkled, now
+      in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs, appeared,
+      and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery beacon. Simon Jennings
+      was not the only man who lived to thank them for the warning. Others were
+      incredulous, and soon paid the terrible price of unbelief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them with
+      wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated fields, and
+      so many signs of a numerous population. They had emerged almost for the
+      first time from the wilderness, excepting their memorable visit to New
+      Orleans, although this was a very different region. Long Jim spoke of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We found
+      some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the ground feels firmer
+      under my feet here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The ground feels firmer,&rdquo; said Paul, who had some of the prescience of
+      the seer, &ldquo;but the skies are no brighter. They look red to me sometimes,
+      Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously. A woodsman, he had
+      his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon his mind. He began to
+      fear a great disaster, and his experienced eye perceived at once the
+      defenseless state of the valley. He remembered the council of the great
+      Indian force in the deep woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther was
+      again before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It
+      ain't no time to be plowin' land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley. It was a fine river,
+      beautiful with changing colors. The soil on either side was as deep and
+      fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the mountains cut the sky
+      sharp and clear. Hills and slopes were dark green with foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and scouts
+      came in, confirming it. Panic seized the settlers, and they began to crowd
+      toward Forty Fort on the west side of the river. Henry and his comrades
+      themselves arrived there toward the close of evening, just as the sun had
+      set, blood red, behind the mountains. Some report of them had preceded
+      their coming, and as soon as they had eaten they were summoned to the
+      presence of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the military force in
+      the valley. Singularly enough, he was a cousin of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, who led
+      the invading army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and moccasins, and
+      everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife, entered a large low room,
+      dimly lighted by some wicks burning in tallow. A man of middle years, with
+      a keen New England face, sat at a little table, and several others of
+      varying ages stood near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five knew instinctively that the man at the table was Colonel Butler,
+      and they bowed, but they did not show the faintest trace of subservience.
+      They had caught suspicious glances from some of the officers who stood
+      about the commander, and they stiffened at once. Colonel Butler looked
+      involuntarily at Henry-everybody always took him, without the telling, for
+      leader of the group.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had report of you,&rdquo; he said in cool noncommittal tones, &ldquo;and you
+      have been telling of great Indian councils that you have seen in the
+      woods. May I ask your name and where you belong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name,&rdquo; replied Henry with dignity, &ldquo;is Henry Ware, and I come from
+      Kentucky. My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim
+      Hart. They, too, come from Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances. Certainly they were
+      wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. It would seem
+      strange that new settlers in that far land should be here in Pennsylvania.
+      Henry saw clearly that his story was doubted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kentucky, you tell me?&rdquo; said Colonel Butler. &ldquo;Do you mean to say you have
+      come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an attack by Indians and
+      Tories?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a little, but
+      he saw that the commander was not unreasonable. It was a time when men
+      might well question the words of strangers. Remembering this, he replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you. In fact, we came from
+      a point much farther than that. We came from New Orleans to Pittsburgh
+      with a fleet loaded with supplies for the Continental armies, and
+      commanded by Adam Colfax of New Hampshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;you were on that expedition? It seems to me that I
+      recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some independent
+      scouts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we reached Pittsburgh,&rdquo; continued Henry, &ldquo;it was our first intention
+      to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war movement was in
+      progress to the eastward, and we thought that we would see what was going
+      on. Four of us have been captives among the Iroquois. We know much of
+      their plans, and we know, too, that Timmendiquas, the great chief of the
+      Wyandots, whom we fought along the Ohio, has joined them with a hand of
+      his best warriors. We have also seen Thayendanegea, every one of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Brant?&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the great Mohawk
+      by his white name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We have seen him, and we have also seen the woman
+      they call Queen Esther. She is continually urging the Indians on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. He also
+      introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John Durkee, Colonel
+      Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garrett,
+      Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler
+      courteously. &ldquo;You will pardon so many questions, but we must be careful.
+      You will see that yourselves. But I am a New England man myself, from
+      Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. I recall now that we have heard
+      of you, also, and we are grateful for your coming. Will you and your
+      comrades tell us all that you have seen and heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere. They were no longer
+      possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one point when it
+      should be dreaded at another. The men drew closely around them, and
+      listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the dim room. Henry spoke first,
+      and the others in their turn. Every one of them spoke tersely but vividly
+      in the language of the forest. They felt deeply what they had seen, and
+      they drew the same picture for their listeners. Gradually the faces of the
+      Wyoming men became shadowed. This was a formidable tale that they were
+      hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is worse than I thought it could be,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler at last.
+      &ldquo;How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Close to fifteen hundred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All trained warriors and soldiers. And at the best we cannot raise more
+      than three hundreds including old men and boys, and our men, too, are
+      farmers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we can beat them. Only give us a chance, Colonel!&rdquo; exclaimed Captain
+      Ransom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid the chance will come too soon,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler, and then
+      turning to the five: &ldquo;Help us all you can. We need scouts and riflemen.
+      Come to the fort for any food and ammunition you may need.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay, and do
+      all in their power. In fact, they had come for that very purpose.
+      Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had implicit faith in
+      them they went forth to find that, despite the night and the darkness,
+      fugitives were already crossing the river to seek refuge in Forty Fort,
+      bringing with them tales of death and devastation, some of which were
+      exaggerated, but too many true in all their hideous details. Men had been
+      shot and scalped in the fields, houses were burning, women and children
+      were captives for a fate that no one could foretell. Red ruin was already
+      stalking down the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and dugouts
+      across the river. Here and there a torch light flickered on the surface of
+      the stream, showing the pale faces of the women and children, too
+      frightened to cry. They had fled in haste, bringing with them only the
+      clothes they wore and maybe a blanket or two. The borderers knew too well
+      what Indian war was, with all its accompaniments of fire and the stake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night. They secured a large
+      boat and crossed the river again and again, guarding the fugitives with
+      their rifles, and bringing comfort to many a timid heart. Indian bands had
+      penetrated far into the Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure that none were
+      yet in the neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the fugitives
+      who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors of the five, had
+      they so chosen, were over for the time. But their nerves were tuned to so
+      high a pitch, and they felt so powerfully the presence of danger, that
+      they could not rest, nor did they have any desire for sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of oars. It had
+      been detailed for their service, and they decided to pull up the river.
+      They thought it possible that they might see the advance of the enemy and
+      bring news worth the telling. Long Jim and Tom Ross took the oars, and
+      their powerful arms sent the boat swiftly along in the shadow of the
+      western bank. Henry and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at the fort
+      and a few on either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall, and
+      everything else were merged in obscurity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger, not for
+      themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs, yet so new, few
+      people lived beyond the palisades, but here were rich and scattered
+      settlements; and men, even in the face of great peril, are always loth to
+      abandon the homes that they have built with so much toil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long strokes
+      that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and houses sank out of
+      sight. Before them lay the somber surface of the rippling river, the
+      shadowy hills, and silence. The world seemed given over to the night save
+      for themselves, but they knew too well to trust to such apparent
+      desertion. At such hours the Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt
+      that they were already near, gathering news of their victims for the
+      Indian and Tory horde. Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+      himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks and
+      bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross drawing their oars
+      so carefully through the water that there was never a plash to tell of
+      their passing. Henry was in the prow of the boat, bent forward a little,
+      eyes searching the surface of the river, and ears intent upon any sound
+      that might pass on the bank. Suddenly he gave a little signal to the
+      rowers and they let their oars rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bring the boat in closer to the bank,&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;Push it gently
+      among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jim obeyed. The boat slid softly among tall bushes that shadowed
+      the water, and was hidden completely. Then Henry stepped out, crept
+      cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here very low, and lay pressed
+      closely against the earth, but supported by the exposed root of a tree. He
+      had heard voices, those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to see.
+      Peering through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+      warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great oak. The
+      face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his element, with a better
+      prospect of success than any that he had ever known before. Henry
+      shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life
+      when he might have taken it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might be
+      saying, not to slay. Two of the warriors, as he saw by their paint, were
+      Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. Moreover, his slight
+      knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and gradually he gathered the
+      drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
+      the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed that
+      his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with his
+      wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid the
+      place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He slid
+      back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pull back down the river as gently as you can,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;and then
+      I'll tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
+      yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish plan
+      that he had heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that man,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;His name is Standish. I was there
+      nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his family an'
+      run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't afraid, an' now
+      he's got to pay the price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he mustn't do that,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;It's too much to pay for just being
+      foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet save that
+      man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, course,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;Like ez not Standish will shoot at us when
+      we knock on his door, but let's try it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others nodded assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
+      Jim give Sol and me the oars now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
+      down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
+      ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house that
+      they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come, but as
+      they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The shiftless
+      one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hated to do it, but I had to,&rdquo; he murmured. The next moment Henry was
+      knocking at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up! Up!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
+      lives!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
+      then they heard him at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Why are you beating on my door at such a time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are friends, Mr. Standish,&rdquo; cried Henry, &ldquo;and if you would save your
+      wife and children you must go at once! Open the door! Open, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man inside was in a terrible quandary. It was thus that renegades or
+      Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes bade a door to be
+      opened, in order that they might find an easy path to slaughter. But the
+      voice outside was powerfully insistent, it had the note of truth; his wife
+      and children, roused, too, were crying out, in alarm. Henry knocked again
+      on the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+      earnestness, to open and flee. Standish could resist no longer. He took
+      down the bar and flung open the door, springing back, startled at the five
+      figures that stood before him. In the dusk he did not remember Shif'less
+      Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Standish,&rdquo; Henry said, speaking rapidly, &ldquo;we are, as you can see,
+      white. You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades within half an
+      hour. We know that, because we heard them talking from the bushes. We have
+      a boat in the river; you can reach it in five minutes. Take your wife and
+      children, and pull for Forty Fort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Standish was bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we had been that you'd be a dead man already,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish recognized the
+      fact. His wife had felt the truth in the tones of the strangers, and was
+      begging him to go. Their children were crying at visions of the tomahawk
+      and scalping knife now so near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll go,&rdquo; said Standish. &ldquo;At any rate, it can't do any harm. We'll get a
+      few things together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not wait for anything!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry. &ldquo;You haven't a minute to
+      spare! Here are more blankets! Take them and run for the boat! Sol and
+      Jim, see them on board, and then come back!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his family ran for
+      the boat. Jim and the shiftless one almost threw them on board, thrust a
+      pair of oars into the bands of Standish, another into the hands of his
+      wife, and then told them to pull with all their might for the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you,&rdquo; cried Standish, &ldquo;what becomes of you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed Henry's
+      plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you trouble about us,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;We will come later.
+      Now pull! pull!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the boat and
+      its occupants were lost in the darkness. Tom Ross and Sol did not pause to
+      watch them, but ran swiftly back to the house. Henry was at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; he said briefly, and they entered. Then he closed the door and
+      dropped the bar into place. Shif'less Sol and Paul were already inside,
+      one sitting on the chair and the other on the edge of the bed. Some coals,
+      almost hidden under ashes, smoldered and cast a faint light in the room,
+      the only one that the house had, although it was divided into two parts by
+      a rough homespun curtain. Henry opened one of the window shutters a little
+      and looked out. The dawn had not yet come, but it was not a dark night,
+      and he looked over across the little clearing to the trees beyond. On that
+      side was a tiny garden, and near the wall of the house some roses were
+      blooming. He could see the glow of pink and red. But no enemy bad yet
+      approached. Searching the clearing carefully with those eyes of his,
+      almost preternaturally keen, he was confident that the Indians were still
+      in the woods. He felt an intense thrill of satisfaction at the success of
+      his plan so far.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the borderer alone
+      knew what the border suffered, and only those who never saw or felt the
+      torture could turn the other cheek to be smitten. The Standish house had
+      made a sudden and ominous change of tenants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will soon be day,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and farmers are early risers. Kindle
+      up that fire a little, will you, Sol? I want some smoke to come out of the
+      chimney.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three pieces of
+      wood that lay on the hearth. Little flames and smoke arose. Henry looked
+      curiously about the house. It was the usual cabin of the frontier,
+      although somewhat larger. The bed on which Shif'less Sol sat was evidently
+      that of the father and mother, while two large ones behind the curtain
+      were used by the children. On the shelf stood a pail half full of drinking
+      water, and by the side of it a tin cup. Dried herbs hung over the
+      fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners. The clothing of
+      the children was scattered about. Unprepared food for breakfast stood on a
+      table. Everything told of a hasty flight and its terrible need. Henry was
+      already resolved, but his heart hardened within him as he saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for the door
+      bar nearly in two. The others said not a word. They had no need to speak.
+      They understood everything that he did. He opened the window again and
+      looked out. Nothing yet appeared. &ldquo;The dawn will come in three quarters of
+      an hour,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we shall not have to wait long for what we want to
+      do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat down facing the door. All the others were sitting, and they, too,
+      faced the door. Everyone had his rifle across his knees, with one hand
+      upon the hammer. The wood on the hearth sputtered as the fire spread, and
+      the flames grew. Beyond a doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising from the
+      chimney, and a watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful and
+      unsuspecting mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn't be sorry,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. He hoped
+      the waiting would be very short. The light was sufficient for him to see
+      the faces of his comrades, and he noticed that they were all very tense.
+      This was no common watch that they kept. Shif'less Sol remained on the
+      bed, Henry sat on another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the chests
+      with his back to the wall. Long Jim was near the curtain. Close by Paul
+      was a home-made cradle. He put down his hand and touched it. He was glad
+      that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his heart anew for the
+      task that lay before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. He did not
+      open it, but there was a crack through which he could see. The others said
+      nothing, but watched his face. When he turned away they knew that the
+      moment was at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've just come from the woods,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and in a minute they'll be
+      at the door. Now, boys, take one last look at your rifles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no answer
+      came from within. The knock was repeated, sharper and louder, and Henry,
+      altering his voice as much as possible, exclaimed like one suddenly
+      awakened from sleep:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is it? What do you want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've come from farther up the valley. We're scouts, we've been up to the
+      Indian country. We're half starved. Open and give us food!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe you,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;Honest people don't come to my door
+      at this time in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his vivid fancy,
+      thought he heard whispering on the other side of the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Open!&rdquo; cried Wyatt, &ldquo;or we'll break your door down!&rdquo; Henry said nothing,
+      nor did any of the others. They did not stir. The fire crackled a little,
+      but there was no other sound in the Standish house. Presently they heard a
+      slight noise outside, that of light feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are going for a log with which to break the door in,&rdquo; whispered
+      Henry. &ldquo;They won't have to look far. The wood pile isn't fifty feet away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' then,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;they won't have much left to do but to
+      take the scalps of women an' little children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless one's
+      significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. Henry went to
+      the door, put his ear to the line where it joined the wall, and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've got their log,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and in half a minute they'll rush it
+      against the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came back to his old position. Paul's heart began to thump, and his
+      thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. Then they heard
+      rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew open. A half dozen
+      Iroquois and a log that they held between them were hurled into the middle
+      of the room. The door had given away so easily and unexpectedly that the
+      warriors could not check themselves, and two or three fell with the log.
+      But they sprang like cats to their feet, and with their comrades uttered a
+      cry that filled the whole cabin with its terrible sound and import.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at once. The
+      five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, all waiting silent
+      and motionless were far different from what they expected. Here could be
+      no scalps, with the long, silky hair of women and children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their foes.
+      Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five muzzles, and in an
+      instant the cabin was filled with smoke and war shouts, but the warriors
+      never had a chance. They could only strike blindly with their tomahawks,
+      and in a half minute three of them, two wounded, rushed through the door
+      and fled to the woods. They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt,
+      who had hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. WYOMING
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The five made no attempt to pursue. In fact, they did not leave the cabin,
+      but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen, hideous with war
+      paint, but now at the end of their last trail. Their tomahawks lay upon
+      the floor, and glittered when the light from the fire fell upon them.
+      Smoke, heavy with the odor of burned gunpowder, drifted about the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of air
+      poured into the room. Over the mountains in the east came the first shaft
+      of day. The surface of the river was lightening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do with them?&rdquo; asked Paul, pointing to the silent forms on
+      the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave them,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Butler's army is burning everything before it,
+      and this house and all in it is bound to go. You notice, however, that
+      Braxton Wyatt is not here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trust him to escape every time,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Of course he stood
+      back while the Indians rushed the house. But ez shore ez we live somebody
+      will get him some day. People like that can't escape always.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and not long
+      after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort again, where they found
+      Standish and his family. Henry replied briefly to the man's questions, but
+      two hours later a scout came in and reported the grim sight that he had
+      seen in the Standish home. No one could ask for further proof of the
+      fealty of the five, who sought a little sleep, but before noon were off
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go farther up the
+      valley. But not willing to turn back, they ascended the mountains that hem
+      it in, and from the loftiest point that they could find sought a sight of
+      the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer. The blue of the heavens
+      showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and the hills and
+      mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark green. The river, a
+      beautiful river at any time, seemed from this height a great current of
+      quicksilver. Henry pointed to a place far up the stream where black dots
+      appeared on its surface. These dots were moving, and they came on in four
+      lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Boys,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you know what those lines of black dots are?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;it's Butler's army of Indians, Tories,
+      Canadians, an' English. They've come from Tioga Point on the river, an'
+      our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the distance,
+      with startling clearness. The five, watching from their peak, saw them
+      turn in toward the land, where they poured forth a motley stream of red
+      men and white, a stream that was quickly swallowed up in the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they're coming fast,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;It's for us to carry the warning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they passed,
+      and once more they were in the council room with Colonel Zebulon Butler
+      and his officers around him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So they are at hand, and you have seen them?&rdquo; said the colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Henry, the spokesman, &ldquo;they came down from Tioga Point in
+      boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through the woods. They will
+      be here today.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a little silence in the room. The older men understood the
+      danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should we stay here and wait for them?&rdquo; exclaimed one of the younger
+      captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. &ldquo;Why not go out,
+      meet them, and beat them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They outnumber us about five to one,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Brant, if he is still
+      with them, though he may have gone to some other place from Tioga Point,
+      is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, and they say that the
+      Tory leader is energetic and capable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all true!&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Butler. &ldquo;We must stay in the fort! We
+      must not go out to meet them! We are not strong enough!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger officers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be scalped,
+      while we stay behind log walls!&rdquo; said one of them boldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely militia,
+      farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It hurts
+      me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we sit quiet here. But
+      I know that we have no chance against so large a force, and if we fall
+      what is to become of the hundreds whom we now protect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were indignant. They
+      would not seek shelter for themselves while others were suffering. A young
+      lieutenant saw from a window two fires spring up and burn like torch
+      lights against the sky. They were houses blazing before the Indian brand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at that!&rdquo; he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, &ldquo;and we are
+      here, under cover, doing nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler, although the
+      flush remained on his face, still shook his head. He glanced at Tom Ross,
+      the oldest of the five.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know about the Indian force,&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;What should we do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was his wont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a hard thing to set here,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;but it will be harder to
+      go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four or five to one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must not go out,&rdquo; repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family has been
+      killed and scalped,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep, angry cry went up. Colonel Butler and the few who stood with him
+      were overborne. Such things as these could not be endured, and reluctantly
+      the commander gave his consent. They would go out and fight. The fort and
+      its enclosures were soon filled with the sounds of preparation, and the
+      little army was formed rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will fight by your side, of course,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we wish to serve
+      on the flank as an independent band. We can be of more service in that
+      manner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Act as you think best,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force formed in
+      ranks. Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon going into battle.
+      They had seen the strength of that army of Indians, renegades, Tories,
+      Canadians, and English advancing under the banner of England, and they
+      knew the power and fanaticism of the Indian leaders. They believed that
+      the terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had continually chanted to
+      them her songs of blood as they came down the river. It was now the third
+      of July, and valley and river were beautiful in the golden sunlight. The
+      foliage showed vivid and deep green on either line of high hills. The
+      summer sun had never shown more kindly over the lovely valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The time was now three o'clock. The gates of the fort were thrown open,
+      and the little army marched out, only three hundred, of whom seventy were
+      old men, or boys so young that in our day they would be called children.
+      Yet they marched bravely against the picked warriors of the Iroquois,
+      trained from infancy to the forest and war, and a formidable body of white
+      rovers who wished to destroy the little colony of &ldquo;rebels,&rdquo; as they called
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Small though it might be, it was a gallant army. Young and old held their
+      heads high. A banner was flying, and a boy beat a steady insistent roll
+      upon a drum. Henry and his comrades were on the left flank, the river was
+      on the right. The great gates had closed behind them, shutting in the
+      women and the children. The sun blazed down, throwing everything into
+      relief with its intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces of the
+      borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes. Colonel Butler and two
+      or three of his officers were on horseback, leading the van. Now that the
+      decision was to fight, the older officers, who had opposed it, were in the
+      very front. Forward they went, and spread out a little, but with the right
+      flank still resting on the river, and the left extended on the plain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from the others,
+      searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was already so near.
+      Their gloom did not decrease. Neither the rolling of the drum nor the
+      flaunting of the banner had any effect. Brave though the men might be,
+      this was not the way in which they should meet an Indian foe who
+      outnumbered them four or five to one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't like it,&rdquo; muttered Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor do I,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but remember that whatever happens we all stand
+      together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We remember!&rdquo; said the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the main force
+      some hundred yards. They swung in a little toward the river. The banks
+      here were highland off to the left was a large swamp. The five now checked
+      speed and moved with great wariness. They saw nothing, and they heard
+      nothing, either, until they went forty or fifty yards farther. Then a low
+      droning sound came to their ears. It was the voice of one yet far away,
+      but they knew it. It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther, in this
+      moment the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+      continuously for the combat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a little. The
+      chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they saw the ominous
+      figure approaching. She was much as she had been on that night when they
+      first beheld her. She wore the same dress of barbaric colors, she swung
+      the same great tomahawk about her head, and sang all the time of fire and
+      blood and death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech cloth for
+      battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war paint, and bright
+      feathers gleaming in their hair. Henry recognized the tall form of
+      Timmendiquas, notable by his height, and around him his little band of
+      Wyandots, ready to prove themselves mighty warriors to their eastern
+      friends the Iroquois. Back of these was a long line of Indians and their
+      white allies, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers in the
+      center, bearing the flag of England. The warriors, of whom the Senecas
+      were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on their right
+      flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. Sangerachte and Hiokatoo,
+      who had taken two English prisoners at Braddock's defeat, and who had
+      afterwards burned them both alive with his own hand, were the principal
+      leaders of the Senecas. Henry caught a glimpse of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler in the
+      center, with a great blood-red handkerchief tied around his head, and,
+      despite the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of the heart how far
+      the hostile line extended. It could wrap itself like a python around the
+      defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a tale that will soon be told,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy was at
+      band. Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing chant of Queen
+      Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from a thousand throats,
+      swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a wounded beast. The farmers,
+      the boys, and the old men, most of whom had never been in battle, might
+      well tremble at this ominous sound, so great in volume and extending so
+      far into the forest. But they stood firm, drawing themselves into a
+      somewhat more compact body, and still advancing with their banners flying,
+      and the boy beating out that steady roll on the drum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed his force
+      in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank of the river and his
+      left against the swamp. Forward pressed the motley army of the other
+      Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame, and the bulk of his force came
+      into view, the sun shining down on the green uniforms of the English and
+      the naked brown bodies of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The American commander gave the order to fire. Eager fingers were already
+      on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the entire rank. The Royal
+      Greens and Rangers, although replying with their own fire, gave back
+      before the storm of bullets, and the Wyoming men, with a shout of triumph,
+      sprang forward. It was always a characteristic of the border settler,
+      despite many disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and cunning, to
+      rush straight at his foe whenever he saw him. His, unless a trained forest
+      warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this gallant little force
+      asked for nothing but to come to close grips with the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men in the center with &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler gave back still more. With
+      cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing rapidly, and
+      continuing to drive the mongrel white force. The rifles were cracking
+      rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. The wind caught wisps of it
+      and carried them off down the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It goes better than I thought,&rdquo; said Paul as he reloaded his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we are fighting the white men only. Where are all
+      the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than two to one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here they come,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of the swamp,
+      which was supposed to protect the left flank of the Wyoming force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of dark
+      figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth, armed with rifle
+      and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the unprotected side of their foe. The
+      swamp had been but little obstacle to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once. As many as possible were
+      called off immediately from the main body, but they were not numerous
+      enough to have any effect. The Indians came through the swamp in hundreds
+      and hundreds, and, as they uttered their triumphant yell, poured a
+      terrible fire into the Wyoming left flank. The defenders were forced to
+      give ground, and the English and Tories came on again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fire was now deadly and of great volume. The air was filled with the
+      flashing of the rifles. The cloud of smoke grew heavier, and faces, either
+      from heat or excitement, showed red through it. The air was filled with
+      bullets, and the Wyoming force was being cut down fast, as the fire of
+      more than a thousand rifles converged upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as they could
+      at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping closer and closer,
+      and that the hail of bullets it sent in was cutting away the whole left
+      flank of the defenders. They saw the tall figure of Timmendiquas, a very
+      god of war, leading on the Indians, with his fearless Wyandots in a close
+      cluster around him. Colonel John Durkee, gathering up a force of fifty or
+      sixty, charged straight at the warriors, but he was killed by a withering
+      volley, which drove his men back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which often decide
+      the fate of a battle. The company of Captain Whittlesey, on the extreme
+      left, which was suffering most severely, was ordered to fall back. The
+      entire little army, which was being pressed hard now, seeing the movement
+      of Whittlesey, began to retreat. Even without the mistake it is likely
+      they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and renegades,
+      uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward. Colonel Zebulon Butler, seeing
+      the crisis, rode up and down in front of his men, shouting: &ldquo;Don't leave
+      me, my children! the victory is ours!&rdquo; Bravely his officers strove to stop
+      the retreat. Every captain who led a company into action was killed. Some
+      of these captains were but boys. The men were falling by dozens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading force,
+      were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their unloaded rifles, threw
+      themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the defense. Not more than two hundred
+      of the Wyoming men were left standing, and the impact of seven or eight
+      hundred savage warriors was so great that they were hurled back in
+      confusion. A wail of grief and terror came from the other side of the
+      river, where a great body of women and children were watching the
+      fighting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The battle's lost,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond hope of saving it,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but, boys, we five are alive yet,
+      and we'll do our best to help the others protect the retreat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such a
+      terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more than one
+      soldier ere the tomahawk fell. Shif'less Sol took a shot at &ldquo;Indian&rdquo;
+       Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet missed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,&rdquo; exclaimed
+      the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the invading force came in between and he did not get another shot.
+      There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the crashing fire of
+      hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians, and the cries of the
+      wounded. Over them all hovered smoke and dust, and the air was heavy, too,
+      with the odor of burnt gunpowder. The division of old men and very young
+      boys stood next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand, but in
+      the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy of the
+      best of soldiers. Three fourths of them died that day, before they were
+      driven back on the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp, which had
+      been some protection to the left, and they were now assailed from all
+      sides except that of the river. &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler raged at the head of his
+      men, who had been driven back at first, and who had been saved by the
+      Indians. Timmendiquas, in the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon this
+      field, became by valor and power of intellect the leader of all the
+      Indians for this moment. The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+      I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them, unconsciously
+      obeyed him. Nor did the fierce woman, Queen Esther, shirk the battle.
+      Waving her great tomahawk, she was continually among the warriors, singing
+      her song of war and death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little band
+      crumbled away beneath the deadly fire. Soon none would be left unless they
+      ran for their lives. The five drew away toward the forest. They saw that
+      the fort itself could not hold out against such a numerous and victorious
+      foe, and they had no mind to be trapped. But their retreat was slow, and
+      as they went they sent bullet after bullet into the Indian flank. Only a
+      small percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now broke. Colonel
+      Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached the fort. Some of
+      the men jumped into the river, swam to the other shore and escaped. Some
+      swam to a little island called Monocacy, and hid, but the Tories and
+      Indians hunted them out and slew them. One Tory found his brother there,
+      and killed him with his own hand, a deed of unspeakable horror that is yet
+      mentioned by the people of that region. A few fled into the forest and
+      entered the fort at night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE BLOODY ROCK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the woods. They
+      were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite the tan. They had
+      never before looked upon so terrible a scene. The Indians, wild with the
+      excitement of a great triumph and thirsting for blood, were running over
+      the field scalping the dead, killing some of the wounded, and saving
+      others for the worst of tortures. Nor were their white allies one whit
+      behind them. They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+      conquered. Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to show
+      nobility. Several of the wounded he saved from immediate death, and he
+      tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws who rushed forward and
+      began to practice cruelties at which even the most veteran warrior might
+      shudder. But Queen Esther urged them on, and &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler himself and
+      the chiefs were afraid of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+      self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from the
+      lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The sun
+      was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the field
+      as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors rushed
+      about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous trophies
+      about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping to the far
+      bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the fugitives in
+      their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending in
+      a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
+      seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then a
+      massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they had
+      known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be full of
+      the scalps of white men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
+      impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
+      but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
+      good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he saw
+      the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror of
+      those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss from
+      his mind as long as he lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;look at that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
+      might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought in
+      the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when everything
+      else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the friendly
+      shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of Iroquois,
+      four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians were gaining
+      fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon we ought to save them,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt of it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Paul, you and Sol move off to the right a
+      little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
+      four.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol having
+      the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four Indians at
+      closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and, turning at an
+      angle, they ran forward to intercept the three Indians. It would have
+      seemed to anyone who was not aware of the presence of friends in the
+      forest that the old man and the boy would surely be overtaken and be
+      tomahawked, but three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage. Two of
+      the warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell of
+      pain. Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group of three.
+      One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but Paul only grazed
+      his man. Nevertheless, the whole pursuit stopped, and the boy and the old
+      man escaped to the forest, and subsequently to safety at the Moravian
+      towns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say something
+      to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon him, and he was
+      thrown to the ground. His comrade was served in the same way, but the
+      shiftless one was uncommonly strong and agile. He managed to writhe half
+      way to his knees, and he shouted in a tremendous voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Run, Henry, run! You can't do anything for us now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth. The blood came, but
+      the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked curiously at the
+      renegade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've often wondered about you, Braxton,&rdquo; he said calmly. &ldquo;I used to think
+      that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in him, but I reckon you
+      ain't got none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the others. But
+      Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished. A powerful party of warriors
+      had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and Paul, while they were absorbed in the
+      chase of the old man and the boy, and now they were prisoners, bound
+      securely. Braxton Wyatt came back from the fruitless search for the three,
+      but his face was full of savage joy as he looked down at the captured two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could have killed you just as easily,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we didn't want to
+      do that. Our friends here are going to have their fun with you first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but Shif'less
+      Sol faced them boldly. Several white men in uniform had come up, and among
+      them was an elderly one, short and squat, and with a great flame colored
+      handkerchief tied around his bead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to us, all
+      under the English flag,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but I'm thinkin' that a lot
+      o' people in England will be ashamed uv it when they hear the news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving Shif'less
+      Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the Iroquois. The two
+      prisoners were jerked to their feet and told to march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on, Paul,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;'Tain't wuth while fur us to resist.
+      But don't you quit hopin', Paul. We've escaped from many a tight corner,
+      an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut up!&rdquo; said Braxton Wyatt savagely. &ldquo;If you say another word I'll gag
+      you in a way that will make you squirm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye. Solomon Hyde, who was not
+      shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not afraid now in the
+      face of death preceded by long torture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;an' I reckon he wuz the
+      meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived. He liked to live on dirt, the
+      dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather steal his food
+      than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he wuz afeard o' a rabbit,
+      but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd nip you in the ankle. But bad ez
+      that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a gentleman 'longside o' you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it. He snatched a
+      pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with the butt of it, but
+      a tall figure suddenly appeared before him, and made a commanding gesture.
+      The gesture said plainly: &ldquo;Do not strike; put that pistol back!&rdquo; Braxton
+      Wyatt, whose soul was afraid within him, did not strike, and he put the
+      pistol back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots, who with
+      his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the Wyandot warriors
+      were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks, the Keepers of the Western
+      Gate. He was bare to the waist. One shoulder was streaked with blood from
+      a slight wound, but his countenance was not on fire with passion for
+      torture and slaughter like those of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no need to strike prisoners,&rdquo; he said in English. &ldquo;Their fate
+      will be decided later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the great
+      Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you didn't
+      capture me yourself. I'm glad to say that you're a great warrior.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak out,
+      although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and casual ally,
+      and had little authority in that army. Yet he was overawed, and so were
+      the Indians with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That is
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell. But he and the
+      Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas looked after them
+      until they were out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured,&rdquo; whispered
+      Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, too,&rdquo; Paul whispered back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven rapidly
+      now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to the fort, and
+      here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy company, fellow captives,
+      all bound tightly, and many wounded. No help, no treatment of any kind was
+      offered for hurts. The Indians and renegades stood about and yelled with
+      delight when the agony of some man's wound wrung from him a groan. The
+      scene was hideous in every respect. The setting sun shone blood red over
+      forest, field, and river. Far off burning houses still smoked like
+      torches. But the mountain wall in the east, was growing dusky with the
+      coming twilight. From the island, where they were massacring the fugitives
+      in their vain hiding places, came the sound of shots and cries, but
+      elsewhere the firing had ceased. All who could escape had done so already,
+      and of the others, those who were dead were fortunate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness swept down
+      over the earth. Fires began to blaze up here and there, some for terrible
+      purpose. The victorious Iroquois; stripped to the waist and painted in
+      glaring colors, joined in a savage dance that would remain forever
+      photographed on the eye of Paul Cotter. As they jumped to and fro,
+      hundreds of them, waving aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both of
+      which dripped red, they sang their wild chant of war and triumph. White
+      men, too, as savage as they, joined them. Paul shuddered again and again
+      from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of mankind
+      escapes, even in dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder. It was like a carnival of
+      demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch. A singular figure,
+      one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the midst of
+      the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose above all the
+      others. The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some monstrous creature
+      out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with blood, her eyes
+      bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders. Paul would have covered his eyes
+      had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his head away. He could not
+      bear to see more. But the horrible chant came to his ears, nevertheless,
+      and it was reinforced presently by other sounds still more terrible. Fires
+      sprang up in the forest, and cries came from these fires. The victorious
+      army of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler was beginning to burn the prisoners alive. But at
+      this point we must stop. The details of what happened around those fires
+      that night are not for the ordinary reader. It suffices to say that the
+      darkest deed ever done on the soil of what is now the United States was
+      being enacted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken. He could not
+      close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came from the fires, but he
+      shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. Nevertheless, he opened them
+      again in a moment. The horrible fascination was too great. He saw Queen
+      Esther still shaking her tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly darted
+      through the circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and
+      disappeared in the darkness. The scalp dance went on, but it had lost some
+      of its fire and vigor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's gone,&rdquo; he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his
+      eyes. The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors, was
+      becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there on
+      the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt thrust a
+      violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up! You're wanted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of
+      resistance. The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton
+      Wyatt led. The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them,
+      tomahawks in their hands. Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the
+      impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure that
+      they were marching to their fate. Death he did not fear so greatly,
+      although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one of
+      the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.
+      Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that he
+      might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.
+      Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder
+      gently against Paul's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways, I
+      still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but
+      oncet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll remember, Sol,&rdquo; Paul whispered back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence, there!&rdquo; exclaimed Braxton Wyatt. But the two had said all they
+      wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled. They had
+      passed through so much that they were like those who are under the
+      influence of opiates. The path was now dark, although both torches and
+      fires burned in the distance. Presently they heard that chant with which
+      they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and they
+      knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose they
+      could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one. As they
+      approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of frenzy, and
+      Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up there!&rdquo; exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both a
+      push. Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space seized
+      them and threw them forward with much violence. When they struggled into a
+      sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a broad flat rock
+      and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something Oriental. She
+      still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be in her hand.
+      Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red dress gleamed
+      in the dusk. Surely no more terrible image ever appeared in the American
+      wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were twenty bound
+      Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a sprinkling of
+      their white allies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor
+      Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois, and
+      so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came the
+      refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six Nations,
+      greatest of men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What under the sun is she about?&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a fearful face,&rdquo; was Paul's only reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to the
+      warriors. Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners, dragged
+      him to his feet, and held him up before her. She uttered a shout, whirled
+      the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering in the moonlight,
+      and struck with all her might. The skull of the prisoner was cleft to the
+      chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of the woman who had killed
+      him. Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it was lost in the joyful yells
+      of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the woman, offered a second
+      victim. Again the tomahawk descended, and again a man fell dead without a
+      sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move
+      them. Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud. It was strange to see how fast one with
+      a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before him. Now
+      he was as cruel as the Indians themselves. Wilder and shriller grew the
+      chant of the savage queen. She was intoxicated with blood. She saw it
+      everywhere. Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth,
+      a seventh, and eighth. As fast as they fell the warriors at her command
+      brought up new victims for her weapon. Paul shut his eyes, but he knew by
+      the sounds what was passing. Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold, woman! Enough of this! Will your tomahawk never be satisfied?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul understood it, the meaning, but not the words. He opened his eyes and
+      saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding forward, his hand upraised
+      in protest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. &ldquo;Timmendiquas,&rdquo; she
+      said, &ldquo;we are the Iroquois, and we are the masters. You are far from your
+      own land, a guest in our lodges, and you cannot tell those who have won
+      the victory how they shall use it. Stand back!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A loud laugh came from the Iroquois. The fierce old chiefs, Hiokatoo and
+      Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves before Timmendiquas.
+      The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred throats pealed out with her the
+      chorus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six Nations,
+      greatest of men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gave the signal anew. The ninth victim stood before her, and then
+      fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
+      twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
+      the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
+      minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
+      straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken them,
+      and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
+      impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
+      Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two, Joseph
+      Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men, feeling that
+      life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful as that scene at
+      &ldquo;The Bloody Rock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the Indians
+      pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for the
+      fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would come
+      under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did not see a
+      form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended once, then
+      twice, and the bands of both fell free.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Run! run!&rdquo; exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. &ldquo;I
+      would save you from this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not seen
+      by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look of
+      gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a course
+      that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being noticed,
+      had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were first in
+      cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing fingers of
+      the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At the same time
+      several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hate to hit a woman,&rdquo; breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, &ldquo;but I'm goin' to
+      do it now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
+      hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although she
+      clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side. Shots
+      were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a look
+      backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit, silent and
+      deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly, were only a few
+      hundred yards away. They carried rifle, tomahawk, and knife, and Paul and
+      Shif'less Sol were unarmed. Moreover, they were coming fast, spreading out
+      slightly, and the shiftless one, able even at such a time to weigh the
+      case coolly, saw that the odds were against them. Yet he would not
+      despair. Anything might happen. It was night. There was little
+      organization in the army of the Indians and of their white allies, which
+      was giving itself up to the enjoyment of scalps and torture. Moreover, he
+      and Paul were, animated by the love of life, which is always stronger than
+      the desire to give death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. Only once
+      did the pursuers give tongue. Paul tripped over a root, and a triumphant
+      yell came from the Mohawks. But it merely gave him new life. He recovered
+      himself in an instant and ran faster. But it was terribly hard work. He
+      could hear Shif'less Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he was sure
+      that his own must have the same sound for his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate one uv 'em is beat,&rdquo; gasped Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Only four are
+      ban-in' on now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground rose a little and became rougher. The lights from the Indian
+      fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a dense thicket lay
+      before them. Something stirred in the thicket, and the eyes of Shif'less
+      Sol caught a glimpse of a human shoulder. His heart sank like a plummet in
+      a pool. The Indians were ahead of them. They would be caught, and would be
+      carried back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a rifle was
+      projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell. They heard a cry
+      behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance backward he saw
+      one of the Mohawks fall. The three who were left hesitated and stopped.
+      When a second shot was fired from the bushes and another Mohawk went down,
+      the remaining two fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes, dragging Paul
+      after him. Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to receive them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you wuz watchin' over us!&rdquo; exclaimed the shiftless one joyously. &ldquo;It
+      wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we didn't even notice the
+      shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God, you were here!&rdquo; exclaimed Paul. &ldquo;You don't know what Sol and I
+      have seen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul revived in a few minutes. They were still lying in the bushes, and
+      when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an angle several hundred
+      yards before they stopped. One pistol was thrust into Paul's hand and
+      another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep those until we can get rifles for you,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;You may need
+      'em to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the Indian camp.
+      The warriors whom they had repulsed were not returning with help, and, for
+      the moment, they seemed to have no enemy to fear, yet they could still see
+      through the woods the faint lights of the Indian camps, and to Paul, at
+      least, came the echoes of distant cries that told of things not to be
+      written.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;There
+      was nothing to do but run. Then we hid and waited a chance for rescue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Timmendiquas!&rdquo; exclaimed Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Paul, and then he told the story of &ldquo;The Bloody
+      Rock,&rdquo; and how, in the turmoil and excitement attending the flight of the
+      last four, Timmendiquas had cut the bonds of Shif'less Sol and himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol,
+      &ldquo;jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter an' torture o' prisoners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure you're right,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears strange to me,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;that Timmendiquas was made an
+      Injun. He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be white, an' he'd be
+      pow'ful useful, too. I don't jest eggzactly understan' it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I
+      hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he's the only one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that he had
+      seen that night. &ldquo;The Iroquois an' the white men that's allied with 'em
+      won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em happen to come under my
+      thumb. I don't think the like o' this day an' night wuz ever done on this
+      continent afore. I'm for revenge, I am, like that place where the Bible
+      says, 'an eye for an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin' to stay
+      in this part o' the country till we git it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and energy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're all going to stay with you, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We're needed here. I
+      think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in if we can, and fight with
+      the defense.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we'll do that,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but the Wyoming fort can't ever
+      hold out. Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to fight, an' thar are
+      more than than a thousand howlin' devils outside ready to attack it. Thar
+      may be worse to come than anything we've yet seen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, we'll go in an' help,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Sol, when you an' Paul have
+      rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in the woods, and come
+      up to the fort on the other side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where they lay
+      completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy, they undertook to
+      reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the palisades. Paul was still weak
+      from shock, but Shif'less Sol had fully recovered. Neither bad weapons,
+      but they were sure that the want could be supplied soon. They curved
+      around toward the west, intending to approach the fort from the other
+      side, but they did not wholly lose sight of the fires, and they heard now
+      and then the triumphant war whoop. The victors were still engaged in the
+      pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death. Little did the five,
+      seeing and feeling only their part of it there in the dark woods, dream
+      that the deeds of this day and night would soon shock the whole civilized
+      world, and remain, for generations, a crowning act of infamy. But they
+      certainly felt it deeply enough, and in each heart burned a fierce desire
+      for revenge upon the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort, which was
+      filled with grief and wailing. That afternoon more than one hundred and
+      fifty women within those walls had been made widows, and six hundred
+      children had been made orphans. But few men fit to bear arms were left for
+      its defense, and it was certain that the allied British and Indian army
+      would easily take it on the morrow. A demand for its surrender in the name
+      of King George III of England had already been made, and, sitting at a
+      little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the room lighted only
+      by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison were writing
+      an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next day, with what it
+      should contain. But Colonel Butler put his wife on a horse and escaped
+      with her over the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in, only to
+      be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in a stream,
+      seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest, preferring any
+      dangers that might be found there to the mercies of the victors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to beg 'em
+      to take us back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are bein'
+      surrendered,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands an' feet
+      tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Of
+      course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be captured again.
+      Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the women and children that are
+      going.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort. It was far better to let
+      Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. They were able
+      to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern, long and slender
+      barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and also excellent
+      double-barreled pistols. The other three now had double-barreled pistols,
+      too. In addition they resupplied themselves with as much ammunition as
+      scouts and hunters could conveniently carry, and toward morning left the
+      fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the flank of
+      a frightened crowd of fugitives. It was composed of one hundred women and
+      children and a single man, James Carpenter, who was doing his best to
+      guide and protect them. They were intending to flee through the wilderness
+      to the Delaware and Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn, built by Jacob
+      Stroud, where Stroudsburg now is.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like Indians
+      themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and raised his rifle. A
+      cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line, a cry so intensely bitter
+      that it cut Henry to the very heart. He threw up his hand, and exclaimed
+      in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are friends, not Indians or Tories! We fought with you yesterday, and
+      we are ready to fight for you now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle. He had fought in the battle,
+      too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades who had been there
+      with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you want of us?&rdquo; asked he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;except to help you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't belong here in Wyoming,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and there's nothing to make
+      you stick to us. What are you meaning to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will go with you wherever you intend to go,&rdquo; replied Henry; &ldquo;do
+      fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which you are
+      certain to need.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought God had clean deserted us,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I'm ready to take it
+      back. I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with all these women
+      and little ones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for this very
+      purpose, but he replied simply:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to watch for the
+      Indians. Draw into the woods, where we'll be hidden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on toward the
+      woods. The long line of women and children followed. Some of the women
+      carried in their arms children too small to walk. Yet they were more
+      hopeful now when they saw that the five were friends. These lithe, active
+      frontiersmen, so quick, so skillful, and so helpful, raised their courage.
+      Yet it was a most doleful flight. Most of these women had been made widows
+      the day before, some of them had been made widows and childless at the
+      same time, and wondered why they should seek to live longer. But the very
+      mental stupor of many of them was an aid. They ceased to cry out, and some
+      even ceased to be afraid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear. Paul and Long Jim were
+      on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Pears to me,&rdquo; said Tom, &ldquo;that the thing fur us to do is to hurry 'em up
+      ez much ez possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We
+      couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would merely be a
+      massacre. We must persuade them to walk faster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis. He could talk forever in
+      his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement, mild sarcasm, and
+      anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had known, he soon had them
+      moving faster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear. They could see ahead of them
+      the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but they could also
+      see to right and left towers of smoke rising in the clear morning
+      sunlight. These, they knew, came from burning houses, and they knew, also,
+      that the valley would be ravaged from end to end and from side to side.
+      After the surrender of the fort the Indians would divide into small bands,
+      going everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if the black
+      tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen recognized their greatest
+      danger in this brilliant morning. Objects could be seen at a great
+      distance, and they could be seen vividly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry, Sol, and
+      Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. They caught a
+      distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot among some trees, and
+      they saw the sunlight glancing off the opposite mountains, but for the
+      present they saw nothing that seemed hostile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to grow
+      until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have let it grow
+      farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay down in the grass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see 'em, don't you!&rdquo; the youth whispered to his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol; &ldquo;two
+      o' em, an' Senecas, I take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've seen that crowd of women and children,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was obvious that the flying column was discovered. The two Indians
+      stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands. It was too far away
+      for the three to see their faces, but they knew the joy that would be
+      shown there. The two could return with a few warriors and massacre them
+      all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,&rdquo; whispered
+      Henry. &ldquo;I hate to shoot men from ambush, but it's got to be done. Wait,
+      they're coming a little closer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry,&rdquo; said Tom, &ldquo;an' me an'
+      Sol will take the one to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They wasted no time, but pulled trigger. The one at whom Henry had aimed
+      fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded, but evidently with
+      plenty of strength left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We mustn't let him escape! We mustn't let him carry a warning!&rdquo; cried
+      Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the
+      ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran. Under ordinary
+      circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for
+      his life, but here the necessity was vital. If he lived, carrying the tale
+      that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish. Henry followed
+      his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed behind. The
+      Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others were compelled
+      to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and bullets in their
+      rifles. But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and Silent Tom to hear
+      them exchange a few words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far away is that savage?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hundred and eighty yards,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from
+      the muzzles. The Indian fell forward and lay still. They went up to him,
+      and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may miss once, but we don't twice,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three
+      felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian. It was
+      but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,&rdquo; said Sol.
+      &ldquo;They may be needed, an' some o' the women in that crowd kin shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see
+      whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was no
+      indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the
+      fugitives. Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he
+      saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't give no alarm, did they?&rdquo; he asked in a tone so low that none
+      of the fugitives could hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't have any chance,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We've brought away all
+      their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found them
+      in an abandoned house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most stalwart
+      of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came. Meanwhile
+      the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it became. Children
+      became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so tired that they could
+      scarcely walk themselves. There was nobody in the line who had not lost
+      some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed in battle, or tortured
+      to death. As they slowly ascended the green slope of the mountain that
+      inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back upon ruin and desolation.
+      The whole black tragedy was being consummated. They could see the houses
+      in flames, and they knew that the Indian war parties were killing and
+      scalping everywhere. They knew, too, that other bodies of fugitives, as
+      stricken as their own, were fleeing into the mountains, they scarcely knew
+      whither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from the
+      weakest of the women and children. Then it became a sad and terrible wail,
+      and it was a long time before it ceased. It was an awful sound, so
+      compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that
+      Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes. But neither the five nor
+      Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing. They thought it best for
+      them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as they could,
+      often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. Paul and Long Jim
+      were the best as comforters. The two knew how, each in his own way, to
+      soothe and encourage. Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort Penn, led
+      doggedly on, scarcely saying a word. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom were
+      the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest danger and
+      responsibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July, the
+      second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the foliage
+      was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain. In this mass of
+      greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any observer
+      in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives would be
+      hidden in the same manner. He felt sure that no living human being would
+      be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to end and then
+      left to desolation, until new people, protected by American bayonets,
+      should come in and settle it again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley,
+      those emblems of destruction, were hidden. Between them and Fort Penn,
+      sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.
+      But the five welcomed the forest. A foe might lie there in ambush, but
+      they could not see the fugitives at a distance. What the latter needed now
+      was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them. Carpenter led
+      on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in single file now,
+      while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and at the rear. Henry
+      and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they fully realized the
+      overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as small as ten or a dozen
+      warriors, appear. Should the latter scatter, it would be impossible to
+      protect all the women and children from their tomahawks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.
+      Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end of
+      the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness. The
+      shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His words came true all too soon. Before the afternoon closed, two women,
+      ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were buried in
+      shallow graves under the trees. Before dark a halt was made at the
+      suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in a
+      close, drooping group. Many of the children cried, though the women had
+      all ceased to weep. They had some food with them, taken in the hurried
+      flight, and now the men asked them to eat. Few could do it, and others
+      insisted on saving what little they had for the children. Long Jim found a
+      spring near by, and all drank at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it would be
+      best to remain there until the morning. Evidently the fugitives were in no
+      condition, either mental or physical, to go farther that day, and the rest
+      was worth more than the risk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took it
+      apathetically. Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was to be had;
+      otherwise, on leaves and branches. Again Henry thanked God that it was
+      summer, and that these were people of the frontier, who could sleep in the
+      open. No fire was needed, and, outside of human enemies, only rain was to
+      be dreaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate than some
+      of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley. It had now to protect it
+      six men Henry and Paul, though boys in years, were men in strength and
+      ability&mdash;five of whom were the equals of any frontiersmen on the
+      whole border. Another crowd of women was escorted by a single man
+      throughout its entire flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about the group.
+      At times they helped gather whortleberries as food for the others, but
+      they looked for Indians or game, intending to shoot in either case. When
+      Paul and Henry were together they once heard a light sound in a thicket,
+      which at first they were afraid was made by an Indian scout, but it was a
+      deer, and it bounded away too soon for either to get a shot. They could
+      not find other game of any kind, and they came back toward the camp-if a
+      mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any kind, could be called a
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun was now setting, blood red. It tinged the forest with a fiery
+      mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had seen. But the mist
+      was gone in a few moments, and then the blackness of night came with a
+      weird moaning wind that told of desolation. Most of the children, having
+      passed through every phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen asleep.
+      Some of the women slept, also, and others wept. But the terrible wailing
+      note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Men,&rdquo; he said simply, &ldquo;don't know much about you, though I know you
+      fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what you're doin' now
+      nobody can ever repay you. I knew that I never could get across the
+      mountains with all these weak ones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at such a time.
+      Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle about the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some women did not sleep at all that night. It is not easy to conceive
+      what the frontier women of America endured so many thousands of times.
+      They had seen their husbands, brothers, and sons killed in the battle, and
+      they knew that the worst of torture had been practiced in the Indian camp.
+      Many of them really did not want to live any longer. They merely struggled
+      automatically for life. The darkness settled down thicker and thicker; the
+      blackness in the forest was intense, and they could see the faces of one
+      another only at a little distance. The desolate moan of the wind came
+      through the leaves, and, although it was July, the night grew cold. The
+      women crept closer together, trying to cover up and protect the children.
+      The wind, with its inexpressibly mournful note, was exactly fitted to
+      their feelings. Many of them wondered why a Supreme Being had permitted
+      such things. But they ceased to talk. No sound at all came from the group,
+      and any one fifty yards away, not forewarned, could not have told that
+      they were there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a little
+      hillock. Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on the most dangerous
+      of frontiers, but they had never been stirred as they were tonight. Even
+      Paul, the mildest of the five, felt something burning within him, a fire
+      that only one thing could quench.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn, and we
+      may get some of them there, but I don't think our work will be ended them.
+      I don't think I could ever be happy again if we went straight from Fort
+      Penn to Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry understood him perfectly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Paul,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I don't want to go, either, and I know the others
+      don't. Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to stay, but it is
+      vengeance. I know it's Christian to forgive your enemies, but I can't see
+      what I have seen, and hear what I have heard, and do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the news of these things spreads,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;they'll send an army
+      from the east. Sooner or later they'll just have to do it to punish the
+      Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got to be here to join that
+      army.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel that way, too, Paul,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little while, and
+      they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they began their circles about the camp again, always looking and
+      always listening. About two o'clock in the morning they heard a scream,
+      but it was only the cry of a panther. Before day there were clouds, a low
+      rumble of distant thunder, and faint far flashes of lightning. Henry was
+      in dread of rain, but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the clouds
+      went away. Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three rose from
+      the earth. The three-one woman and two children-had died in silence in the
+      night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow graves in the
+      woods. But there was little weeping or external mourning over them. All
+      were now heavy and apathetic, capable of but little more emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which now moved
+      slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted with vines and
+      bushes and without a path. The march was now so painful and difficult that
+      they did not make more than two miles an hour. The stronger of them helped
+      the men to gather more whortleberries, as it was easy to see that the food
+      they had with them would never last until they reached Fort Penn, should
+      they ever reach it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily grew
+      worse. They were well into the mountains, a region exceedingly wild and
+      rough, but little known to the settlers, who had gone around it to build
+      homes in the fertile and beautiful valley of Wyoming. The heavy forest was
+      made all the more difficult by the presence everywhere of almost
+      impassable undergrowth. Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes,
+      and in two cases they died there because the power to live was no longer
+      in them. They grew weaker and weaker. The food that they had brought from
+      the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the wild whortleberries were
+      far from sustaining. Fortunately there was plenty of water flowing tinder
+      the dark woods and along the mountainside. But they were compelled to stop
+      at intervals of an hour or two to rest, and the more timid continually
+      expected Indian ambush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+      situation. They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian pursuit,
+      which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. Anybody could
+      follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but the Iroquois, busy with
+      destruction in the valley, might not follow, even if they saw it. No one
+      could tell. The danger of starvation or of death from exhaustion was more
+      imminent, more pressing, and the five resolved to let scouting alone for
+      the rest of the day and seek game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol,
+      &ldquo;though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd, but we ought to
+      find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and Long Jim
+      in another. But with all their hunting they succeeded in finding only one
+      little deer, which fell to the rifle of Silent Tom. It made small enough
+      portions for the supper and breakfast of nearly a hundred people, but it
+      helped wonderfully, and so did the fires which Henry and his comrades
+      would now have built, even had they not been needed for the cooking. They
+      saw that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing coals, would
+      alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and the next
+      morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible memory, the Great
+      Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to this day, as &ldquo;The Shades of
+      Death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. THE SHADES OF DEATH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Shades of Death&rdquo; is a marsh on a mountain top, the great, wet, and
+      soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains. When the fugitives from
+      Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense growth of pines, growing
+      mostly out of dark, murky water, which in its turn was thick with a growth
+      of moss and aquatic plants. Snakes and all kinds of creeping things
+      swarmed in the ooze. Bear and panther were numerous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and they were
+      compelled to enter it. Henry was again devoutly thankful that it was
+      summer. In such a situation with winter on top of it only the hardiest of
+      men could survive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still leading.
+      Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd. One could not scout in
+      such a morass, and it proved to be worse than they had feared. The day
+      turned gray, and it was dark among the trees. The whole place was filled
+      with gloomy shadows. It was often impossible to judge whether fairly solid
+      soil or oozy murk lay before them. Often they went down to their waists.
+      Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the stronger. Now
+      and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the women killed them with
+      sticks. Other serpents slipped away in the slime. Everybody was plastered
+      with mud, and they became mere images of human beings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible swamp, and
+      there they buried two more of their number who had perished from
+      exhaustion. The rest, save a few, lay upon the ground as if dead. On all
+      sides of them stretched the pines and the soft black earth. It looked to
+      the fugitives like a region into which no human beings had ever come, or
+      ever would come again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from which
+      no human being would ever emerge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the morass,
+      and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within him. They were
+      hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they seemed practically
+      lifeless now. Everything was dull, heavy, and dead. The note of the wind
+      among the leaves was somber. A long black snake slipped from the marshy
+      grass near his feet and disappeared soundlessly in the water. He was sick,
+      sick to death at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire for
+      vengeance, slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst, grew
+      within him. A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear?&rdquo; asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear what?&rdquo; asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under the
+      horizon, but thar all the same. Listen, thar she goes ag'in!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note, and then
+      it came a third time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white&mdash;but not for
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. He understood the look. &ldquo;We are pursued. Them
+      wolves howlin' are the Iroquois. What do you reckon we're goin' to do,
+      Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fight!&rdquo; replied the youth, with fierce energy. &ldquo;Beat 'em off!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his plan
+      came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you,
+      Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you will be Paul
+      Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old friends of yours.
+      Carpenter will at once lead the women and children on ahead, and perhaps
+      they will not hear the battle that is going to be fought here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over the face
+      of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the shiftless one. &ldquo;It
+      seems to me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I've heard o' them four fellers you're
+      talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all over this planet an' them other
+      planets that Paul tells of, I couldn't find four other fellers that I'd ez
+      soon have with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to stand here to the death,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're shorely right,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met with
+      their full approval. Then the news was carried to Carpenter, who quickly
+      agreed that their course was the wisest. He urged all the fugitives to
+      their feet, telling them that they must reach another dry place before
+      night, but they were past asking questions now, and, heavy and apathetic,
+      they passed on into the swamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes and weeds,
+      and turned back to his friends on the oasis. The five lay down behind a
+      big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last look. They had never been
+      armed better. Their rifles were good, and the fine double-barreled
+      pistols, formidable weapons, would be a great aid, especially at close
+      quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;that the Iroquois can't get through at all
+      unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef we wuz settin' on
+      solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come sloshin' up to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's exactly it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We've a natural defense which we can
+      hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold 'em off, the
+      nearer our people will be to Fort Penn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never felt more like fightin' in my life,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among them was
+      bloodthirsty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can any of you hear anything?&rdquo; asked Henry. &ldquo;Nothin',&rdquo; replied Shif'less
+      Sol, after a little wait, &ldquo;nothin' from the women goin', an' nothin' from
+      the Iroquois comin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll just lie close,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;This hard spot of ground isn't more
+      than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get on it without our
+      knowing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides, with their
+      shoulders raised a little, in order that they might take instant aim when
+      the time came. Some rays of the sun penetrated the canopy of pines, and
+      fell across the brown, determined faces and the lean brown hands that
+      grasped the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another snake slipped
+      from the ground into the black water and swam away. Some water animal made
+      a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of these strange
+      intruders. Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a foot drawn from mud,
+      and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching, savages in war, whatever
+      they might be otherwise, and expecting an easy prey. Five brown thumbs
+      cocked their rifles, and five brown forefingers rested upon the triggers.
+      The eyes of woodsmen who seldom missed looked down the sights.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of feet in the mud came many times. The enemy was evidently
+      drawing near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many do you think are out thar?&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol to Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds.&rdquo; &ldquo;I s'pose the best thing
+      for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen, and he
+      agreed to do so. Shif'less Sol was to fire first. The sounds now ceased.
+      The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or instinct that they were
+      approaching an enemy who was to be feared, not weak and unarmed women and
+      children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger. The American
+      wilderness had heroes without number. It was Horatius Cocles five times
+      over, ready to defend the bridge with life. Over the marsh rose the weird
+      cry of an owl, and some water birds called in lonely fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile away,
+      out of the sound of rifle shot. He had urged Carpenter to marshal them on
+      as far as he could. But the silence endured yet a while longer. In the
+      dull gray light of the somber day and the waning afternoon the marsh was
+      increasingly dreary and mournful. It seemed that it must always be the
+      abode of dead or dying things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the boughs
+      appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted brow, the savage
+      black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. Only Henry saw it, but with
+      fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming leaped up before him-he fired at the
+      painted brow. The Mohawk uttered his death cry and fell back with a splash
+      into the mud and water of the swamp. A half dozen bullets were instantly
+      fired at the base of the smoke that came from Henry's rifle, but the youth
+      and his comrades lay close and were unharmed. Shif'less Sol and Tom were
+      quick enough to catch glimpses of brown forms, at which they fired, and
+      the cries coming back told that they had hit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's something,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;One or two Iroquois at least will not
+      wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish they'd try to rush us,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;I never felt so full of
+      fight in my life before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may try it,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I understand that at the big battle of the
+      Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois would wait until a white
+      man behind a tree would fire, then they would rush up and tomahawk him
+      before he could reload.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They don't know how fast we kin reload,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;an' they don't
+      know that we've got these double-barreled pistols, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, they don't,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it's a great thing for us to have them.
+      Suppose we spread out a little. So long as we keep them from getting a
+      lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a great disadvantage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the others toward
+      the left. They still had good cover, as fallen timber was scattered all
+      over the oasis, and they were quite sure that another attack would be made
+      soon. It came in about fifteen minutes. The Iroquois suddenly fired a
+      volley at the logs and brush, and when the five returned the fire, but
+      with more deadly effect, they leaped forward in the mud and attempted to
+      rush the oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a second
+      volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch foot on solid
+      earth. Then the double barreled pistols came into play. The bullets sent
+      from short range drove back the savages, who were amazed at such a deadly
+      and continued fire. Henry caught sight of a white face among these
+      assailants, and he knew it to be that of Braxton Wyatt. Singularly enough
+      he was not amazed to see it there. Wyatt, sinking deeper and deeper into
+      savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois in such a
+      pursuit. He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the infamous son of the
+      Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself worse than the worst of the
+      savages, as Thayendanegea himself has written.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now about
+      shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger Wyatt darted
+      behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the bullet. He also saw the
+      renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not able to secure a shot at him,
+      either. Nevertheless, the Iroquois attack was beaten back. It was a
+      foregone conclusion that the result would be so, unless the force was in
+      great numbers. It is likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had thought
+      only a single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the five had
+      joined them later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but
+      their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for
+      their lives, could not carry them off. Paul, with a kind of fascinated
+      horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper. Then one was entirely
+      gone. The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too, was gone.
+      But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading the fugitives
+      on toward Fort Penn. They had not only held it, but they believed that
+      they could continue to hold it against anything, and their hearts became
+      exultant. Something, too, to balance against the long score, lay out there
+      in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over Wyoming, were sorry that
+      Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stillness came again. The sun did not break through the heavy gray
+      sky, and the somber shadows brooded over &ldquo;The Shades of Death.&rdquo; They heard
+      again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on the
+      murky surface. Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry of
+      wolf replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More Iroquois coming,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Well, we gave them a pretty
+      warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm
+      thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can, except in one case,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;if the new party brings their
+      numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround
+      us in the darkness. Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when
+      twilight comes. Carpenter and the train have a long lead now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;Now, what in tarnation is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A white flag,&rdquo; said Paul. A piece of cloth that had once been white had
+      been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They want a talk with us,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it's Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;I'd like to take a shot at him,
+      talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll see what they have to say,&rdquo; said Henry, and he called aloud: &ldquo;What
+      do you want with us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To talk with you,&rdquo; replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton
+      Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; replied Henry, &ldquo;show yourself and we will not fire upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were held
+      aloft in sign of peace. It was a splendid figure, at least six feet four
+      inches in height. At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke
+      through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant
+      scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face with
+      the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red bronze.
+      It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the mighty
+      Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ware,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I would speak with you. Let us talk as one chief to
+      another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were amazed. Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he had
+      come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far more
+      formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe. But his
+      demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to answer him?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; replied Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height. The same ruddy
+      sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another splendid
+      figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height of man, his
+      hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed in buckskin,
+      and his whole attitude that of one without fear. The two, the white and
+      the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across the marsh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?&rdquo; asked Henry. In the presence of
+      the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held his
+      heart vanished. He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk under
+      the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for White
+      Lightning. He himself had owed him his life on another and more distant
+      occasion, and he was not ungrateful. So there was warmth in his tone when
+      he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, &ldquo;I have
+      things to say that are important and that you will be glad to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the young
+      chief, coming forward, met him. Henry held out his hand in white fashion,
+      and the young chief took it. There was no sound either from the swamp or
+      from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of the eyes of
+      those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish to tell you, Ware,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity
+      becoming a great chief, &ldquo;that it was not I who led the pursuit of the
+      white men's women and children. I, and the Wyandots who came with me,
+      fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies
+      when I can. We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in
+      battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose
+      in its birch-bark cradle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which
+      impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was
+      usually a mask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that you tell the truth,&rdquo; said Henry gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I and my Wyandots,&rdquo; continued the chief, &ldquo;followed a trail through the
+      woods. We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and
+      Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up
+      there had just been a battle. The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven
+      back. It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little
+      children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak true words, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill squaws
+      and papooses,&rdquo; continued Timmendiquas. &ldquo;So I say to you, go on with those
+      who flee across the mountains. Our warriors shall not pursue you any
+      longer. We will turn back to the valley from which we come, and those of
+      your race, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, shall go with us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone that told
+      that every word was meant. Henry felt a glow of admiration. The true
+      greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the Iroquois?&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;will they go back with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will. They have killed too much. Today all the white people in the
+      valley are killed or driven away. Many scalps have been taken, those of
+      women and children, too, and men have died at the stake. I have felt shame
+      for their deeds, Ware, and it will bring punishment upon my brethren, the
+      Iroquois. It will make so great a noise in the world that many soldiers
+      will come, and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it is so, Timmendiquas,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;But you will be far away
+      then in your own land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief drew himself up a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall remain with the Iroquois,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have promised to help
+      them, and I must do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't blame you for that,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I am glad that you do not
+      seek the scalps of women and children. We are at once enemies and friends,
+      Timmendiquas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      White Lightning bowed gravely. He and Henry touched hands again, and each
+      withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked back toward his
+      comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy were near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The four rose up to greet him. They had heard part of what was said, and
+      Henry quickly told them the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's shorely a great chief,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;He'll keep his word,
+      too. Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear from pursuit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's a statesman, too,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He sees what damage the deeds of
+      Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them. He thinks our people
+      will now send a great army against the Iroquois, and I think so, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No nation can stand a thing like that,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;and I didn't dream it
+      could happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by the
+      fugitives. All of them had confidence in the word of Timmendiquas. There
+      was a remote chance that some other band had entered the swamp at a
+      different point, but it was remote, indeed, and it did not trouble them
+      much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Night was now over the great swamp. The sun no longer came through the
+      gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes of flame made by
+      fireflies. Had not the trail been so broad and deep it could easily have
+      been lost, but, being what it was, the skilled eyes of the frontiersmen
+      followed it without trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, looking at the
+      tracks in the mud. Then he suddenly added: &ldquo;Here's whar one's quit
+      forever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some bushes, and its
+      length indicated that a woman lay there. They passed it by in silence.
+      Henry now appreciated more fully than ever the mercy of Timmendiquas. The
+      five and Carpenter could not possibly have protected the miserable
+      fugitives against the great chief, with fifty Wyandots and Iroquois at his
+      back. Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none of the Indians or
+      white allies around him would have done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but watchful,
+      and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm. It was Carpenter, a man whose
+      task was not less than that of the five. They were in the thick of it and
+      could see what was done, but he had to lead on and wait. He counted the
+      dusk figures as they approached him, one, two, three, four, five, and
+      perhaps no man ever felt greater relief. He advanced toward them and said
+      huskily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was no fight! They did not attack!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a fight,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we beat them back; then a second and
+      a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of Wyandots, led by
+      their great chief, Timmendiquas. He came forward and said that they would
+      not pursue women and children, and that we could go in safety.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carpenter looked incredulous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;every word of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is more than Brant would have done,&rdquo; said Carpenter, &ldquo;and it saves us,
+      with your help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter,&rdquo; said Henry
+      sincerely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the oasis, but
+      they spread the news that there would be no more pursuit, and many
+      drooping spirits revived. They spent another day in the Great Dismal
+      Swamp, where more lives were lost. On the day after their emergence from
+      the marsh, Henry and his comrades killed two deer, which furnished greatly
+      needed food, and on the day after that, excepting those who had died by
+      the way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into shelter and
+      safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois began the
+      celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great victory and the many
+      scalps taken at Wyoming. They could not recall another time when they had
+      secured so many of these hideous trophies, and they were drunk with the
+      joy of victory. Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes, and some
+      painted and dressed like Indians, took part in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand council to
+      prepare for it. All the leading chiefs were present, Sangerachte,
+      Hiokatoo, and the others. Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe, and other white men
+      were admitted. After their deliberations a great fire was built in the
+      center of the camp, the squaws who had followed the army feeding it with
+      brushwood until it leaped and roared and formed a great red pyramid. Then
+      the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance, and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the farthest point
+      of the camp emerged a long line of warriors, hundreds and hundreds of
+      them, all painted in red and black with horrible designs. They were naked
+      except the breechcloth and moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a tomahawk
+      as he sang.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the red
+      light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced and wheeled
+      about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid light upon faces hideous
+      with paint or the intoxication of triumph. The glare of their black eyes
+      was like those of Eastern eaters of hasheesh or opium, and they bounded to
+      and fro as if their muscles were springs of steel. They sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  We have met the Bostonians [*] in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+     [* Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by
+     the Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The monotonous chant with the refrain, &ldquo;Ever-victorious is the League of
+      the Ho-de-no-sau-nee,&rdquo; went on for many verses. Meanwhile the old squaws
+      never ceased to feed the bonfire, and the flames roared, casting a deeper
+      and more vivid light over the distorted faces of the dancers and those of
+      the chiefs, who sat gravely beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Higher and higher leaped the warriors. They seemed unconscious of fatigue,
+      and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. Their whole souls were
+      possessed by the orgy. Beads of sweat, not of exhaustion, but of emotional
+      excitement, appeared upon their faces and naked bodies, and the red and
+      black paint streaked together horribly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased suddenly to
+      sing, although they continued their dance. A moment later a cry which
+      thrilled every nerve came from a far point in the dark background. It was
+      the scalp yell, the most terrible of all Indian cries, long, high-pitched,
+      and quavering, having in it something of the barking howl of the wolf and
+      the fiendish shriek of a murderous maniac. The warriors instantly took it
+      up, and gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight. It was that of
+      a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the waist, her body
+      covered with red and black paint, her long black hair hanging in a loose
+      cloud down her back. She held a fresh scalp, taken from a white head,
+      aloft in either band. It was Catharine Montour, and it was she who had
+      first emitted the scalp yell. After her came more warriors, all bearing
+      scalps. The scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken,
+      and, as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+      hours, penetrating every part of the forest. All the time Catharine
+      Montour led the dance. None bounded higher than she. None grimaced more
+      horribly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and black
+      caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around amid hoots and
+      yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. They were the surviving
+      prisoners, and the black caps meant that they were to be killed and
+      scalped on the morrow. Stupefied by all through which they had gone, they
+      were scarcely conscious now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Midnight came. The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm stars
+      looked down upon the savage and awful scene. Now the dancers began to
+      weary. Many dropped unconscious, and the others danced about them where
+      they lay. After a while all ceased. Then the chiefs brought forth a white
+      dog, which Hiokatoo killed and threw on the embers of the fire. When it
+      was thoroughly roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it. Thus
+      closed the Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. A FOREST PAGE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five had
+      helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food and rest they
+      needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt themselves relieved of
+      a great responsibility. They were also aware how much they owed to
+      Timmendiquas, because few of the Indians and renegades would have been so
+      forbearing. Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to the great Wyandot.
+      Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the prisoners and the
+      slaughter of women and children, he did not do it. The five could never
+      forget these things in after life, when Brant was glorified as a great
+      warrior and leader. Their minds always turned to Timmendiquas as the
+      highest and finest of Indian types.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful state of
+      exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death on the way. Other
+      groups reached the Moravian towns, where they were received with all
+      kindness by the German settlers. The five were able to give some help to
+      several of these parties, but the beautiful Wyoming Valley lay utterly in
+      ruins. The ruthless fury of the savages and of many of the Tories,
+      Canadians, and Englishmen, can scarcely be told. Everything was
+      slaughtered or burned. As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+      pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. An entire
+      population was either annihilated or driven out, and finally Butler's
+      army, finding that nothing more was left to be destroyed, gathered in its
+      war parties and marched northward with a vast store of spoils, in which
+      scalps were conspicuous. When they repassed Tioga Point, Timmendiquas and
+      his Wyandots were still with them. Thayendanegea was also with them here,
+      and so was Walter Butler, who was destined shortly to make a reputation
+      equaling that of his father, &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler. Nor had the terrible Queen
+      Esther ever left them. She marched at the head of the army, singing,
+      horrid chants of victory, and swinging the great war tomahawk, which did
+      not often leave her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was still
+      full of the impulse of savage triumph. Wild Indian songs floated along the
+      stream or through the meadows, which were quiet now. They advanced at
+      their ease, knowing that there was nobody to attack them, but they were
+      watched by five woodsmen, two of whom were boys. Meanwhile the story of
+      Wyoming, to an extent that neither Indians nor woodsmen themselves
+      suspected, was spreading from town to town in the East, to invade thence
+      the whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation and horror that
+      would make the name Wyoming long memorable. Wyoming had been a victory for
+      the flag under which the invaders fought, but it sadly tarnished the cause
+      of that flag, and the consequences were to be seen soon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were thinking
+      little of distant consequences, but they were eager for the present
+      punishment of these men who had committed so much cruelty. From the bushes
+      they could easily follow the canoes, and could recognize some of their
+      occupants. In one of the rear boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young man whom
+      they knew to be Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by the most
+      savage ferocity against the patriots. He and Wyatt seemed to be on the
+      best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the five who
+      were watching among the bushes on the river bank. Certainly Braxton Wyatt
+      and he were a pair well met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol longingly, &ldquo;I think I could jest about reach
+      Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here. I ain't over fond o' shootin' from
+      ambush, but I done got over all scruples so fur ez he's concerned. Jest
+      one bullet, one little bullet, Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur a
+      second chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sol, it won't do,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;They'd get off to hunt us. The whole
+      fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as fast as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I s'pose you're right, Henry,&rdquo; said the shiftless one sadly, &ldquo;but I'd
+      jest like to try it once. I'd give a month's good huntin' for that single
+      trial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river, they turned
+      back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses near it. Here
+      everything had been destroyed. It was about dusk when they approached the
+      battlefield, and they heard a dreadful howling, chiefly that of wolves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'd better turn away,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We couldn't do anything with
+      so many.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up the
+      Susquehanna. A light rain fell that night, but they slept under a little
+      shed, once attached to a house which had been destroyed by fire. In some
+      way the shed had escaped the flames, and it now came into timely use. The
+      five, cunning in forest practice, drew up brush on the sides, and
+      half-burned timber also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which had
+      not long been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain, although
+      they did not sleep for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night had come
+      on cool, and the rain made it cooler. The five, profiting by experience,
+      often carried with them two light blankets instead of one heavy one. With
+      one blanket beneath the body they could keep warmer in case the weather
+      was cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old outhouse,
+      protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. They had eaten of a
+      deer that they had shot in the morning, and they had a sense of comfort
+      and rest that none of them had known before in many days. Henry's feelings
+      were much like those that he had experienced when he lay in the bushes in
+      the little canoe, wrapped up from the storm and hidden from the Iroquois.
+      But here there was an important increase of pleasure, the pattering of the
+      rain on the board roof, a pleasant, soothing sound to which millions of
+      boys, many of them afterwards great men, have listened in America.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost musical in
+      its rhythm, kept up. Not much wind was blowing, and it, too, was
+      melodious. Henry lay with his head on a little heap of ashes, which was
+      covered by his under blanket, and, for the first time since he had brought
+      the warning to Wyoming, he was free from all feeling of danger. The
+      picture itself of the battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture, and
+      of the savage Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was at
+      times as vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then in
+      its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth, hope, and
+      strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower. Physical comfort and the
+      presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that permeated his
+      whole being. The light wind mingled pleasantly with the soft summer rain.
+      The sound of the two grew strangely melodious, almost piercingly sweet,
+      and then it seemed to be human. They sang together, the wind and rain,
+      among the leaves, and the note that reached his heart, rather than his
+      ear, thrilled him with courage and hope. Once more the invisible voice
+      that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told him, even here
+      in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was lost would be regained. The
+      chords ended, and the echoes, amazingly clear, floated far away in the
+      darkness and rain. Henry roused himself, and came from the imaginative
+      borderland. He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice to Shif'less
+      Sol:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear anything, Sol?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothin' but the wind an' the rain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry,&rdquo; continued the shiftless
+      one, &ldquo;'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near sleep ez a feller
+      could be without bein' ackshooally so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was drifting away,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather gift.
+      Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything in brilliant
+      colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air, but Henry's gift went
+      deeper. It was the power to evoke the actual living picture of the event
+      that bad not yet occurred, something akin in its nature to prophecy, based
+      perhaps upon the wonderful power of observation, inherited doubtless, from
+      countless primitive ancestors. The finest product of the wilderness, he
+      saw in that wilderness many things that others did not see, and
+      unconsciously he drew his conclusions from superior knowledge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another note, a howl
+      almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full of ferocity. All knew
+      it at once. They had heard the cry of wolves too often in their lives, but
+      this had an uncommon note like the yell of the Indian in victory. Again
+      the cry arose, nearer, haunting, and powerful. The five, used to the
+      darkness, could see one another's faces, and the look that all gave was
+      the same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley,&rdquo; whispered Paul,
+      &ldquo;and striking our trail they think they are going to find what they have
+      been finding in such plenty before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; nodded Henry, &ldquo;but do you remember that time when in the house we
+      took the place of the man, his wife and children, just before the Indians
+      came?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll treat them wolves the same way,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm glad of the chance,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me, too,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and everyone
+      held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle, with the muzzle
+      pointing toward the forest. All accomplished marksmen, it would only be a
+      matter of a moment for the stock to leap to the shoulder, the eye to
+      glance down the barrel, the finger to pull the trigger, and the unerring
+      bullet to leap forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, you give the word as usual,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet, and they
+      saw many gleaming eyes draw near. There must have been at least thirty of
+      the wolves, and the five figures that they saw reclining, silent and
+      motionless, against the unburned portion of the house might well have been
+      those of the dead and scalped, whom they had found in such numbers
+      everywhere. They drew near in a semicircular group, its concave front
+      extended toward the fire, the greatest wolves at the center. Despite many
+      feastings, the wolves were hungry again. Nothing had opposed them before,
+      but caution was instinctive. The big gray leaders did not mind the night
+      or the wind or the rain, which they had known all their lives, and which
+      they counted as nothing, but they always had involuntary suspicion of
+      human figures, whether living or not, and they approached slowly,
+      wrinkling back their noses and sniffing the wind which blew from them
+      instead of the five figures. But their confidence increased as they
+      advanced. They had found many such burned houses as this, but they had
+      found nothing among the ruins except what they wished.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the human
+figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves curling
+back farther from the strong white teeth. The outer ends of the concave
+semicircle also drew in. The whole pack was about to spring upon its
+unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true that many a wolfish pulse
+beat a little higher in anticipation. With a suddenness as startling
+ figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a gush
+of flame shot from five muzzles. Five of the wolves-and they were the
+biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon the ashes of the
+charred timbers, and the others, howling their terror to the dark,
+skies, fled deep into the forest.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with his foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting those
+      wolves,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I for one am glad we did it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So am I,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me, too,&rdquo; said the other three together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one fell
+      asleep. No more wolves howled that night anywhere near them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and a
+      splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold. Jim Hart built a fire among
+      the blackened logs, and cooked venison. They had also brought from Fort
+      Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim carried with a small coffee pot in
+      his camp kit, and everyone had a small tin cup. He made coffee for them,
+      an uncommon wilderness luxury, in which they could rarely indulge, and
+      they were heartened and strengthened by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with its silver
+      river in the center, and its green mountain walls on either side. But the
+      beauty was for the eye only. It did not reach the hearts of those who had
+      seen it before. All of the five loved the wilderness, but they felt now
+      how tragic silence and desolation could be where human life and all the
+      daily ways of human life had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its own. The
+      game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into the valley. Deer
+      ate what had grown in the fields and gardens, and the wolves were
+      everywhere. The whole black tragedy was written for miles. They were never
+      out of sight of some trace of it, and their anger grew again as they
+      advanced in the blackened path of the victorious Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts and
+      skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign against the
+      Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted sooner or later.
+      Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering news of the Indian plans,
+      and, when that army of which they dreamed should finally march, they could
+      help it most of all by warning it of ambush, the Indian's deadliest
+      weapon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was manifest in
+      all wars with the Indians along the whole border from North to South, as
+      it steadily shifted farther West. The practical hunter and scout was
+      always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw
+      levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were
+      invariably at a great disadvantage. They were likely to be caught in
+      ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened
+      at Wyoming. The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+      country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his
+      comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it. An army needed
+      eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs. So they went
+      swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of the
+      Iroquois. They had a plan of approaching the upper Mohawk village of
+      Canajoharie, where one account says that Thayendanegea was born, although
+      another credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned now from the valley to the deep woods. The trail showed that
+      the great Indian force, after disembarking again, split into large
+      parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound for its home village. The
+      five noted several of the trails, but one of them consumed the whole
+      attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about eight
+      Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he took to be
+      those of a white woman and of several children, captives, as even a tyro
+      would infer. The soul of Tom, the good, honest, and inarticulate
+      frontiersman, stirred within him. A white woman and her children being
+      carried off to savagery, to be lost forevermore to their kind! Tom, still
+      inarticulate, felt his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that the
+      tracks in the soft mud told so plainly. But despair was not the only
+      emotion in his heart. The silent and brave man meant to act.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;see these tracks here in the soft spot by the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly the same
+      tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About a day old, I think,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just about,&rdquo; said Tom; &ldquo;an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in my mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I do,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we ought to overtake them by to-morrow
+      night. You tell the others, Tom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words, receiving
+      from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed fast on the trail.
+      They knew that the Indians could not go very fast, as their speed must be
+      that of the slowest, namely, that of the children, and it seemed likely
+      that Henry's prediction of overtaking them on the following night would
+      come true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an easy trail. Here and there were tiny fragments of cloth, caught
+      by a bush from the dress of a captive. In one place they saw a fragment of
+      a child's shoe that had been dropped off and abandoned. Paul picked up the
+      worn piece of leather and examined it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it was worn by a girl,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and, judging from its size, she
+      could not have been more than eight years old. Think of a child like that
+      being made to walk five or six hundred miles through these woods!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Younger ones still have had to do it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol gravely, &ldquo;an'
+      them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they had no
+      doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more numerous than any
+      others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming battle. They came that afternoon
+      to a camp fire beside which the warriors and captives had slept the night
+      before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They ate bar meat an' wild turkey,&rdquo; said Long Jim, looking at some bones
+      on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' here,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;on this pile uv bushes is whar the women an'
+      children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is whar the warriors lay
+      anywhars. You can still see how the bodies uv some uv 'cm crushed down the
+      grass an' little bushes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' I'm thinkin',&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail that led
+      away from the camp fire, &ldquo;that some o' them little ones wuz gittin'
+      pow'ful tired. Look how these here little trails are wobblin' about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar tomahawks,&rdquo; said
+      Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance of Tom's
+      remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the greatest danger to be feared,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we must overtake
+      them in the night when they are not suspecting. If we attack by day they
+      will tomahawk the captives the very first thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we don't need to hurry. We'll go on until about
+      midnight, and then sleep until sunrise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far less
+      skillful than they could have followed. But a silent dread was in the
+      heart of every one of them. As they saw the path of the small feet
+      staggering more and more they feared to behold some terrible object beside
+      the path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The trail of the littlest child is gone,&rdquo; suddenly announced Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but the mother has picked it up and is carrying it.
+      See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor woman,&rdquo; said Paul. &ldquo;Henry, we're just bound to overtake that band.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll do it,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes that they
+      could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. Then they resumed
+      the trail, haunted always by that fear of finding something terrible
+      beside it. But it was a trail that continually grew slower. The Indians
+      themselves were tired, or, feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of
+      hurry. By and by the trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It feels a lot better now,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;So do I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet cold.
+      Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians had taken time
+      for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They can't be more than two or three hours ahead,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we'll
+      have to go on now very cautiously.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests, a region
+      suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on their own account;
+      but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now advanced slowly. The
+      afternoon was long and warm, but an hour before sunset they looked over a
+      hill into a glade, and saw the warriors making camp for the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. The
+      Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were cooking venison
+      upon it. Others were lying on the grass, apparently resting, but a little
+      to one side sat a woman, still young and of large, strong figure, though
+      now apparently in the last stages of exhaustion, with her feet showing
+      through the fragments of shoes that she wore. Her head was bare, and her
+      dress was in strips. Four children lay beside her' the youngest two with
+      their heads in her lap. The other two, who might be eleven and thirteen
+      each, had pillowed their heads on their arms, and lay in the dull apathy
+      that comes from the finish of both strength and hope. The woman's face was
+      pitiful. She had more to fear than the children, and she knew it. She was
+      so worn that the skin hung loosely on her face, and her eyes showed
+      despair only. The sad spectacle was almost more than Paul could stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't like to shoot from ambush,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we could cut down half
+      of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk the woman
+      and children in an instant,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;We agreed, you know, that it
+      would be sure to happen. We can't do anything until night comes, and then
+      we've got to be mighty cautious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew carefully
+      to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the undergrowth, watching the
+      Indians complete their fire and their preparations for the night. It was
+      evident to Henry that they considered themselves perfectly safe. Certainly
+      they had every reason for thinking so. It was not likely that white
+      enemies were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it could only be
+      a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce band of Senecas
+      who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they' had suffered the
+      year before at the Oriskany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just enough for
+      broiling deer meat which they carried. They drank at a little spring which
+      ran from under a ledge near them, and gave portions of the meat to the
+      woman and children. After the woman had eaten, they bound her hands, and
+      she lay back on the grass, about twenty feet from the camp fire. Two
+      children lay on either side of her, and they were soon sound asleep. The
+      warriors, as Indians will do when they are free from danger and care,
+      talked a good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them a
+      luxurious time. They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and looked at
+      some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at their belts. The
+      woman could not keep from seeing these, too, but her face did not change
+      from its stony aspect of despair. Then the light of the fire went out, the
+      sun sank behind the mountains, and the five could no longer see the little
+      group of captives and captors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging at the
+      hearts of every one of them. But they must give the Indians time to fall
+      asleep if they would secure rescue, and not merely revenge. They remained
+      in the bushes, saying but little and eating of venison that they carried
+      in their knapsacks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark, but with a
+      faint moon showing. Then they descended slowly into the valley,
+      approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they knew the Indian camp
+      lay. This work required at least three quarters of an hour, and they
+      reached a point where they could see the embers of the fire and the dark
+      figures lying about it. The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put out
+      no sentinels, and all were asleep. But the five knew that, at the first
+      shot, they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and as
+      formidable as tigers. Their problem seemed as great as ever. So they lay
+      in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's this,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;We want to save the woman and the children from
+      the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of range of the blade
+      before the battle begins.&rdquo; &ldquo;How?&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run for the
+      woods with the children, and then you four must do the most of the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think you can do it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can, as I will soon show you. I'm going to steal forward to the woman,
+      but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your rifles and pistols.
+      You can come a little nearer without being heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in the last
+      fringe of bushes except Henry. He lay almost flat upon the ground,
+      carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his right hand. He was
+      undertaking one of the severest and most dangerous tests known to a
+      frontiersman. He meant to crawl into the very midst of a camp of the
+      Iroquois, composed of the most alert woodsmen in the world, men who would
+      spring up at the slightest crackle in the brush. Woodmen who, warned by
+      some sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their hearts
+      from beating louder and faster. They knew the tremendous risk undertaken
+      by their comrade, but there was not one of them who would have shirked it,
+      had not all yielded it to the one whom they knew to be the best fitted for
+      the task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years of skill
+      that he had acquired in his life in the wilds. His body was like that of a
+      serpent, going forward, coil by coil. He was near enough now to see the
+      embers of the fire not yet quite dead, the dark figures scattered about
+      it, sleeping upon the grass with the long ease of custom, and then the
+      outline of the woman apart from the others with the children about her.
+      Henry now lay entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those of a
+      serpent. It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body that
+      he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of his advance was the woman. He saw by the faint light of the
+      moon that she was not yet asleep. Her face, worn and weather beaten, was
+      upturned to the skies, and the stony look of despair seemed to have
+      settled there forever. She lay upon some pine boughs, and her hands were
+      tied behind her for the night with deerskin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like a great
+      snake. Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with war paint, and
+      came closer to the woman. She was not paying attention to anything about
+      her, but was merely looking up at the pale, cold stars, as if everything
+      in the world had ceased for her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept a little nearer. He made a slight noise, as of a lizard
+      running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. He crept closer,
+      and there he lay flat upon the grass within six feet of her, his figure
+      merely a slightly darker blur against the dark blur of the earth. Then,
+      trusting to the woman's courage and strength of mind, he emitted a hiss
+      very soft and low, like the warning of a serpent, half in fear and half in
+      anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which the sound
+      had come. It might have been the formidable hiss of a coiling rattlesnake
+      that she heard, but she felt no fear. She was too much stunned, too near
+      exhaustion to be alarmed by anything, and she did not look a second time.
+      She merely settled back on the pine boughs, and again looked dully up at
+      the pale, cold stars that cared so little for her or hers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low noise,
+      sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the border, knew to
+      be made by a human being. She raised herself a little, although it was
+      difficult with her bound hands to sit upright, and saw a dark shadow
+      approaching her. That dark shadow she knew to be the figure of a man. An
+      Indian would not be approaching in such a manner, and she looked again,
+      startled into a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the
+      incredible, the impossible, was about to happen. A voice came from the
+      figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not move,&rdquo; said that incredible voice out of the unknown. &ldquo;I have come
+      for your rescue, and others who have come for the same purpose are near.
+      Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds that hold your arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary Newton. A
+      sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her four children awoke
+      within her just when hope had gone the call to life came. She had never
+      heard before a voice so full of cheer and encouragement. It penetrated her
+      whole being. Exhaustion and despair fled away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn a little on your side,&rdquo; said the voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel as it
+      swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them together. Her
+      arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein of her being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall attack in a few moments,&rdquo; said the voice, &ldquo;but at the first
+      shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your children. Hold out
+      your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held out both hands obediently. The handle of a tomahawk was pressed
+      into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into the other.
+      Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how,&rdquo; said the
+      voice. Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far days of
+      Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom the unknown
+      figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. It had seemed to her
+      that God himself had deserted her, but at the last moment he had sent some
+      one. She did not doubt, she could not doubt, because the bonds had been
+      severed, and there she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand. The
+      friendly stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come, but
+      she was not helpless now. Like many another frontier woman, she was
+      naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope, all her
+      strength had returned for the present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape superstition, and
+      Mary Newton began to believe that some supernatural creature had
+      intervened in her behalf. She raised herself just a little on one elbow
+      and surveyed the surrounding thicket. She saw only the dead embers of the
+      fire, and the dark forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground. Had it
+      not been for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have believed
+      that the voice was only a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose quickly to
+      his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands. The woman's fingers clutched
+      the knife and pistol more tightly, and her whole gaunt figure trembled.
+      The Seneca listened only a moment. Then he gave a sharp cry, and all the
+      other warriors sprang up. But three of them rose only to fall again, as
+      the rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others staggered from wounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket, and then
+      they rushed upon the camp. Quick as a flash two of the Senecas started
+      toward the woman and children with their tomahawks, but Mary Newton was
+      ready. Her heart had leaped at the shots when the Senecas fell, and she
+      kept her courage. Now she sprang to her full height, and, with the
+      children screaming at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly
+      into the face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same way
+      with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. Then, tomahawk
+      in hand, she rushed forward. In judging Mary Newton, one must consider
+      time and place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk. As the five
+      rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled pistols, while Henry
+      swung his clubbed rifle with terrible effect. It was too much for the
+      Senecas. The apparition of the armed woman, whom they had left bound, and
+      the deadly fire from the five figures that sprang upon them, was like a
+      blow from the hand of Aieroski. The unhurt and wounded fled deep into the
+      forest, leaving their dead behind. Mary Newton, her great deed done,
+      collapsed from emotion and weakness. The screams of the children sank in a
+      few moments to frightened whimpers. But the oldest, when they saw the
+      white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was revived;
+      Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three were in the thickets,
+      watching lest the surviving Senecas return for attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must have sent
+      you to our rescue,&rdquo; said Mary Newton reverently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don't know,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;but we are doing the best we can. Do you
+      think you can walk now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Away from the savages? Yes!&rdquo; she said passionately. She looked down at
+      the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a single trace of
+      pity for them. Again it is necessary to consider time and place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some of my strength came back while I was lying here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and
+      much more of it when you drove away the Indians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire with his
+      comrades, &ldquo;we must start on the back trail at once. The surviving Senecas,
+      joined by other Iroquois, will certainly pursue, and we need all the start
+      that we can get.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him over his
+      shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the older two scorned
+      help. They were full of admiration for the great woodsmen, mighty heroes
+      who had suddenly appeared out of the air, as it were, and who had swept
+      like a tornado over the Seneca band. It did not seem possible now that
+      they, could be retaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also recovered her
+      forethought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;One of
+      the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles farther on was a river
+      flowing into the Susquehanna, and that they would cross this river on a
+      boat now concealed among bushes on the bank. The crossing was at a sudden
+      drop between high banks. Might not we go on, find the boat, and come back
+      in it down the river and into the Susquehanna?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Besides,
+      it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the Iroquois off our track.
+      They'll think, o' course, that we've gone straight back, an' we'll pass
+      'em ez we're going forward.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's certainly the best plan,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it's worth our while to
+      try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois. Do you know the general
+      direction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost due north.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any Iroquois who
+      may be returning to this camp, and push for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others followed in a
+      silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the two smallest children,
+      who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. Henry did not believe that the
+      returning Iroquois could follow their trail on such a dark night, and the
+      others agreed with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while they saw the gleam of water. Henry knew that it must be very
+      near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such a dark night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Mrs. Newton,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that this is the river of which you
+      spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you've done well with my poor guess, and the boat must
+      be hidden somewhere near here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two older children, unable to
+      walk farther, sank down beside her. But the two who slept soundly on the
+      shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not awaken. Henry motioned to Jim
+      and Tom to remain there, and Shif'less Sol bent upon them a quizzical and
+      approving look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed galoot,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;carryin' a baby that tender. Knew Jim could sling a little black
+      bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think you'd take to nussin' so easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde,&rdquo; said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+      condescension, &ldquo;that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. In face
+      uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but with the little an'
+      the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez human bein's are ever made to
+      be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right, old hoss,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;I can't argify with you now, ez the
+      general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his major, which is
+      Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o' them barges o' Clepatry that
+      Paul tells about, all solid silver, with red silk sails an' gold oars, an'
+      we're meanin' to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they discovered, deep
+      among bushes growing in the shallow water, a large, well-made boat with
+      two pairs of oars and with small supplies of parched corn and venison
+      hidden in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good luck an' bad luck come mixed,&rdquo; said the shift-less one, &ldquo;an' this is
+      shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck. The woman an' the children are
+      clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we could never hev got them
+      back. Now it's jest a question o' rowin' an' fightin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;while you can go back and tell the others, Sol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That just suits a lazy man,&rdquo; said Sol, and he walked away jauntily. Under
+      his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at the find, which he knew to
+      be of such vast importance. He approached the dusky group, and his really
+      tender heart was stirred with pity for the rescued captives. Long Jim and
+      Silent Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but the older ones and
+      the woman, also, had fallen asleep. Sol, in order to conceal his emotion,
+      strode up rather roughly. Mary Newton awoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find anything?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Find anything?&rdquo; repeated Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Well, Long Jim an' Tom here
+      might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me, three eddicated
+      men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally bound to find it whether
+      it wuz thar or not. Yes, we've unearthed what Paul would call an argosy,
+      the grandest craft that ever floated on this here creek, that I never saw
+      before, an' that I don't know the name uv. She's bein' floated out now,
+      an' I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to tell the princes and
+      princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the other gran' an' mighty
+      passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice is in the stream, an' the
+      Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin', settin' on the Pup to welcome ye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sol,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;you do talk a power uv foolishness, with your Dogs
+      an' Pups.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain't foolishness,&rdquo; rejoined the shiftless one. &ldquo;I heard Paul read it
+      out o' a book oncet, plain ez day. They've been ruled by Dogs at Venice
+      for more than a thousand years, an' on big 'casions the Dog comes down a
+      canal in a golden barge, settin' on the Pup. I'll admit it 'pears strange
+      to me, too, but who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the ways of
+      foreign countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the sea?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've found the boat,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;an' that's enough!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it really true?&rdquo; asked Mrs. Newton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' Henry an' Paul are in it, waitin' fur
+      us. We're thinkin', Mrs. Newton, that the roughest part of your trip is
+      over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really fine one,
+      and they were delighted. Mary Newton for the first time broke down and
+      wept, and no one disturbed her. The five spread the blankets on the bottom
+      of the boat, where the children soon went to sleep once more, and Tom Ross
+      and Shif'less Sol took the oars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back in a boat ag'in,&rdquo; said the shiftless one exultantly. &ldquo;Makes me feel
+      like old times. My fav'rite mode o' travelin' when Jim Hart, 'stead o' me,
+      is at the oars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which is most o' the time,&rdquo; said Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the wilderness.
+      They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful arms, with scarcely an
+      effort, propelled the boat along the stream. The woman herself lay down on
+      the blankets and fell asleep with the children. Henry at the prow, Tom
+      Ross at the stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with their
+      rifles across their knees. They knew that the danger was far from over.
+      Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown to them, as a
+      highway, and those who survived of their original captors could pick up
+      their trail by daylight. And the Senecas, being mad for revenge, would
+      surely get help and follow. Henry believed that the theory of returning
+      toward the Wyoming Valley was sound. That region had been so thoroughly
+      ravaged now that all the Indians would be going northward. If they could
+      float down a day or so without molestation, they would probably be safe.
+      The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened, flowing with a smooth,
+      fairly swift current. The forest on either side was dense with oak,
+      hickory, maple, and other splendid trees, often with a growth of
+      underbrush. The three riflemen never ceased to watch intently. Henry
+      always looked ahead. It would have been difficult for any ambushed
+      marksman to have escaped his notice. But nothing occurred to disturb them.
+      Once a deer came down to drink, and fled away at sight of the phantom boat
+      gliding almost without noise on the still waters. Once the far scream of a
+      panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton and her children, sleeping
+      soundly, did not hear it. The five themselves knew the nature of the
+      sound, and paid no attention. The boat went steadily on, the three
+      riflemen never changing their position, and soon the day began to come.
+      Little arrows of golden light pierced through the foliage of the trees,
+      and sparkled on the surface of the water. In the cast the red sun was
+      coming from his nightly trip. Henry looked down at the sleepers. They were
+      overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake of their own accord for a
+      long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not let 'em sleep on?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom Ross
+      resumed their rifles. The day was coming fast, and the whole forest was
+      soon transfused with light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one of the five had slept during the night. They did not feel the need
+      of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great exaltation. They had
+      saved the prisoners thus far from a horrible fate, and they were firmly
+      resolved to reach, with them, some strong settlement and safety. They
+      felt, too, a sense of exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo, the
+      Butlers, the Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed such
+      terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver to gold,
+      and the woman and the children still slept. The five chewed some strips of
+      venison, and looked rather lugubriously at the pieces they were saving for
+      Mary Newton and the children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We ought to hev more'n that,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Ef the worst comes to
+      the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But not yet,&rdquo; said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the sleepers. &ldquo;I
+      think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon, and its width will be a
+      good thing for us. I wish we were there now. I don't like this narrow
+      stream. Its narrowness affords too good an ambush.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;an'
+      that is a good sign. What's that you see ahead, Henry&mdash;ain't it a
+      river?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It surely is,&rdquo; replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad expanse of
+      water, &ldquo;and it's the Susquehanna. Pull hard, Sol! In five more minutes
+      we'll be in the river.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+      Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout behind them,
+      and saw at least a dozen canoes following. The canoes were filled with
+      Indians and Tories, and they had spied the fugitives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep the women and the children down, Paul,&rdquo; cried Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and, without a
+      word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled watermen, swung heavily
+      on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less Sol sat in the rear with their
+      rifles ready. Mary Newton awoke with a cry at the sound of the shots, and
+      started to rise, but Paul pushed her down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we are pursued.
+      The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't be afraid. The two who
+      are watching there are the best shots in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in the stern
+      of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past, kings of the forest
+      whom no one could overcome, and her courage came back. The children, too,
+      had awakened with frightened cries, but she and Paul quickly soothed them,
+      and, obedient to commands, the four, and Mary Newton with them, lay flat
+      upon the bottom of the boat, which was now being sent forward rapidly by
+      Jim Hart and Tom. Paul took up his rifle and sat in a waiting attitude,
+      either to relieve one of the men at the oars or to shoot if necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light. The Indians, after
+      their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful were Long Jim and Tom that
+      they were gaining but little, although some of the boats contained six or
+      eight rowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces in the
+      first boat. One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other, he was quite
+      sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler. Hot anger swept through all
+      his veins, and the little pulses in his temples began to beat like trip
+      hammers. Now the picture of Wyoming, the battle, the massacre, the
+      torture, and Queen Esther wielding her great tomahawk on the bound
+      captives, grew astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his
+      brain. The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+      had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?&rdquo; he called clearly across the intervening
+      water. &ldquo;Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women and children,
+      champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of the savages. And it is
+      you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of a wicked father. Come a little
+      closer, won't you? We've messengers here for both of you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of Shif'less Sol,
+      and repeated his request that they come a little closer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They understood his words, and they understood, also, the significant
+      gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles. The hearts of both Butler
+      and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and their boat dropped back to third
+      place. Henry laughed aloud when he saw. The Viking rage was still upon
+      him. This was the primeval wilderness, and these were no common foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers,&rdquo; he cried.
+      &ldquo;Why have you dropped back to third place in the line, Braxton Wyatt and
+      Walter Butler, when you were first only a moment ago? Are you cowards as
+      well as murderers of women and children?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's pow'ful good talk,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol admiringly. &ldquo;Henry, you're
+      a real orator. Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get a chance at one o' them
+      renegades.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of the
+      renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain first place. Thus
+      the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called Henry's
+      attention to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in the first
+      boat?&rdquo; he said to Henry. &ldquo;Wyatt an' Butler are a leetle too fur away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;Take that
+      fellow on the right who is pulling so hard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over his aim,
+      and pulled the trigger. The rower whom Henry had pointed out fell back in
+      the boat, his hands slipping from the handles of his oars. The boat was
+      thrown into confusion, and dropped back in the race. Scattering shots were
+      fired in return, but all fell short, the water spurting up in little jets
+      where they struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long stay
+      among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!&rdquo; he
+      shouted. &ldquo;And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler,
+      murderers of women and children! Why don't you keep your proper places in
+      the front?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the way to talk to 'em,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol, as he reloaded.
+      &ldquo;Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton Wyatt hisself. Since
+      Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor I, either,&rdquo; said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful tones: &ldquo;The
+      place of a leader is in front, isn't it? Then why don't you come up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up. They were not lacking in
+      courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the fugitive boat contained,
+      and he had also told Butler. So they still hung back, although they raged
+      at Henry Ware's taunts, and permitted the Mohawks and Senecas to take the
+      lead in the chase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're not going to give us a chance,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I'm satisfied of
+      that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets, though just now I'd rather
+      it were the two white ones. What do you think, Sol, of that leading boat?
+      Shouldn't we give another hint?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you, Henry,&rdquo; said the shiftless one. &ldquo;They're comin' much
+      too close fur people that ain't properly interduced to us. This promiskus
+      way o' meetin' up with strangers an' lettin' 'em talk to you jest ez ef
+      they'd knowed you all their lives hez got to be stopped. It's your time,
+      Henry, to give 'em a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you take the big
+      fellow in the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. Again
+      confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a decline of
+      enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and swore, but, as they
+      showed no great zeal for the lead themselves, the Iroquois did not gain on
+      the fugitive boat. They, too, were fast learning that the two who crouched
+      there with their rifles ready were among the deadliest marksmen in
+      existence. They fired a dozen shots, perhaps, but their rifles did not
+      have the long range of the Kentucky weapons, and again the bullets fell
+      short, causing little jets of water to spring up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for some chance to
+      help them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and announced
+      that he could see no danger. There was probably no Indian fleet farther
+      down the river than the one now pursuing them, and the danger was behind
+      them, not before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not said a
+      word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that would have carried
+      oarsmen of our day to many a victory. Moreover, they had the inducement
+      not merely of a prize, but of life itself, to row and to row hard. They
+      had rolled up their sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of woven
+      steel rose and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver current
+      of the Susquehanna.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat. The children had cried
+      out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing, but she and Paul
+      bad soothed them and kept them down. Somehow Mary Newton had become
+      possessed of a great faith. She noticed the skill, speed, and success with
+      which the five always worked, and, so long given up to despair, she now
+      went to the other extreme. With such friends as these coming suddenly out
+      of the void, everything must succeed. She had no doubt of it, but lay
+      peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed by the sound of
+      the shots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. The
+      Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were driven back
+      by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. Shif'less Sol, while
+      he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose place he had taken,
+      nevertheless was not silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller Butler,&rdquo;
+       he said. &ldquo;Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see us here, almost
+      where they could stretch out their hands an' put 'em on us. Like reachn'
+      fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git it by half a finger's length.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are certainly not pleased,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but this must end some way
+      or other, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin',&rdquo; rejoined the shiftless one, &ldquo;but
+      when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. Ez I've said more'n
+      once before, floatin' down a river with somebody else pullin' at the oars
+      is the life jest suited to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry looked up. &ldquo;A summer thunderstorm is coming,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and from the
+      look of things it's going to be pretty black. Then's when we must dodge
+      'em.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a good weather prophet. In a half hour the sky began to darken
+      rapidly. There was a great deal of thunder and lightning, but when the
+      rain came the air was almost as dark as night. Mary Newton and her
+      children were covered as much as possible with the blankets, and then they
+      swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern shore. They had already lost
+      sight of their pursuers in the darkness, and as they coasted along the
+      shore they found a large creek flowing into the river from the east.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when the rain
+      ceased. Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly drying everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too shallow for
+      them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to the land. Two days
+      later they arrived at a strong fort and settlement, where Mary Newton and
+      her four children, safe and well, were welcomed by relatives who had
+      mourned them as dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. &ldquo;THE ALCOVE&rdquo;
+     </h2>
+    <p>
+      They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as food was
+      served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually slept
+      soundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry and his
+      comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a single room
+      inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newton had already
+      spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside their hunting shirts
+      and leggins, prepared for rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flat and
+      broad, in one corner of the room, &ldquo;that's a bed. Mebbe you don't think it,
+      but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe you're right, Sol,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hev seen sech things ez that, an'
+      mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tells us
+      about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess the ground
+      wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong, an' all the
+      rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man myself I'll
+      jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender, Sol Hyde, an'
+      not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed yourself, an' in
+      the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in a silver mug an' a
+      razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffled red silk shirt an' a
+      blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jest comin' to the knee,
+      where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' out uv purple satin slippers,
+      an' then he'll clap on your head a big wig uv snow-white hair, fallin' all
+      about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a silver sword to your side, an'
+      he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez long been known ez Shif'less Sol, an'
+      desarvin' the name, but who in reality is the King o' France, is now
+      before you. Down on your knees an' say your prayers!'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sun is
+      a wally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard all about 'em from Paul,&rdquo; replied Long Jim in a tone of intense
+      satisfaction. &ldquo;A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to do fur
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I want one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol emphatically. &ldquo;He'd jest suit a lazy
+      man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbe you're
+      more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all the instincts
+      uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'm hungry, I like
+      to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired, an' I like to
+      sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed at birth by
+      fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France, after all, an'
+      my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal ancestors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe it's so,&rdquo; rejoined Long Jim. &ldquo;I've heard that thar hev been a
+      pow'ful lot uv foolish kings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them, and
+      was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him to
+      slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than two
+      minutes behind Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted in his
+      ear: &ldquo;Henry Ware, by all that's glorious,&rdquo; and a hand pressed his fingers
+      together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figure and smiling
+      brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made that adventurous journey
+      up the Mississippi and Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the others?&rdquo; was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, but
+      we're as sound as ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's always a safe prediction to make,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, smiling. &ldquo;I
+      never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out of
+      danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of the New Englander darkened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wyoming!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;I cannot hear of it without every vein growing
+      hot within me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We saw things done there,&rdquo; said Henry gravely, &ldquo;the telling of which few
+      men can bear to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know! I know!&rdquo; exclaimed Adam Colfax. &ldquo;The news of it has spread
+      everywhere!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What we want,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;is revenge. It is a case in which we must
+      strike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a white life will
+      be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, &ldquo;and we would send an army now against the
+      Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at their
+      lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That is the
+      reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which has
+      suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will strike
+      in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make more than
+      half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you know this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
+      here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us so
+      fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
+      Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
+      means to help Thayendanegea to the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is bad,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader, but
+      there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will relieve
+      somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry, that we got
+      through safely with our supplies to the Continental army, and they could
+      not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
+      Adam Colfax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on the
+      Mississippi an' the Ohio'&mdash;an' now that you're here, they're goin' to
+      win again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we are going to win here and everywhere,&rdquo; said Adam Colfax, &ldquo;but
+      it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because our
+      people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
+      east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot cause,
+      and the five, on the day after that, received a message written on a piece
+      of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts of the
+      settlement. It was addressed to &ldquo;Henry Ware and Those with Him,&rdquo; and it
+      read:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     &ldquo;I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     &ldquo;I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     &ldquo;I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A renegade catches something of the Indian nature,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and always
+      likes to threaten and boast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that the invention o' writin' wuz a
+      mistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mighty
+      big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' up to him
+      face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing a pow'ful
+      sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I'll keep this letter,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;an' we five will give an
+      answer to it later on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravely
+      tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significant action.
+      Nothing more was needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton and her
+      children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chiefly
+      ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. It was
+      their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois, until
+      some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations, was
+      assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined borderers could
+      achieve something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of the great
+      heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was now at its
+      highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed with victory,
+      and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything. Only the
+      strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. The colonists
+      here were so much reduced, and so little help could be sent them from the
+      East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into innumerable small parties
+      and rake the country as with a fine tooth comb. They never missed a lone
+      farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive in the woods able to evade them.
+      And they were constantly fed from the North with arms, ammunition, rewards
+      for scalps, bounties, and great promises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silent and
+      invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struck hard.
+      There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a single
+      Iroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, and the
+      warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommon size
+      and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, and they
+      carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served to them at
+      the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided by the evil
+      spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably. No one
+      could find where they slept, unless it was those who never came back
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and Braxton
+      Wyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,
+      also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their red
+      allies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of the
+      raiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,
+      but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. While
+      their acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+      manifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They were
+      heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, on the
+      Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and as far
+      north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplished more for
+      a defense than did those five in the waning months of the summer. Late in
+      September the most significant of all these events occurred. A party of
+      eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part in the Wyoming affair, was
+      attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such deadly fierceness that
+      only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John Johnson. Brant sent out six
+      war parties, composed of not less than twenty warriors apiece, to seek
+      revenge, but they found nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one of
+      the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at that
+      point was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At the
+      entrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or, rather,
+      cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ample shelter from
+      the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was about halfway between the
+      top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of approach both from below
+      and above. Unless completely surprised-a very unlikely thing with them-the
+      five could hold it against any force as long as their provisions lasted.
+      They also built a boat large enough for five, which they hid among the
+      bushes at the lake's edge. They were thus provided with a possible means
+      of escape across the water in case of the last emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great
+      delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of
+      other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk
+      over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with skins of
+      deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls furnished
+      many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They also, with
+      much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long Jim was to
+      use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones so near the
+      mouth of &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; that the smoke would pass out and be lost in the
+      thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing toward the
+      inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on them all, but
+      Jim would not be cooking then.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo;
+       plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no way
+      in which they could store water, and for that they had to take their
+      chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting caution,
+      was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a few miles of
+      &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; but the pursuers invariably went astray on the hard, rocky
+      ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution to swim down the
+      creek before climbing up to &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; Nobody could follow a trail in
+      the face of such difficulties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, but they
+      easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half waded,
+      half swam down the creek, and climbed up to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; where the others
+      were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water. When they had
+      eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth of &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo;
+       where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage that hid the
+      entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happy mood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to set up in a nice safe
+      place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,
+      seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap in
+      knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that old
+      town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind that
+      it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but 'cause
+      old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a plain. That
+      wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on a mountain,
+      with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been enough Greeks
+      in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable weepins they used
+      in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the walls, laughin' at
+      'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin' killed by A-killus, fur
+      which I've always been sorry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them ancient
+      times that Paul tells about,&rdquo; said Long Jim. &ldquo;Now, thar wuz 'Lyssus, ten
+      or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin' his ship on the
+      rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants, one-eyed women, an'
+      sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the woods, killin' game on the
+      way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed? Then thar wuz the
+      keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that river so no arrow could
+      enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an' keepin' it out o' the water,
+      which caused his death the very first time Paris shot it off with his
+      little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev sense enough to let the heel go
+      under, too. She could hev dragged it out in two seconds an' no harm done
+      'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin' on the part of A-killus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,&rdquo; said Tom
+      Ross. &ldquo;I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an' I'm
+      beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I know
+      now that's whar the French come from.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Paris was the name of a man,&rdquo; persisted Paul. &ldquo;Maybe the French named
+      their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then they showed mighty poor jedgment,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Ef I'd named
+      my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. &ldquo;Come here, you fellows, and
+      see what's passing down the lake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being rowed
+      slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each canoe
+      held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them contained
+      two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite likely,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and at the same time they may be engaged in
+      some general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the base
+      of the cliff.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage, and
+      they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six long war
+      canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and flooded all
+      the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was not mistaken,
+      and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in the first boat.
+      From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off either with a rifle
+      bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he knew that it would lead to
+      an immediate siege, from which they might not escape, and which at least
+      would check their activities and plans for a long time. Similar impulses
+      flitted through the minds of the other four, but all kept still, although
+      fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle stocks until they touched
+      triggers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming
+      of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of
+      moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's
+      finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to
+      let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close together.
+      They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and smaller
+      still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm thinkin',&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;that thar's some kind uv a movement
+      on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that
+      they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something
+      three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois
+      town of Oghwaga.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's most likely true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and it seems to me that it's our
+      business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as you do,&rdquo; they replied with unanimity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we leave this place and start in the morning,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues, and
+      Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains, but the five
+      avoided them all. On one or two occasions they would have been willing to
+      stop and fight, but they had bigger work on hand. They had received from
+      others confirmation of the report that Long Jim had heard from the
+      hunters, and they were quite sure that a strong force was advancing to
+      strike the first blow in revenge for Wyoming. Curiously enough, this body
+      was commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William Butler, and according to
+      report it was large and its leaders capable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the Delaware,
+      it was joined by the five. They were introduced to the colonel by the
+      celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom they had met several times
+      in the woods, and they were received warmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard of you,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler with much warmth, &ldquo;both from
+      hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax. Two of you were to have
+      been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry indicated the two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal against the
+      Indians and their white allies,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone who was there,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;would feel all his life, the desire
+      to punish those who did it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, too, from all that I have heard,&rdquo; continued Colonel Butler.
+      &ldquo;It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of our column and warn
+      us of what lies before us. I believe you have volunteered for that duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered only two
+      hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and brave, and it was the
+      best force that could yet be sent to the harassed border. It might, after
+      all, strike a blow for Wyoming if it marched into no ambush, and Henry and
+      his comrades were resolved to guard it from that greatest of all dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the five were
+      far ahead, passing through the woods, up the Susquehanna, toward the
+      Indian villages that lay on its banks, though a great distance above
+      Wyoming. The chief of these was Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the
+      destination of the little army, they were resolved to visit it, or at
+      least come so near it that they could see what manner of place it was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it's a big village,&rdquo; said Colonel Butler, &ldquo;it will be too strong to
+      attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are absent on
+      expeditions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of the
+      approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October evening they
+      knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of the Iroquois supplies.
+      They considered it very risky and unwise to approach in the daytime, and
+      accordingly they lay in the woods until the dark should come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly in the three months
+      since Wyoming. All the green was now gone, and it was tinted red and
+      yellow and brown. The skies were a mellow blue, and there was a slight
+      haze over the forest, but the air had the wonderful crispness and
+      freshness of the American autumn. It inspired every one of the five with
+      fresh zeal and energy, because they believed the first blow was about to
+      be struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the reports of its
+      importance were confirmed. They had not before seen an Indian village with
+      so many signs of permanence. They passed two or three orchards of apple
+      and peach trees, and they saw other indications of cultivation like that
+      of the white farmer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain't a bad-lookin' town,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart. &ldquo;But it'll look wuss,&rdquo;
+       said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;onless they've laid an ambush somewhar. I don't like
+      to see houses an' sech like go up in fire an' smoke, but after what wuz
+      done at Wyomin' an' all through that valley, burnin' is a light thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're bound to strike back with all our might,&rdquo; said Paul, who had the
+      softest heart of them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I wonder who's in this here town,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;Mebbe
+      Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;This is their base and store of supplies. Oh,
+      if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men, what a rush we could
+      make!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the village,
+      passing among some thick clusters of grapevines. Henry was in the lead,
+      and he heard a sudden snarl. A large cur of the kind that infest Indian
+      villages leaped straight at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades from the
+      consequences of an alarm. He dropped his rifle instinctively, and seized
+      the dog by the throat with both hands. A bark following the snarl had
+      risen to the animal's throat, but it was cut short there. The hands of the
+      great youth pressed tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from the
+      earth. The four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no alarm
+      would be made now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. Henry cast
+      the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all five of them sank
+      softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. About fifteen yards away an
+      Indian warrior was walking cautiously along and looking among the vines.
+      Evidently he had heard the snarl of the dog, and was seeking the cause.
+      But it had been only a single sound, and he would not look far. Yet the
+      hearts of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among the vines, and
+      their nerves were tense for action should the need for it come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did not see
+      the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with the dark growth,
+      and presently, satisfied that the sound he had heard was of no importance,
+      he walked in another direction, and passed out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept to the
+      very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon an open space,
+      beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but their attention was
+      centered upon a figure that stood in the open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to disclose the
+      features, every one of the scouts recognized the figure. It could be none
+      other than that of Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+      Wyandots. He was pacing back and forth, somewhat in the fashion of the
+      white man, and his manner implied thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could bring him down from here with a bullet,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;but
+      I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;nor will I. But look, there's another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first. It was also
+      that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall as Timmendiquas. It
+      was Thayendanegea. Then three white figures appeared. One was that of
+      Braxton Wyatt, and the others they took to be those of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and
+      his son, Walter Butler. After a talk of a minute or two they entered one
+      of the wooden houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's to be a conference of some kind,&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;I wish I could
+      look in on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I,&rdquo; said the others together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we know this much,&rdquo; continued Henry. &ldquo;No great force of the
+      Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up quickly, we can
+      take the town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a chance not to be lost,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they reached
+      the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs of two or three
+      of the Indian houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've a feeling in me,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;that the place is doomed. We'll strike
+      the first blow for Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their trail with
+      the utmost speed toward the marching American force, going in Indian file
+      through the wilderness. Henry, as usual, led; Shif'less Sol followed, then
+      came Paul, and then Long Jim, while Silent Tom was the rear guard. They
+      traveled at great speed, and, some time after daylight, met the advance of
+      the colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a little
+      when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared. But he uttered an
+      exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader, Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have you found?&rdquo; he asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've been to Oghwaga,&rdquo; replied the youth, &ldquo;and we went all about the
+      town. They do not suspect our coming. At least, they did not know when we
+      left. We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the Butlers, and Wyatt enter the house
+      for a conference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now is our chance,&rdquo; said eager young William Gray. &ldquo;What if we should
+      take the town, and with it these men, at one blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can scarcely hope for as much as that,&rdquo; said Henry, who knew that men
+      like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to allow themselves to
+      be seized by so small a force, &ldquo;but we can hope for a good victory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the news, and,
+      led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with all possible haste.
+      William Gray was still sanguine of a surprise, but the young riflemen did
+      not expect it. Indian sentinels were sure to be in the forest between them
+      and Oghwaga. Yet they said nothing to dash this hope. Henry had already
+      seen enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and the little army
+      full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came. Besides the young
+      captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant named Taylor, who had been
+      in the battle at Wyoming, but who had escaped the massacre. The five had
+      not met him there, but the common share in so great a tragedy proved a tie
+      between them. Taylor's name was Robert, but all the other officers, and
+      some of the men for that matter, who had known him in childhood called him
+      Bob. He was but little older than Henry, and his earlier youth, before
+      removal to Wyoming, had been passed in Connecticut, a country that was to
+      the colonials thickly populated and containing great towns, such as
+      Hartford and New Haven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any other that
+      they had ever seen. His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. Holland was his
+      birthplace, but America was his nation. He was short and extremely fat,
+      but he had an agility that amazed the five when they first saw it
+      displayed. He talked much, and his words sounded like grumbles, but the
+      unctuous tone and the smile that accompanied them indicated to the
+      contrary. He formed for Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining
+      study in character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ain't quite seen his like afore,&rdquo; said the shiftless one to Paul.
+      &ldquo;First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble down among the
+      first bushes he met. 'Stead o' that, he sailed right through 'em, makin'
+      never a trip an' no noise at all, same ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into a
+      juicy venison steak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've heard tell,&rdquo; said Long Jim, who also contemplated the prodigy, &ldquo;that
+      big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes ez spry ez you. They say
+      that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the giraffe across the sands uv Afriky,
+      an' I know from pussonal experience that the bigger an' clumsier a b'ar is
+      the faster he kin make you scoot fur your life. But he's the real Dutch,
+      ain't he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the Spanish under the Duke
+      uv Alivy an' Belisarry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly,&rdquo; replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to correct
+      Long Jim's history, &ldquo;and I'm willing to predict to you, Jim Hart, that
+      Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight that we may have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Heemskerk rolled up to them. He seemed to have a sort of circular motion
+      like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace with the others,
+      nevertheless, and he showed no signs of exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am here?&rdquo;
+       he said to Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?&rdquo; replied Paul politely. &ldquo;Because I am a Dutchman.
+      I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a baby. I, Cornelius
+      Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle country of Holland in a goot
+      leetle house, by the side of a goot leetle canal, painting beautiful blue
+      china, dishes, plates, cups, saucers, all most beautiful, and here I am
+      running through the woods of this vast America, carrying on my shoulder a
+      rifle that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian and hunted by him.
+      Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr. Heemskerk,&rdquo; replied
+      Paul, &ldquo;and wish to see punishment inflicted upon those who have committed
+      great crimes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so! Not so!&rdquo; replied the Dutchman with energy. &ldquo;It is because I am
+      one big fool. I am not really a big enough man to be as big a fool as I
+      am, but so it is! so it is!&rdquo; Shif'less Sol regarded him critically, and
+      then spoke gravely and with deliberation: &ldquo;It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk,
+      an' Paul ain't told quite all the truth, either. I've heard that the Dutch
+      was the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe; that all
+      you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden shoe, an' all
+      the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump right on top o' you all
+      at once. Lookin' you up an' lookin' you down, an' sizin' you up, an' sizin
+      you down, all purty careful, an' examinin' the corners O' your eyes
+      oncommon close, an' also lookin' at the way you set your feet when you
+      walk, I'm concludin' that you just natcherally love a fight, an' that you
+      are lookin' fur one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me brave when
+      I am not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I only say once more that I ought to be in Holland
+      painting blue plates, and not here in the great woods holding on to my
+      scalp, first with one hand and then with the other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men, only
+      laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a little
+      rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night before, caught a few
+      winks. But in less than an hour they were up and away again. The five
+      riflemen were once more well in advance, and with them were Taylor and
+      Heemskerk, the Dutchman, grumbling over their speed, but revolving along,
+      nevertheless, with astonishing ease and without any sign of fatigue. They
+      discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and as the village
+      now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his belief that the
+      Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would not stay to give battle.
+      If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were prepared for a strong resistance,
+      the bullets of the skirmishers would already be whistling through the
+      woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn leaves fell
+      fast before the rising wind. The promise of the night was dark, which was
+      not bad for their design, and once more the five-now the seven approached
+      Oghwaga. From the crest of the very same hill they looked down once more
+      upon the Indian houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a great base for the Iroquois,&rdquo; said Henry to Heemskerk, &ldquo;and
+      whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel Butler must
+      attack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little higher
+      point for a better view, &ldquo;now I feel in all its fullness the truth that I
+      should be back in Holland, painting blue plates.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of the
+      Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of the time,
+      and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell him the way was
+      open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of them. There were also many
+      serious thoughts in the back of his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile of
+      Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the Iroquois
+      knew of their advance. Henry and his comrades, well in front, looked down
+      upon the town, but saw nothing. No light came from an Indian chimney, nor
+      did any dog howl. Just behind them were the troops in loose order, Colonel
+      Butler impatiently striking his booted leg with a switch, and William Gray
+      seeking to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good example to the
+      men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think, Mr. Ware?&rdquo; asked Colonel Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we ought to rush the town at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so!&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting blue
+      plates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then we'll
+      charge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a long,
+      thrilling note. Before its last echo was ended, the little army rushed
+      upon the town. Three or four shots came from the houses, and the soldiers
+      fired a few at random in return, but that was all. Indian scouts had
+      brought warning of the white advance, and the great chiefs, gathering up
+      all the people who were in the village, had fled. A retreating warrior or
+      two had fired the shots, but when the white men entered this important
+      Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single human being. Timmendiquas,
+      the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was gone; Thayendanegea, the real
+      head of the Six Nations, had slipped away; and with them had vanished the
+      renegades. But they had gone in haste. All around them were the evidences.
+      The houses, built of wood, were scores in number, and many of them
+      contained furniture such as a prosperous white man of the border would buy
+      for himself. There were gardens and shade trees about these, and back of
+      them, barns, many of them filled with Indian corn. Farther on were
+      clusters of bark lodges, which had been inhabited by the less progressive
+      of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses misty in
+      the moonlight. The army had not yet made much noise, but he was beginning
+      to hear behind him the ominous word, &ldquo;Wyoming,&rdquo; repeated more than once.
+      Cornelius Heemskerk had stopped revolving, and, standing beside Henry,
+      wiped his perspiring, red face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland, Mr.
+      Ware,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is a dark and sanguinary time. The men whose brethren
+      were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not now spare the town of
+      those who did it. In this wilderness they give blow for blow, or perish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness. His heart had
+      been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never forget Wyoming or its
+      horrors; but in the destruction of an ancient town the long labor of man
+      perished, and it seemed waste. Doubtless a dozen generations of Iroquois
+      children had played here on the grass. He walked toward the northern end
+      of the village, and saw fields there from which recent corn had been
+      taken, but behind him the cry, &ldquo;Wyoming!&rdquo; was repeated louder and oftener
+      now. Then he saw men running here and there with torches, and presently
+      smoke and flame burst from the houses. He examined the fields and forest
+      for a little distance to see if any ambushed foe might still lie among
+      them, but all the while the flame and smoke behind him were rising higher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry turned back and joined his comrades. Oghwaga was perishing. The
+      flames leaped from house to house, and then from lodge to lodge. There was
+      no need to use torches any more. The whole village was wrapped in a mass
+      of fire that grew and swelled until the flames rose above the forest, and
+      were visible in the clear night miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and scouts were
+      compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest. The wind rose and the
+      flames soared. Sparks flew in myriads, and ashes fell dustily on the dry
+      leaves of the trees. Bob Taylor, with his hands clenched tightly, muttered
+      under his breath, &ldquo;Wyoming! Wyoming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the Iroquois who suffer now,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, as he revolved slowly
+      away from a heated point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks would
+      leap higher and the flames roar louder. The barns, too, were falling down,
+      and the grain was destroyed. The grapevines were trampled under foot, and
+      the gardens were ruined. Oghwaga, a great central base of the Six Nations,
+      was vanishing forever. For four hundred years, ever since the days of
+      Hiawatha, the Iroquois had waxed in power. They had ruled over lands
+      larger than great empires. They had built up political and social systems
+      that are the wonder of students. They were invincible in war, because
+      every man had been trained from birth to be a warrior, and now they were
+      receiving their first great blow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+      Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, Walter Butler, Braxton Wyatt, a
+      low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman, with whom Wyatt had become very
+      friendly, and about sixty Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a tower
+      of light to the south that had just appeared above the trees. It was of an
+      intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band knew that it
+      was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that was burning, and
+      that the men who were doing it were the white frontiersmen, who, his
+      red-coated allies had told him, would soon be swept forever from these
+      woods. And they were forced to stand and see it, not daring to attack so
+      strong and alert a force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the column of
+      fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. Timmendiquas never
+      said a word. In his heart, Indian though he was, he felt that the Iroquois
+      had gone too far. In him was the spirit of the farseeing Hiawatha. He
+      could perceive that great cruelty always brought retaliation; but it was
+      not for him, almost an alien, to say these things to Thayendanegea, the
+      mighty war chief of the Mohawks and the living spirit of the Iroquois
+      nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter storms. His
+      arms were folded across his breast, and he looked steadily toward that red
+      threatening light off there in the south. Some such idea as that in the
+      mind of Timmendiquas may have been passing in his own. He was an uncommon
+      Indian, and he had had uncommon advantages. He had not believed that the
+      colonists could make head against so great a kingdom as England, aided by
+      the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large body of Tories among their
+      own people. But he saw with his own eyes the famous Oghwaga of the
+      Iroquois going down under their torch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, Colonel John Butler,&rdquo; he said bitterly, &ldquo;where is your great
+      king now? Is his arm long enough to reach from London to save our town of
+      Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his great city of London is to
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The thickset figure of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler moved, and his swart face flushed
+      as much as it could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;We are
+      fighting here for your country as well as his, and you cannot say that
+      Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the British and Canadians have
+      not done their part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea, &ldquo;but it is true, also, that one must
+      fight with wisdom. Perhaps there was too much burning of living men at
+      Wyoming. The pain of the wounded bear makes him fight the harder, and it,
+      is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga yonder burns. Say, is it not so,
+      Colonel John Butler?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering. The Tory,
+      Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was the only one who
+      spoke aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thayendanegea,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I, and the Wyandots who are with me, have come
+      far. We expected to return long ago to the lands on the Ohio, but we were
+      with you in your village, and now, when Manitou has turned his face from
+      you for the time, we will not leave you. We stay and fight by your side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and
+      you and I are brothers. I shall be proud and happy to have such a mighty
+      leader fighting with me. We will have vengeance for this. The power of the
+      Iroquois is as great as ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and the flames
+      of hate and resolve burned in his eyes. Old Hiokatoo, the most savage of
+      all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a murmur passed through the group
+      of Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend, Coleman, the
+      Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and savage Walter Butler,
+      whom he somewhat feared. Wyatt was perhaps the least troubled of all those
+      present. Caring for himself only, the burning of Oghwaga caused him no
+      grief. He suffered neither from the misfortune of friend nor foe. He was
+      able to contemplate the glowing tower of light with curiosity only.
+      Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies would attempt
+      revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for himself in such
+      adventures. His horizon had broadened somewhat of late. The renegade,
+      Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon Girty, but he had found a new
+      friend in Coleman. He was coming now more into touch with the larger
+      forces in the East, nearer to the seat of the great war, and he hoped to
+      profit by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is a terrible blow to Brant,&rdquo; Coleman whispered to him. &ldquo;The
+      Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while the rebels,
+      occupied with the king's troops, have not been able to send help to their
+      own. But they have managed to strike at last, as you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do see,&rdquo; said Wyatt, &ldquo;and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not sorry. Perhaps
+      these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll soon realize that they
+      need likely chaps such as you and me, eh, Coleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not far from the truth,&rdquo; said Coleman, laughing a little, and
+      pleased at the penetration of his new friend. They did not talk further,
+      although the agreement between them was well established. Neither did the
+      Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders say any more. They watched the tower of
+      fire a long time, past midnight, until it reached its zenith and then
+      began to sink. They saw its crest go down behind the trees, and they saw
+      the luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely, leaving there
+      only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched northward. It
+      was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay down for the rest that
+      they needed badly. They spread their blankets at the edge of the open, but
+      well back from the burned area, which was now one great mass of coals and
+      charred timbers, sending up little flame but much smoke. Many of the
+      troops were already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged William
+      Gray to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from ambush. He knew
+      that the rashness and confidence of the borderers, especially when drawn
+      together in masses, had often caused them great losses, and he was
+      resolved to prevent a recurrence at the present time if he could. He had
+      made these urgent requests of Gray, instead of Colonel Butler, because of
+      the latter's youth and willingness to take advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row almost at
+      the edge of the forest. The heat from the fire was still great, but it
+      would die down after a while, and the October air was nipping. Henry
+      usually fell asleep in a very few minutes, but this time, despite his long
+      exertions and lack of rest, he remained awake when his comrades were sound
+      asleep. Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which he saw the fire rising
+      in great black coils that united far above. It seemed to Henry, half
+      dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit was passing in
+      the smoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four hours he
+      was up again, as the little army intended to march at once upon another
+      Indian town. The hours while he slept had passed in silence, and no
+      Indians had come near. William Gray had seen to that, and his best scout
+      had been one Cornelius Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch birth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, as he
+      revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry was eating his breakfast,
+      &ldquo;and I am now very tired. It was like walking four or five times around
+      Holland, which is such a fine little country, with the canals and the
+      flowers along them, and no great, dark woods filled with the fierce
+      Iroquois.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be here, and
+      perhaps before the day is over you will get some fighting hot enough to
+      please even you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour later he
+      was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of overtaking some large
+      band of retreating Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at Wyoming,
+      Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly that very morning
+      up the river against another Indian town, Cunahunta. Fortunately for him,
+      a band of riflemen and scouts unsurpassed in skill led the way, and saw to
+      it that the road was safe. In this band were the five, of course, and
+      after them Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta before
+      night,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their towns,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us strike so great a blow
+      without a fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, &ldquo;or
+      they would certainly give us a big battle. We've been lucky in the time of
+      our advance. As it is, I think we'll have something to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the North,
+      the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the hills, the leaves
+      falling softly from the trees as the wind blew, but bringing with them no
+      hint of decay. None of the vanguard felt fatigue, but when they crossed a
+      low range of hills and saw before them a creek flowing down to the
+      Susquehanna, Henry, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and dropped down
+      in the grass. The others, knowing without question the significance of the
+      action, also sank down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Henry?&rdquo; asked Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. Look a
+      little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the feathers in the
+      headdress of an Iroquois. Farther on I think I can catch a glimpse of a
+      green coat, and if I am right that coat is worn by one of Johnson's Royal
+      Greens. It's an ambush, Sol, an ambush meant for us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer Henry,&rdquo; said
+      Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with the desire for action.
+      &ldquo;I, too, see the feather of the Iroquois.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear this force
+      out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come up, is it not?&rdquo;
+       asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the Dutchman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk. &ldquo;Of
+      course we will fight, and fight now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How about them blue plates?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol softly. But Heemskerk did
+      not hear him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They swiftly developed their plan of action. There could be no earthly
+      doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were ambushed on the
+      far side of the creek. Possibly Thayendanegea himself, stung by the
+      burning of Oghwaga and the advance on Cunahunta, was there. But they were
+      sure that it was not a large band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one was a
+      veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of the woods. They
+      had supreme confidence in their ability to beat the best of the Iroquois,
+      man for man, and they carried the very finest arms known to the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. The others,
+      including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make a circuit, cross the
+      creek a full mile above, and come down on the flank of the ambushing
+      party. Theirs would be the main attack, but it would be preceded by
+      sharpshooting from the four, intended to absorb the attention of the
+      Iroquois. The chosen ten slipped back down the hill, and as soon as they
+      were sheltered from any possible glimpse by the warriors, they rose and
+      ran rapidly westward. Before they had gone far they heard the crack of a
+      rifle shot, then another, then several from another point, as if in reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's our sharpshooters,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;They've begun to disturb the
+      Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier,&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his face blazing red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that they
+      intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the water breast
+      high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. Then they turned and
+      rapidly descended the stream on its northern bank. In a few minutes they
+      heard the sound of a rifle shot, and then of another as if replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Iroquois have been fooled,&rdquo; exclaimed Heemskerk. &ldquo;Our four good
+      riflemen have made them think that a great force is there, and they have
+      not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an attack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the forest, they
+      saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the faint flash of rifles.
+      They were coming somewhere near to the Iroquois band, and they practiced
+      exceeding caution. Presently they caught sight of Indian faces, and now
+      and then one of Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers. They stopped and
+      held a council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute. They all
+      agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in the
+      Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on the other
+      side of the creek, fell. Heemskerk quickly followed with a shot as good,
+      and the surprised Iroquois turned to face this new foe. But they and the
+      Tories were a strong band, and they retreated only a little. Then they
+      stood firm, and the forest battle began. The Indians numbered not less
+      than thirty, and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them, but the
+      value of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one that attacked.
+      The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of the forest, and
+      marksmen such as the Indians were never able to become, continually
+      pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree to tree. Once or twice the
+      warriors started a rush, but they were quickly driven back by
+      sharpshooting such as they had never faced before. They soon realized that
+      this was no band of border farmers, armed hastily for an emergency, but a
+      foe who knew everything that they knew, and more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois, and Wyatt
+      in particular was hot with rage. He suspected that the five who had
+      defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and there might be a
+      chance now to destroy them all. He crept to the side of the fierce old
+      Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that a part of their band slip
+      around and enfold the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying
+      aspect. He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered with
+      scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready in his
+      hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good friend, the
+      king. The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly at the Battle
+      of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout these years of
+      border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois. In this respect Hiokatoo
+      led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he was to savage
+      scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was the most
+      terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld. He was old, but age in him
+      seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity. The path of a deep cut,
+      healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide, lay across his
+      forehead. Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek, his chin, and his
+      neck. He was crouched much like a panther, with his rifle in his hands and
+      the ready tomahawk at his belt. But it was the extraordinary expression of
+      his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder. He read there no mercy for
+      anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt, if he should stand in the
+      way, and it was this last fact that brought the shudder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hiokatoo thought it a good plan. Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and
+      Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward
+      the right. Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been
+      joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed
+      his little force to meet it. Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught
+      sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew
+      back a little. While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting in the
+      front, he waited for the attack. It came in half an hour, the flanking
+      force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white riflemen
+      was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again. But they had
+      come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor. The Tory, like
+      Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of the most ruthless on
+      that terrible day. When they were less than a dozen feet apart they
+      recognized each other. Henry saw the look that passed between them, and,
+      although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some reason he did not
+      use it. The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the bullet missed, and the
+      Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded rifle and brought the
+      stock down with all his force upon the head of his enemy. The man,
+      uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and Taylor stood over
+      him, still trembling with rage. In an instant Henry seized him and dragged
+      him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where he had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!&rdquo; exclaimed young Taylor,
+      still trembling all over with passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll never massacre anybody else. You've seen to that,&rdquo; said Henry, and
+      in a minute or two Taylor was quiet. The sharpshooting continued, but here
+      as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it. Despite their numbers,
+      they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who lay behind
+      trees almost in security, and who never missed. Another Tory and a chief,
+      also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted. Nor did he feel any
+      better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have failed here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They shoot too well for us to rush them.
+      We have lost good men.&rdquo; Hiokatoo frowned, and the scars on his face stood
+      out in livid red lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These who fight us now are of their best, and while
+      we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. Come, we will go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone from their
+      front. They scouted some distance, and, finding no enemy, hurried back to
+      Colonel Butler. The troops were pushed forward, and before night they
+      reached Cunahunta, which they burned also. Some farther advance was made
+      into the Indian country, and more destruction was done, but now the winter
+      was approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home to
+      protect their families. Others were to rejoin the main Revolutionary army,
+      and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the time. The first blow had
+      been struck, and it was a hard one, but the second blow and third and
+      fourth and more, which the five knew were so badly needed, must wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed. They had hoped to go far
+      into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the Six Nations, to hunt
+      down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant himself, but they could not
+      wholly blame their commander. The rear guard, or, rather, the forest guard
+      of the Revolution, was a slender and small force indeed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much personal
+      regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom were Morgan's
+      riflemen from Virginia. The farewells to William Gray, Bob Taylor, and
+      Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns,&rdquo; said Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more,&rdquo; said Taylor, &ldquo;and
+      we'll strike another blow for Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I foresee,&rdquo; said Cornelius Heemskerk, &ldquo;that I, a peaceful man, who ought
+      to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn into danger in the
+      great, dark wilderness again, and that you will be there with me, Mynheer
+      Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the Wise Solomon, Mynheer the Silent Tom, and
+      Mynheer the Very Long James. I see it clearly. I, a man of peace, am
+      always being pushed in to war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We hope it will come true,&rdquo; said the five together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you go back to Kentucky?&rdquo; asked William Gray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Henry, speaking for them all, &ldquo;we have entered upon this
+      task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world,&rdquo; said Heemskerk.
+      &ldquo;I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by your side in some
+      great battle to come, but the first thing I shall do when I see you again,
+      my friends, is to look around at you, one, two, three, four, five, and see
+      if you have upon your heads the hair which is now so rich, thick, and
+      flowing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never fear, my friend,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;we have fought with the warriors all
+      the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not one of us has lost a
+      single lock of hair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, and
+      then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his face express emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from Colonel
+      Butler, and then they parted in the forest. Many of the soldiers looked
+      back and saw the five tall figures in a line, leaning upon the muzzles of
+      their long-barreled Kentucky rifles, and regarding them in silence. It
+      seemed to the soldiers that they had left behind them the true sons of the
+      wilderness, who, in spite of all dangers, would be there to welcome them
+      when they returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. THE DESERTED CABIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry turned to the
+      others. &ldquo;Well, boys,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;what are you thinking about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I?&rdquo; asked Paul. &ldquo;I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a sort of
+      alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' me?&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove runs back,
+      an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm fur the winter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove would be
+      when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in front of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' ez fur me,&rdquo; said Long Jim Hart, &ldquo;I wuz thinkin' I could run a sort uv
+      flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the front an' let the
+      smoke pass out. I could cook all right. It wouldn't be ez good a place fur
+      cookin' ez the one we hed that time we spent the winter on the island in
+      the lake, but 'twould serve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's strange,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I've been thinking of all the things that
+      all four of you have been thinking about, and, since we are agreed, we are
+      bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and pass the winter there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word he led the way, and the others followed. It was
+      apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base, because the
+      cold had increased greatly in the last few days. The last leaves had
+      fallen from the trees, and a searching wind howled among the bare
+      branches. Better shelter than blankets would soon be needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins, among which
+      wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now afforded, although
+      Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long journey to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; but they did not hurry, seeing no
+      need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of their decision by
+      the fact that the cold was increasing. The country in which the lake was
+      situated lay high, and, as all of them were quite sure that the cold was
+      going to be great there, they thought it wise to make preparations against
+      it, which they discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion through the
+      woods. They spoke, also, of greater things. All felt that they had been
+      drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had swam before. They
+      fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution of this great rearguard
+      struggle, and at present they did not have the remotest idea of returning
+      to Kentucky under any circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois,&rdquo; said
+      Henry. &ldquo;I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of Tories of his own,
+      and that he is likely to be as dangerous as either of the Butlers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some day we'll end him for good an' all,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and now all the
+      forest was bare and apparently lifeless. They came down the creek, and
+      found their boat unharmed and untouched still among the foliage at the
+      base of the cliff.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's one thing safe,&rdquo; said Long Jim, &ldquo;an' I guess we'll find 'The
+      Alcove' all right, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tain't likely,&rdquo; replied Long Jim. &ldquo;We've left the human smell thar, an'
+      even after all this time it's likely to drive away any prowlin' bear or
+      panther that pokes his nose in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Jim was quite right. Their snug nest, like that of a squirrel in the
+      side of a tree, had not been disturbed. The skins which they had rolled up
+      tightly and placed on the higher shelves of stone were untouched, and
+      several days' hunting increased the supply. The hunting was singularly
+      easy, and, although the five did not know it, the quantity of game was
+      much greater in that region than it had been for years. It had been swept
+      of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory hordes, and deer, bear, and
+      panther seemed to know instinctively that the woods were once more safe
+      for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and more than
+      once they saw something among the coals that caused them to turn away with
+      a shudder. At every place where man had made a little opening the
+      wilderness was quickly reclaiming its own again. Next year the grass and
+      the foliage would cover up the coals and the hideous relics that lay among
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff side,
+      and stored it in &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They also cured some bear meat, and, having
+      added a further lining of skins, they felt prepared for winter. They had
+      also added to the comfort of the place. They had taken the precaution of
+      bringing with them two axes, and with the heads of these they smoothed out
+      more of the rough places on the floor and sides of &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They
+      thought it likely, too, that they would need the axes in other ways later
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of Indians,
+      and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least ten miles from &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; They seemed to be traveling north, and the five made no
+      investigations. Somewhat later they met a white runner in the forest, and
+      he told them of the terrible massacre of Cherry Valley. Walter Butler,
+      emulating his father's exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a mixed
+      horde of Iroquois, Tories, British, and Canadians. He had not been wholly
+      successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and children, and
+      was now returning northward with prisoners. Some said, according to the
+      runner, that Thayendanegea had led the Indians on this occasion, but, as
+      the five learned later, he had not come up until the massacre was over.
+      The runner added another piece of information that interested them deeply.
+      Butler had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by a young Tory or renegade
+      named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by cunning and cruelty. It was
+      said that Wyatt had built up for himself a semi-independent command, and
+      was becoming a great scourge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's our Braxton,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He is rising to his opportunities. He
+      is likely to become fully the equal of Walter Butler.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went somewhat
+      sadly back to &ldquo;The Alcove.&rdquo; They had learned also from the runner that
+      Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and this fact increased
+      their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to operate on a large scale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may get a chance at him anyhow,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He and his band may go
+      too far away from the main body of the Indians and Tories, and in that
+      case we can strike a blow if we are watchful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+      additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt. He had grown up
+      with them. Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with his becoming a
+      renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands or exile for taking part
+      in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry Valley, but, long since an ally of
+      the Indians, he was now at the head of a Tory band that murdered and
+      burned from sheer pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for the present they &ldquo;holed up,&rdquo; and now their foresight was
+      justified. To such as they, used to the hardships of forest life, &ldquo;The
+      Alcove&rdquo; was a cheery nest. From its door they watched the wild fowl
+      streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others outlined against the dark,
+      wintry skies. So numerous were these flocks that there was scarcely a time
+      when they did not see one passing toward the warm South.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of wild geese,
+      arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. A few faint honks
+      came to them, and then the geese grew misty on the horizon. Shif'less Sol
+      followed them with serious eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you ever think, Paul,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that we human bein's ain't so mighty
+      pow'ful ez we think we are. We kin walk on the groun', an' by hard
+      learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the water a little. But jest
+      look at them geese flyin' a mile high, right over everything, rivers,
+      forests any mountains, makin' a hundred miles an hour, almost without
+      flappin' a wing. Then they kin come down on the water an' float fur hours
+      without bein' tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun', too. Did you
+      ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments? Why, Paul, s'pose you
+      an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through the air a mile a
+      minute fur a month an' never git tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd certainly see some great sights,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;but do you know, Sol,
+      what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift of tireless wings?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out all the
+      camps of the Indians and Tories. I'd pick out the Butlers and Braxton
+      Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they were planning. Then I'd fly
+      away to the East and look down at all the armies, ours in buff and blue,
+      and the British redcoats. I'd look into the face of our great
+      commander-in-chief. Then I'd fly away back into the West and South, and
+      I'd hover over Wareville. I'd see our own people, every last little one of
+      them. They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but I'd be so
+      high up in the air no bullet could reach me. Then I'd come soaring back
+      here to you fellows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' I
+      wouldn't mind takin' it in myself. But fur the present we'd better busy
+      our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are givin' us, though we're well
+      fixed fur a house already. It's cu'rus what good homes a handy man kin
+      find in the wilderness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The predictions of the wild fowl were true. A few days later heavy clouds
+      rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched them, knowing what they
+      would bring them. They spread to the zenith and then to the other horizon,
+      clothing the whole circle of the earth. The great flakes began to drop
+      down, slowly at first, then faster. Soon all the trees were covered with
+      white, and everything else, too, except the dark surface of the lake,
+      which received the flakes into its bosom as they fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about two feet
+      on the ground. After that it turned intensely cold, the surface of the
+      snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered the lake. It was not
+      possible to travel under such circumstances without artificial help, and
+      now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in the far North, came to their help. He
+      showed them how to make snowshoes, and, although all learned to use them,
+      Henry, with his great strength and peculiar skill, became by far the most
+      expert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks, Henry
+      took many long journeys on the snowshoes. Sometimes be hunted, but oftener
+      his role was that of scout. He cautioned his friends that he might be
+      out-three or four days at a time, and that they need take no alarm about
+      him unless his absence became extremely long. The winter deepened, the
+      snow melted, and another and greater storm came, freezing the surface,
+      again making the snowshoes necessary. Henry decided now to take a scout
+      alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since grown into the
+      habit of accepting his decisions almost without question, he started at
+      once. He was well equipped with his rifle, double barreled pistol,
+      hatchet, and knife, and he carried in addition a heavy blanket and some
+      jerked venison. He put on his snowshoes at the foot of the cliff, waved a
+      farewell to the four heads thrust from &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; above, and struck out
+      on the smooth, icy surface of the creek. From this he presently passed
+      into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course almost due north.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth. In one of his
+      journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories and
+      Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it was the
+      party led by Braxton Wyatt. Now he meant to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover signs much
+      earlier than he had expected. Before the end of the first day he saw the
+      traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy snow, and once he came to a
+      place where a deer had been slain and dressed. Then he came to another
+      where the snow had been hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping
+      place for several men. Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again, and
+      a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications. All the
+      primitive instincts leaped up within him. A child of the forest and of
+      elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was strong within him. He was
+      tired of hunting wild animals, and now there was promise of a' more
+      dangerous foe. For the purposes that he had in view he was glad that he
+      was alone. The wintry forest, with its two feet of snow covered with ice,
+      contained no terrors for him. He moved on his snowshoes almost like a
+      skater, and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who is
+      practically born on such shoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his snowshoes,
+      he was, indeed, a wonderful figure. The added height and the white glare
+      from the ice made him tower like a great giant. He was clad completely in
+      soft, warm deerskin, his hands were gloved in the same material, and the
+      fur cap was drawn tightly about his head and ears. The slender-barreled
+      rifle lay across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer meat made a light
+      package on his back. Only his face was uncovered, and that was rosy with
+      the sharp but bracing cold. But the resolute blue eyes seemed to have
+      grown more resolute in the last six months, and the firm jaw was firmer
+      than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the earth of
+      snow and ice that it inclosed. His eyes traveled the circle of the horizon
+      three times, and at the end of the third circle he made out a dim, dark
+      thread against that sheet of blue steel. It was the light of a camp fire,
+      and that camp fire must belong to an enemy. It was not likely that anybody
+      else would be sending forth such a signal in this wintry wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently in a
+      small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height. He made up his mind
+      that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he intended to make a
+      thorough scout about it. He advanced until the smoke line became much
+      thicker and broader, and then he stopped in the densest clump of bushes
+      that he could find. He meant to remain there until darkness came, because,
+      with all foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible to examine
+      the hostile camp by day. The bushes, despite the lack of leaves, were so
+      dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the crust of ice, he
+      dug a hole. Then, having taken off his snowshoes and wrapped his blanket
+      about his body, he thrust himself into the hole exactly like a rabbit in
+      its burrow. He laid his shoes on the crust of ice beside him. Of course,
+      if found there by a large party of warriors on snowshoes he would have no
+      chance to flee, but he was willing to take what seemed to him a small
+      risk. The dark would not be long in coming, and it was snug and warm in
+      the hole. As he sat, his head rose just above the surrounding ice, but his
+      rifle barrel rose much higher. He ate a little venison for supper, and the
+      weariness in the ankles that comes from long traveling on snowshoes
+      disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those uncommonly
+      keen ears of his. No sound at all came. There was not even a wind to
+      rustle the bare boughs. The sun hung a huge red globe in the west, and all
+      that side of the earth was tinged with a red glare, wintry and cold
+      despite its redness. Then, as the earth turned, the sun was lost behind
+      it, and the cold dark came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles were
+      soothed, and he grew sleepy. It would have been very pleasant to doze
+      there, but he brought himself round with an effort of the will, and became
+      as wide awake as ever. He was eager to be off on his expedition, but he
+      knew how much depended on waiting, and he waited. One hour, two hours,
+      three hours, four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest before he
+      roused himself from his covert. Then, warm, strong, and tempered like
+      steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and advanced toward the
+      point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now. He was a
+      formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving like some
+      spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold stars
+      twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer visible. But Henry
+      did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. He had marked its base too
+      clearly in his mind to make any mistake, and he advanced with certainty.
+      He came presently into an open space, and he stopped with amazement.
+      Around him were the stumps of a clearing made recently, and near him were
+      some yards of rough rail fence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the clearing the
+      dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys of two of which smoke
+      was rising. It was his first thought that he had come upon a little
+      settlement still held by daring borderers, but second thought told him
+      that it was impossible. Another and more comprehensive look showed many
+      signs of ruin. He saw remains of several burned houses, but clothing all
+      was the atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells when a place is
+      abandoned. The two threads of smoke did not alter this impression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry divined it all. The builders of this tiny village in the wilderness
+      bad been massacred or driven away. A part of the houses had been
+      destroyed, some were left standing, and now there were visitors. He
+      advanced without noise, keeping behind the rail fence, and approaching one
+      of the houses from the chimneys of which the smoke came. Here be crouched
+      a long time, looking and listening attentively; but it seemed that the
+      visitors had no fears. Why should they, when there was nothing that they
+      need fear in this frozen wilderness?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stole a little nearer. It had been a snug, trim little settlement.
+      Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived there, literally hewing a
+      home out of the forest. His heart throbbed with a fierce hatred and, anger
+      against those who had spoiled all this, and his gloved finger crept to the
+      hammer of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night was intensely cold. The mercury was far below zero, and a wind
+      that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. Even the wariest of
+      Indians in such desolate weather might fail to keep a watch. But Henry did
+      not suffer. The fur cap was drawn farther over chin and ears, and the
+      buckskin gloves kept his fingers warm and flexible. Besides, his blood was
+      uncommonly hot in his veins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings had not
+      been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that they could never be
+      used again, save as a passing shelter, just as they were being used now.
+      He slid cautiously about the desolate place. He crossed a brook, frozen
+      almost solidly in its bed, and he saw two or three large mounds that had
+      been haystacks, now covered with snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from which
+      the smoke came. It was rather more pretentious than the others, built of
+      planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a roof. The remains of a
+      small portico formed the approach to the front door. Henry supposed that
+      the house had been set on fire and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a
+      part of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. He knew
+      that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a window. A faint
+      sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved forward slowly to the
+      window. It was an oaken shutter originally fastened with a leather strap,
+      but the strap was gone, and now some one had tied it, though not tightly,
+      with a deer tendon. The crack between shutter and wall was at least three
+      inches, and Henry could see within very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the crevice.
+      What he saw within did not still any of those primitive feelings that had
+      risen so strongly in his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was burning
+      somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of least crackling and
+      greatest heat. The huge bed of coals threw a mass of varied and glowing
+      colors across the floor. Large holes had been burned in the side of the
+      room by the original fire, but Indian blankets had been fastened tightly
+      over them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+      three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword by his
+      side. He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face had increased much
+      in coarseness and cruelty. It had also increased in satisfaction. He was a
+      great man now, as he saw great men, and both face and figure radiated
+      gratification and pride as he lolled before the fire. At the other corner,
+      sitting upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform, was his lieutenant,
+      Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short, uncommonly muscular
+      figure. His face was dark and cruel, with small eyes set close together. A
+      half dozen other white men and more than a dozen Indians were in the room.
+      All these lay upon their blankets on the floor, because all the furniture
+      had been destroyed. Yet they had eaten, and they lay there content in the
+      soothing glow of the fire, like animals that had fed well. Henry was so
+      near that he could hear every word anyone spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?&rdquo; said Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm glad the fire spared a part of it,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;Looks as if it was
+      done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter night when we come
+      along. I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is watching over us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a man that I like, Levi,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can see to the inside of
+      things. It would be a good idea to use this place as a base and shelter,
+      and make a raid on some of the settlements east of the hills, eh, Levi?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It could be done,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;But just listen to that wind, will you!
+      On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. Even our Iroquois
+      are glad to be under a roof.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up by an
+      angry fire. So here was more talk of destruction and slaughter! His gaze
+      alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner engaged upon a task. Henry
+      looked more closely, and saw that he was stretching a blonde-haired scalp
+      over a small hoop. A shudder shook his whole frame. Only those who lived
+      amid such scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings. He felt,
+      too, a bitter sense of injustice. The doers of these deeds were here in
+      warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or fugitives. He turned
+      away from the window, stepping gently upon the snowshoes. He inferred that
+      the remainder of Wyatt's band were quartered in the other house from which
+      he had seen the smoke rising. It was about twenty rods away, but he did
+      not examine it, because a great idea had been born suddenly in his brain.
+      The attempt to fulfill the idea would be accompanied by extreme danger,
+      but he did not hesitate a moment. He stole gently to one of the
+      half-fallen outhouses and went inside. Here he found what he wanted, a
+      large pine shelf that had been sheltered from rain and that was perfectly
+      dry. He scraped off a large quantity of the dry pine until it formed
+      almost a dust, and he did not cease until he had filled his cap with it.
+      Then he cut off large splinters, until he had accumulated a great number,
+      and after that he gathered smaller pieces of half-burned pine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced far, but he
+      never faltered. His head was bare, but he was protected from the wind by a
+      fragment of the outhouse wall. Every two or three minutes he stopped and
+      listened for the sound of a creaking, sliding footstep on the snow, but,
+      never hearing any, he always resumed his work with the same concentration.
+      All the while the wind rose and moaned through the ruins of the little
+      village. When Henry chanced to raise his head above the sheltering wall,
+      it was like the slash of a knife across his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+      splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which the light
+      had shone. He looked again through the crevice at the window. The light
+      had died down much more, and both Wyatt and Coleman were asleep on the
+      floor. But several of the Iroquois were awake, although they sat as silent
+      and motionless as stones against the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside the plank
+      wall. There he put the pine dust in a little heap on the snow and covered
+      it over with pine splinters, on top of which he put larger pieces of pine.
+      Then he went back for the remainder of the pine dust, and built a similar
+      pyramid against a sheltered side of the second house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good fortune
+      only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his heart aflame
+      with righteous anger against those inside, still pursued the work. His
+      heart throbbed, but hand and eye were steady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. The wind
+      rose much higher and roared harder against the house. It would prevent the
+      Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were, from hearing a light sound
+      without. Then he drew forth his flint and steel and struck them together
+      with a hand so strong and swift that sparks quickly leaped forth and set
+      fire to the pine tinder. Henry paused only long enough to see the flame
+      spread to the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the other house, where
+      the task was repeated-he intended that his job should be thorough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to the first
+      house and looked at his fire. It had already spread to the larger pieces
+      of pine, and it could not go out now. The sound made by the flames blended
+      exactly with the roaring of the wind, and another minute or two might pass
+      before the Iroquois detected it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his anger.
+      By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the flames would be so
+      high that the wind would reach them. Then no one could put them out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at once, but
+      that lingering desire to make his task complete and, also, the wish to see
+      the result kept him from doing it. He merely walked across the open space
+      and stood behind a tree at the edge of the forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very snug, in
+      the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals before them. They
+      may even have been dreaming peaceful and beautiful dreams, when suddenly
+      an Iroquois sprang to his feet and uttered a cry that awoke all the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I smell smoke!&rdquo; he exclaimed in his tongue, &ldquo;and there is fire, too! I
+      hear it crackle outside!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open. Flame and smoke blew
+      in his face. He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at the pistol in his
+      belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole side of the house is on fire!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Whose neglect has
+      done this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fire was set on the outside,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was no carelessness of our
+      men. Some enemy has done this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt furiously. &ldquo;Out, everybody! The house burns
+      fast!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were falling
+      about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by the roaring winds,
+      and roared with them. The shell of the house would soon be gone, and when
+      Tories and Iroquois were outside they saw the remainder of their band
+      pouring forth from the other house, which was also in flames.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in a sort of
+      stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest heights by the
+      wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments nothing
+      whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton Wyatt and his band
+      must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could never use this place as a
+      basis for attack upon settlements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How under the sun could it have happened?&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It didn't happen. It was done,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;Somebody set these houses
+      on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the snow where
+      it was not yet melted by the heat. He saw there the track of snowshoes,
+      and suddenly, looking toward the forest, whither they led, he saw a dark
+      figure flit away among the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. HENRY'S SLIDE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body hidden behind
+      one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the scene with a
+      fascinated interest that would not let him go. He knew that his work there
+      was done already. Everything would be utterly destroyed by the flames
+      which, driven by the wind, leaped from one half-ruined building to
+      another. Braxton Wyatt and his band would have enough to do sheltering
+      themselves from the fierce winter, and the settlements could rest for a
+      while at least. Undeniably he felt exultation as he witnessed the
+      destructive work of his hand. The border, with its constant struggle
+      for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to please
+      his eye and heart. A new pulse beat triumphantly every time a timber,
+      burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a falling roof. He laughed
+      inwardly as the flames disclosed the dismay on the faces of the Iroquois
+      and Tories, and it gave him deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his
+      gaudy little sword at his thigh, stalking about helpless. It was while he
+      was looking, absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert eye
+      saw him and gave the warning shout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half running,
+      half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow. After him came
+      warriors and some Tories who had put on their snowshoes preparatory to the
+      search through the forest for shelter. Several bullets were fired, but he
+      was too far away for a good aim. He heard one go zip against a tree, and
+      another cut the surface of the ice near him, but none touched him, and he
+      sped easily on his snowshoes through the frozen forest. But Henry was
+      fully aware of one thing that constituted his greatest danger. Many of
+      these Iroquois had been trained all their lives to snowshoes, while he,
+      however powerful and agile, was comparatively a beginner. He glanced back
+      again and saw their dusky figures running among the trees, but they did
+      not seem to be gaining. If one should draw too near, there was his rifle,
+      and no man, white or red, in the northern or southern forests, could use
+      it better. But for the present it was not needed. He pressed it closely,
+      almost lovingly, to his side, this best friend of the scout and
+      frontiersman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had chosen his course at the first leap. It was southward, toward the
+      lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging from his line, knowing
+      that some part of the wide half circle of his pursuers would profit by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a great upward surge. He had been the victor in what he meant
+      to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape. The cold wind, whistling
+      by, whipped his blood and added new strength to his great muscles. His
+      ankles were not chafed or sore, and he sped forward on the snowshoes,
+      straight and true. Whenever he came to a hill the pursuers would gain as
+      he went up it, but when he went down the other side it was he who gained.
+      He passed brooks, creeks, and once a small river, but they were frozen
+      over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them. Again it was a lake a
+      mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely increased his speed. Always
+      he kept a wary look ahead for thickets through which he could not pass
+      easily, and once he sent back a shout of defiance, which the Iroquois
+      answered with a yell of anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove fatal,
+      the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking of a runner would
+      end his flight, and in a long chase such an accident might happen. It
+      might happen, too, to one or more of the Iroquois, but plenty of them
+      would be left. Yet Henry had supreme confidence in his snowshoes. He had
+      made them himself, he had seen that every part was good, and every thong
+      had been fastened with care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire sank to
+      nothing. The leafless trees stood up, the branches unmoving. The forest
+      was bare and deserted. All the animals, big and little, had gone into
+      their lairs. Nobody witnessed the great pursuit save pursuers and pursued.
+      Henry kept his direction clear in his mind, and allowed the Iroquois to
+      take no advantage of a curve save once. Then he came to a thicket so large
+      that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to pass it. He turned
+      to the right, hence the Indians on the right gained, and they sent up a
+      yell of delight. He replied defiantly and increased his speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously near-near
+      enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the fugitive much. It
+      aroused Henry's anger. He took it as an indignity rather than a danger,
+      and he resolved to avenge it. So far as firing was concerned, he was at a
+      disadvantage. He must stop and turn around for his shot, while the
+      Iroquois, without even checking speed, could fire straight at the flying
+      target, ahead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless, he took the chance. He turned deftly on the snowshoes, fired
+      as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw him fall, then Whirled and
+      resumed his flight. He had lost ground, but he had inspired respect. A
+      single man could not afford to come too near to a marksman so deadly, and
+      the three or four who led dropped back with the main body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Henry made his greatest effort. He wished to leave the foe far behind,
+      to shake off his pursuit entirely. He bounded over the ice and snow with
+      great leaps, and began to gain. Yet he felt at last the effects of so
+      strenuous a flight. His breath became shorter; despite the intense cold,
+      perspiration stood upon his face, and the straps that fastened the
+      snowshoes were chafing his ankles. An end must come even to such strength
+      as his. Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was sinking into
+      the darkness. If he could only increase his speed again, he might leave
+      the Iroquois now. He made a new call upon the will, and the body
+      responded. For a few minutes his speed became greater. A disappointed
+      shout arose behind him, and several shots were fired. But the bullets fell
+      a hundred yards short, and then, as he passed over a little hill and into
+      a wood beyond, he was hidden from the sight of his pursuers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but they could
+      not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at an angle. Pausing a
+      second or two for fresh breath, he continued on his new course, although
+      not so fast as before. He knew that the Iroquois would rush straight
+      ahead, and would not discover for two or three minutes that they were off
+      the trail. It would take them another two or three minutes to recover, and
+      he would make a gain of at least five minutes. Five minutes had saved the
+      life of many a man on the border.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How precious those five minutes were! He would take them all. He ran
+      forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick, and then
+      enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute. He had felt that he was pumping
+      the very lifeblood from his heart. His breath had come painfully, and the
+      thongs of the snowshoes were chafing his ankles terribly. But those
+      minutes were worth a year. Fresh air poured into his lungs, and the
+      muscles became elastic once more. In so brief a space he had recreated
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do his
+      utmost unless the enemy came in sight. About ten minutes later he heard a
+      cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a signal from some Indian to
+      the others that the trail was found again. But with so much advantage he
+      felt sure that he was now quite safe. He ran, although at decreased speed,
+      for about two hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust root of a
+      great oak. Here he depended most upon his ears. The forest was so silent
+      that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but there was none.
+      Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would remain there a long time for a
+      thorough rest. He even dared to take off his snowshoes that he might rub
+      his sore ankles, but he wrapped his heavy blanket about his body, lest he
+      take deep cold in cooling off in such a temperature after so long a
+      flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and then he
+      saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something that told him he
+      must be on the alert again. It was a single ring of smoke, like that from
+      a cigar, only far greater. It rose steadily, untroubled by wind until it
+      was dissipated. It meant &ldquo;attention!&rdquo; and presently it was followed by a
+      column of such rings, one following another beautifully. The column said:
+      &ldquo;The foe is near.&rdquo; Henry read the Indian signs perfectly. The rings were
+      made by covering a little fire with a blanket for a moment and then
+      allowing the smoke to ascend. On clear days such signals could be seen a
+      distance of thirty miles or more, and he knew that they were full of
+      significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. One had
+      found his trail, and was signaling to the other. The party sending up the
+      smoke might be a half mile away, but the others, although his trail was
+      yet hidden from them, might be nearer. It was again time for flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace, folded the
+      blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly root, started once
+      more. He ran forward at moderate speed for perhaps a mile, when he
+      suddenly heard triumphant yells on both right and left. A strong party of
+      Iroquois were coming up on either side, and luck had enabled them to catch
+      him in a trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked his
+      glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might again stave
+      them off. He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling into determined
+      silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest here was of large trees, with
+      no undergrowth, and he noticed that the two parties did not join, but kept
+      on as they had come, one on the right and the other on the left. This fact
+      must have some significance, but he could not fathom it. Neither could he
+      guess whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but apparently they made no
+      effort to come within range of his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out, and then
+      both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the kind that savages
+      utter only when they see their triumph complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He had come
+      to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high like a mountain, and
+      steep like a wall. The surface of the lake was so far down that it was
+      misty white like a cloud. Now he understood the policy of the Indian bands
+      in not uniting. They knew that they would soon reach the lofty cliffs of
+      the lake, and if he turned to either right or left there was a band ready
+      to seize him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in his life.
+      It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a trap, and Braxton
+      Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. That was perhaps the
+      bitterest thing of all, to be taken and tortured by Braxton Wyatt. He was
+      there. He could hear his voice in one of the bands, and then the courage
+      that never failed him burst into fire again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from retreat to
+      either right or left, but not yet closing in because of his deadly rifle.
+      He gave them a single look, put forth his voice in one great cry of
+      defiance, and, rushing toward the edge of the mighty cliff, sprang boldly
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of amazement and
+      chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats, and, taking a single
+      glance backward, he caught a glimpse of dusky faces stamped with awe. But
+      the bold youth had not made a leap to destruction. In the passage of a
+      second he had calculated rapidly and well. While the cliff at first glance
+      seemed perpendicular, it could not be so. There was a slope coated with
+      two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels of his snowshoes, he
+      shot downward like one taking a tremendous slide on a toboggan. Faster and
+      faster he went, but deeper and deeper he dug his shoes into the snow,
+      until he lay back almost flat against its surface. This checked his speed
+      somewhat, but it was still very great, and, preserving his self-control
+      perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly Providence to save him from some
+      great boulder or abrupt drop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him as he
+      descended. Yet he drew himself compactly together, and held his rifle
+      parallel with his body. Once or twice, as he went over a little ridge, he
+      shot clear of the snow, but he held his body rigid, and the snow beyond
+      saved him from a severe bruise. Then his speed was increased again, and
+      all the time the white surface of the lake below, seen dimly through the
+      night and his flight, seemed miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was sure.
+      None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. Braxton Wyatt could
+      have no triumph over him. He was alone in his great flight. Once a
+      projection caused him to turn a little to one side. He was in momentary
+      danger of turning entirely, and then of rolling head over heels like a
+      huge snowball, but with a mighty effort he righted himself, and continued
+      the descent on the runners, with the heels plowing into the ice and the
+      snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles nearer.
+      Presently he would be there. The impossible had become possible, the
+      unattainable was about to be attained. He gave another mighty dig with his
+      shoes, the last reach of the slope passed behind him, and he shot out on
+      the frozen surface of the lake, bruised and breathless, but without a
+      single broken bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay frozen snow,
+      which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the cliff. There he lost his
+      balance at last, and fell on his side, where he lay for a few moments,
+      weak, panting, but triumphant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered nothing
+      save some bruises, that would heal in their own good time. His deerskin
+      clothing was much torn, particularly on the back, where he had leaned upon
+      the ice and snow, but the folded blanket had saved him to a considerable
+      extent. One of his shoes was pulled loose, and presently he discovered
+      that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate. But he did
+      not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of victory. He
+      looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him fifteen
+      hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit. The wall ran
+      away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any easier path.
+      He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at him, but it was
+      too far away, and he saw only a black line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
+      away from &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; and he did not intend to go there, lest the
+      Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge. But
+      as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and the
+      Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side, he felt
+      perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the time of an
+      increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly swollen, and he
+      did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low bills. Here,
+      under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he found a partial
+      shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with infinite patience he
+      built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead boughs, hung his blanket
+      in front of it on two sticks that the flame might not be seen, took off
+      his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared his ankles. Both were
+      swollen, but the left much more badly than the other. He doubted whether
+      he would be able to walk on the following day, but he rubbed them a long
+      time, both with the palms of his hands and with snow, until they felt
+      better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned back against the faithful
+      snowshoes which had saved his life, however much they had hurt his ankles,
+      and gave himself up to the warmth of the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
+      terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one which,
+      if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff and
+      painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and legs
+      many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he had
+      venison, ate several strips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
+      bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
+      coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket, wrapped
+      himself in it, and was soon asleep before the fire. He slept long and
+      deeply, and although, when he awoke, the day had fully come, the coals
+      were not yet out entirely. He arose, but such a violent pain from his left
+      ankle shot through him that he abruptly sat down again. As he bad feared,
+      it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not walk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no striving against
+      unchangeable circumstance. He drew up more wood, which he had stacked
+      against the cliff, and put it on the coals. He hung up the blanket once
+      more in order that it might hide the fire, stretched out his lame leg, and
+      calmly made a breakfast off the last of his venison. He knew he was in a
+      plight that might appall the bravest, but he kept himself in hand. It was
+      likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a shapeless mass
+      by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet, and he had little fear of
+      them, but to be unable to walk and alone in an icy wilderness without food
+      was sufficient in itself. He calculated that it was at least a dozen miles
+      to &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; and the chances were a hundred to one against any of his
+      comrades wandering his way. He looked once more at his swollen left ankle,
+      and he made a close calculation. It would be three days, more likely four,
+      before he could walk upon it. Could he endure hunger that long? He could.
+      He would! Crouched in his nest with his back to the cliff, he had defense
+      against any enemy in his rifle and pistol. By faithful watching he might
+      catch sight of some wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food
+      for his stomach. His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was nothing
+      to do but sit quiet and wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He scarcely moved for hours. As long as he was still his ankle troubled
+      him but little. The sun came out, silver bright, but it had no warmth. The
+      surface of the lake was shown only by the smoothness of its expanse; the
+      icy covering was the same everywhere over hills and valleys. Across the
+      lake he saw the steep down which he had slid, looming white and lofty. In
+      the distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its terrors, it had,
+      beyond a doubt, saved his life. He glanced down at his swollen ankle, and,
+      despite his helpless situation, he was thankful that he had escaped so
+      well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all around
+      himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house. Then he let the fire die
+      except some coals that gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over his
+      head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
+      stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was warm,
+      and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him. He was
+      young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance. Now it
+      cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and for a few
+      moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon came back as
+      strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim silence, trying
+      to forget that there was any such thing as food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon, but
+      before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
+      trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
+      could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and, in
+      fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
+      daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
+      pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
+      thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature, no
+      matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then he
+      would feast!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
+      white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
+      the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
+      hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
+      but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The new
+      snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail from
+      the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to a gray,
+      somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not feel the
+      pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and then they
+      came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in the night,
+      and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease in the power
+      of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as his physical
+      fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same confidence that
+      he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little more threatening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
+      back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
+      his left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move it
+      with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk. Once
+      more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly walk and
+      hunt game or make a try for &ldquo;The Alcove,&rdquo; so far as his ankle was
+      concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
+      strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine made
+      upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so powerful, so
+      skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness and to every
+      manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by a bruised ankle
+      to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be more than ten
+      miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright and stepped out
+      into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could scarcely keep from
+      crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank back into the
+      shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for another full day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
+      blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for the
+      sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering from
+      cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the bright
+      flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it go out.
+      Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface of the
+      snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a wandering
+      deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He was more than
+      ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of his den, the rifle
+      across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the cheek bones showed high
+      and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the fierce desire for prey, and
+      the long, lean body drawn forward as if it were about to leap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole in
+      the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
+      abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
+      edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned and
+      dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay still
+      for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at himself.
+      It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea think of him
+      if they knew how he came to his end? They would put him with old squaws or
+      little children. And how Braxton Wyatt and his lieutenant, the squat Tory,
+      would laugh! That was the bitterest thought of all. But the frenzy passed,
+      and he fell into a sleep which was only a succession of bad dreams. He was
+      running the gauntlet again among the Shawnees. Again, kneeling to drink at
+      the clear pool, he saw in the water the shadow of the triumphant warrior
+      holding the tomahawk above him. One after another the most critical
+      periods of his life were lived over again, and then he sank into a deep
+      torpor, from which he did not rouse himself until far into the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have regained
+      much of his lost will. He looked once more at the fatal left ankle. It had
+      improved greatly. He could even stand upon it, but when he rose to his
+      feet he felt a singular dizziness. Again, what he had gained in one way he
+      had lost in another. The earth wavered. The smooth surface of the lake
+      seemed to rise swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly. The far slope down
+      which he had shot rose to the height of miles. There was a pale tinge,
+      too, over the world. He sank down, not because of his ankle, but because
+      he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two. He was ashamed
+      of such extraordinary weakness. He looked at one of his hands. It was
+      thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever, and the blue veins stood
+      out on the back of it. He could scarcely believe that the hand was his
+      own. But after the first spasm of weakness was over, the precious will
+      returned. He could walk. Strength enough to permit him to hobble along had
+      returned to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+      nervous system, however weakened it might be. He must seek food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the blanket
+      tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. He was preparing
+      both mind and body for the supreme effort. He knew that everything hung
+      now on the surviving remnants of his skill and courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great reserve now
+      except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. It was proof of his
+      youthful greatness that it stood the last test. As he lay there, the final
+      ounce of will and courage came. Strength which was of the mind rather than
+      of the body flowed back into his veins; he felt able to dare and to do;
+      the pale aspect of the world went away, and once more he was Henry Ware,
+      alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his shoulders.
+      He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left ankle, despite its
+      great improvement, would not stand the strain. He must break his way
+      through the snow, which was a full three feet in depth. Fortunately the
+      crust had softened somewhat in the last two or three days, and he did not
+      have a covering of ice to meet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the cliff, his
+      rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might miss no chance at
+      game. To an ordinary observer there would have been no such chance at all.
+      It was merely a grim white wilderness that might have been without
+      anything living from the beginning. But Henry, the forest runner, knew
+      better. Somewhere in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had
+      left, and in these lairs were wild animals. To any such wild animal,
+      whether panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome object,
+      with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his thin lips opening
+      now and then, and disclosing the two rows of strong white teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard, because
+      it was desperate work for one in his condition to break his way through
+      snow so deep. But his ankle stood the strain well, and his courage
+      increased rather than diminished. He was no longer a cripple confined to
+      one spot. While he stood resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about half
+      a rod to his left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched carefully
+      among them. The snow was not nearly so thick there, and under the thickest
+      clump, where the shelter was best, he saw a small round opening. In an
+      instant all his old vigorous life, all the abounding hope which was such a
+      strong characteristic of his nature, came back to him. Already he had
+      triumphed over Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow, ice, crippling,
+      and starvation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right hand. He
+      thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit leaped for life
+      from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod stretched him dead at the
+      feet of the hunter. Henry picked up the rabbit. It was large and yet fat.
+      Here was food for two meals. In the race between the ankle and starvation,
+      the ankle had won.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not give way to any unseemly elation. He even felt a momentary
+      sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because all these wild
+      things were his kindred now. He returned by the path that he had broken,
+      kindled his fire anew, dexterously skinned and cleaned his rabbit, then
+      cooked it and ate half, although he ate slowly and with intervals between
+      each piece. How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being longed to
+      leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was still supreme.
+      He knew what was good for himself, and he did it. Everything was done in
+      order and with sobriety. Then he put the rest of the rabbit carefully in
+      his food pouch, wrapped the blanket about his body, leaned back, and
+      stretched his feet to the coals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! He had
+      not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty cliffs on the
+      farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and hanging with icicles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the strength
+      returning to his frame. He knew that the blood in his veins had begun to
+      sparkle, and that his vitality was rising fast. He could have gone to
+      sleep peacefully, but instead he went forth and hunted again. He knew that
+      where the rabbit had been, others were likely to be near, and before he
+      returned he had secured two more. Both of these he cleaned and cooked at
+      once. When this was done night had come, but he ate again, and then,
+      securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best sleep that he had
+      enjoyed since his flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started then, but
+      he was prudent. There was still a chance of meeting the Iroquois, and the
+      ankle might not stand so severe a test. He would rest in his nest for
+      another day, and then he would be equal to anything. Few could lie a whole
+      day in one place with but little to do and with nothing passing before the
+      eyes, but it was a part of Henry's wilderness training, and he showed all
+      the patience of the forester. He knew, too, as the hours went by, that his
+      strength was rising all the while. To-morrow almost the last soreness
+      would be gone from his ankle and then he could glide swiftly over the
+      snow, back to his comrades. He was content. He had, in fact, a sense of
+      great triumph because he had overcome so much, and here was new food in
+      this example for future efforts of the mind, for future victories of the
+      will over the body. The wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly
+      down the curve, but all the time the boy scarcely stirred. Once there was
+      a flight of small birds across the heavens, and he watched them vaguely,
+      but apparently he took no interest. Toward night he stood up in his recess
+      and flexed and tuned his muscles for a long time, driving out any
+      stiffness that might come through long lack of motion. Then he ate and lay
+      down, but he did not yet sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he knew
+      &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; lay. A good moon was now shining, and stars by the score were
+      springing out. Suddenly at a point on that far shore a spark of red light
+      appeared and twinkled. Most persons would have taken it for some low star,
+      but Henry knew better. It was fire put there by human hand for a purpose,
+      doubtless a signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared by the first,
+      then a third, then a fourth. He uttered a great sigh of pleasure. It was
+      his four friends signaling to him somewhere in the vast unknown that they
+      were alive and well, and beckoning him to come. The lights burned for
+      fifteen or twenty minutes, and then all went out together. Henry turned
+      over on his side and fell sound asleep. In the morning he put on his
+      snowshoes and started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. THE SAFE RETURN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found
+      good footing for his shoes. For a while he leaned most on the right ankle,
+      but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them equally, and
+      sped forward, his spirits rising at every step. The air was cold, and
+      there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind that whipped
+      his face. The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and his eyes no
+      longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild animal in
+      search of prey. A fine red color was suffused through the brown of his
+      face. He had chosen his course with due precaution. The broad surface,
+      smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the temptation away. He
+      did not wish to run any chance whatever of another Iroquois pursuit, and
+      he kept in the forest that ran down close to the water's edge. It was
+      tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious freedom.
+      With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in his cell,
+      with a ball and chain to his foot. Now he flew along, while the cold wind
+      whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely to live. He went
+      on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that contained &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the last of his
+      rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood at the hidden
+      path that led up to their home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. To one who
+      had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely
+      desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been
+      visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes. But Henry had such
+      eyes. He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the surface
+      of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there. He resolved
+      to surprise them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+      dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind. As he gradually
+      approached &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as
+      he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light
+      falling on the snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.
+      Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound. He knew all
+      those tones. They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who
+      had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band
+      who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still. Lying almost
+      flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into &ldquo;The
+      Alcove.&rdquo; A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed
+      about it were the four. Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was
+      gazing into the coals. Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long
+      Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was
+      talking. Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry will turn up all right,&rdquo; he was saying. &ldquo;Hasn't he always done it
+      afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break
+      his rule now. I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories
+      between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to
+      ketch Henry. I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing, Sol?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him,&rdquo; said the shiftless
+      one. &ldquo;He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin' around an Injun
+      village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an' listenin' an' gatherin' talk
+      about their plans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He ain't doin' any sech thing,&rdquo; broke in Long Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours,
+      an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're
+      talkin' about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing, Jim?&rdquo; asked Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry's away off to the south, not to the north,&rdquo; replied the long one,
+      &ldquo;an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned. One house has been left
+      standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the groun'. A
+      whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin' thar fur days,
+      eatin' so much an' hevin' such a good time that the fat's hangin' down
+      over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust right out uv
+      his huntin' shirt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face to
+      the fire. Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;Can you have any vision, too, Tom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Tom Ross, &ldquo;I kin. I shet my eyes, but I don't see like
+      either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong. I see Henry, an' I see
+      him plain. He's had a pow'ful tough time. He ain't threatenin' to bust
+      with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are
+      fallin' down over his jaws. It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk a
+      mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags his
+      left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself. He ain't spyin' on no
+      Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer hangin' by
+      the side uv him. It's t'other way 'roan'. He's layin' almost flat on his
+      face not twenty feet from us, lookin' right in at us, an' I wuz the first
+      to see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise
+      sprang to his feet. Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so you saw me, Tom,&rdquo; he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand
+      after another. &ldquo;I might have known that, while I could stalk some of you,
+      I could not stalk all of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I caught the glimpse uv you,&rdquo; said Silent Tom, &ldquo;while Sol an' Jim wuz
+      talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul called
+      on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an' worth
+      tellin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I've not been having any easy time, and for a
+      while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I will
+      tell you all about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
+      food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry,&rdquo; said
+      Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any one of you would have done it,&rdquo; said Henry, modestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+      &ldquo;One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause that
+      scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
+      tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak for us all there, Sol,&rdquo; said Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have all of you been doing?&rdquo; asked Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much of anything,&rdquo; replied Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;We've been scoutin'
+      several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
+      or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
+      up warmer an' storin' away food.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid,&rdquo; said Henry,
+      &ldquo;unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is yet
+      on foot against the Iroquois?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tom ran across some scouts from the militia,&rdquo; replied Paul, &ldquo;and they
+      said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army would
+      march.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Henry earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a long
+      time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for two days
+      and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to melt under
+      the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down the cliffs, and
+      would have entered &ldquo;The Alcove&rdquo; had not the five made provision to turn it
+      away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening to the gush of the
+      water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one another. Yet the time
+      dragged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man wuz never made to be a caged animile,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;The
+      longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
+      improve, neither, an' I ain't happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guess it's the same with all uv us,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still cold
+      weather, they began again to range the forest far in every direction, and
+      they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were becoming active.
+      There were more burnings, more slaughters, and more scalpings. The whole
+      border was still appalled at the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley,
+      and the savages were continually spreading over a wider area. Braxton
+      Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the aid of his Tory lieutenant,
+      Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name equal to that of Walter Butler.
+      As for &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler and his men, no men were hated more thoroughly than
+      they.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five continued to do the best they could, which was much, carrying
+      many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have been victims.
+      While they devoted themselves to their strenuous task, great events in
+      which they were to take a part were preparing. The rear guard of the
+      Revolution was about to become for the time the main guard. A great eye
+      had been turned upon the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great mind,
+      which could bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint, was preparing
+      to send help to those farther away. So mighty a cry of distress had risen,
+      that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed. As the warm weather
+      came, the soldiers began to march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the Iroquois and
+      their allies, the Tories, the English, and the Canadians. There was a
+      great stirring among the leaders, Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+      the Johnsons, the Butlers, Claus, and the rest. Haldimand, the king's
+      representative in Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all the Iroquois to
+      meet the enemy. The Tories were' extremely active. Promises were made to
+      the tribes that they should have other victories even greater than those
+      of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the terrible Queen Esther went
+      among them, swinging her great war tomahawk over her head and chanting her
+      song of death. She, more than any other, inflamed the Iroquois, and they
+      were eager for the coming contest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter, but,
+      faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the last, he
+      returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of the Wyandot
+      nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not be estimated too
+      highly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the forest,
+      and they thrilled at the thought that the crisis was approaching. Then
+      they set out for Lake Otsego, where the army was gathering for the great
+      campaign. They were equipped thoroughly, and they were now so well known
+      in the region that they knew they would be welcome.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the last
+      night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry, scouting as usual
+      to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep in the forest. He wheeled
+      instantly to cover behind the body of a great beech tree, and the stranger
+      sought to do likewise, only he had no convenient tree that was so large.
+      It was about the twelfth hour, but Henry could see a portion of a body
+      protruding beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he recognized it. As he
+      held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and woodsman,
+      what are you doing in my wilderness? Stand forth at once and give an
+      account of yourself, or I will shoot off the part of your body that sticks
+      beyond that oak tree!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was instantaneous. A round, plump body revolved from the
+      partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open, rifle in hand
+      and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware,&rdquo; replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud, clear
+      tone, &ldquo;I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that you are. Come
+      from behind that beech and let us see which has the stronger grip.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so powerful that
+      both winced. Then they released hands simultaneously, and Heemskerk asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the other four mynheers? Am I wrong to say that they are near,
+      somewhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not wrong,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They are alive, well and hungry, not
+      a mile from here. There is one man whom they would be very glad to see,
+      and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is roaming in our woods without a
+      permit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed. It was obvious that he felt
+      as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in seeing him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My heart swells,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feared that you might have been killed or
+      scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far land of Kentucky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have wintered well,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;in a place of which I shall not tell
+      you now, and we are here to see the campaign through.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come, too, for the same purpose,&rdquo; said Heemskerk. &ldquo;We shall be
+      together. It is goot.&rdquo; &ldquo;Meanwhile,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;our camp fire is lighted.
+      Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is cooking strips of meat over the
+      coals, and, although it is a mile away, the odor of them is very pleasant
+      in my nostrils. I wish to go back there, and it will be all the more
+      delightful to me, and to those who wait, if I can bring with me such a
+      welcome guest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on, mynheer,&rdquo; said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then they ate
+      and talked. Heemskerk was sanguine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something will be done this time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Word has come from the great
+      commander that the Iroquois must be crushed. The thousands who have fallen
+      must be avenged, and this great fire along our border must be stopped. If
+      it cannot be done, then we perish. We have old tales in my own country of
+      the cruel deeds that the Spaniards did long, long ago, but they were not
+      worse than have been done here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them traveled back
+      to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and the scars and traces of
+      many more tragedies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw that all
+      they had heard was true. The most formidable force that they had ever seen
+      was gathering. There were many companies in the Continental buff and blue,
+      epauletted officers, bayonets and cannon. The camp was full of life,
+      energy, and hope, and the five at once felt the influence of it. They
+      found here old friends whom they had known in the march on Oghwaga,
+      William Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very welcome.
+      They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge, received
+      roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with Heemskerk and the two
+      celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and David Elerson, they roamed the
+      forest in a great circle about the lake, bringing much valuable
+      information about the movements of the enemy, who in their turn were
+      gathering in force, while the royal authorities were dispatching both
+      Indians and white men from Canada to help them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much impatience. It
+      takes a long time for an army to gather and then to equip itself for the
+      march, and they were so used to swift motion that it was now a part of
+      their nature. At last the army was ready, and it left the lake. Then it
+      proceeded in boats down the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an
+      artificial dam built with immense labor, to its confluence with the larger
+      river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander, General James
+      Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then the army, late in August,
+      began its march upon the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. They knew
+      that no important movement of so large a force could escape the notice of
+      the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made it their duty to see that the
+      Americans marched into no trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched with brown,
+      and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were ripening on the vines, and
+      the quantity of game had increased, the wild animals returning to the land
+      from which civilized man had disappeared. The desolation seemed even more
+      complete than in the autumn before. In the winter and spring the Iroquois
+      and Tories had destroyed the few remnants of houses that were left.
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band had been particularly active in this work, and
+      many tales had come of his cruelty and that of his swart Tory lieutenant,
+      Coleman. Henry was sure, too, that Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps
+      fifty Indians and Tories, was now in front of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others, twelve
+      brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night about ten miles
+      ahead of the army. They lighted no fire, and, even had it been cold, they
+      would not have done so, as the region was far too dangerous for any light.
+      Yet the little band felt no fear. They were only twelve, it is true, but
+      such a twelve! No chance would either Indians or Tories have to surprise
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to keep watch
+      while the others slept. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Heemskerk were the
+      sentinels. It was very late, nearly midnight; the sky was clear, and
+      presently they saw smoke rings ascending from high hills to their right,
+      to be answered soon by other rings of smoke to their left. The three
+      watched them with but little comment, and read every signal in turn. They
+      said: &ldquo;The enemy is still advancing,&rdquo; &ldquo;He is too strong for us...... We
+      must retreat and await our brethren.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least,&rdquo; whispered
+      Heemskerk. &ldquo;Brant is probably ahead of us in command, and he will avoid us
+      until he receives the fresh forces from Canada.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it that you're right,&rdquo; Henry whispered back. &ldquo;Timmendiquas also is
+      with him, and the two great chiefs are too cunning to fight until they can
+      bring their last man into action.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' then,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;we'll see what happens.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry very gravely, &ldquo;we'll see what happens. The Iroquois are
+      a powerful confederacy. They've ruled in these woods for hundreds of
+      years. They're led by great chiefs, and they're helped by our white
+      enemies. You can't tell what would happen even to an army like ours in an
+      ambush.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later, when they
+      heard footsteps. They awakened the others, and the twelve, crawling to the
+      edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat upon their faces, with their hands
+      upon the triggers of their rifles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and Tories in
+      about equal numbers, were passing. Wyatt walked at the head. Despite his
+      youth, he had acquired an air of command, and he seemed a fit leader for
+      such a crew. He wore a faded royal uniform, and, while a small sword hung
+      at his side, he also carried a rifle on his shoulder. Close behind him was
+      the swart and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and Tories
+      together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as many
+      belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle fairly ached
+      to press it. What an opportunity this would be if the twelve were only
+      forty, or even thirty! With the advantage of surprise they might hope to
+      annihilate this band which had won such hate for itself on the border. But
+      twelve were not enough and twelve such lives could not be spared at a time
+      when the army needed them most.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+      disappointment by a mere physical act if possible. He happened to look at
+      Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed together in the same
+      manner. It is probable that like feelings swayed every one of the twelve,
+      but they were so still in the brushwood that no Iroquois heard grass or
+      leaf rustle. Thus the twelve watched the sixty pass, and after they were
+      gone, Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for several miles.
+      They saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as they approached
+      the stream they beheld signs of fortifications. It was now nearly
+      daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they turned back. But they were
+      convinced that the enemy meant to fight on the Chemung.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the brushwood and
+      saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of men, famous or infamous
+      in their day, were gathered around a low camp fire on the crest of a small
+      hill. The most distinguished of them all in looks was a young Indian chief
+      of great height and magnificent build, with a noble and impressive
+      countenance. He wore nothing of civilized attire, the nearest approach to
+      it being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung gracefully over his
+      right shoulder. It was none other than the great Wyandot chief,
+      Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without expression to the words
+      of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his mixture of
+      savage and civilized costume, and about him were other famous Indian
+      chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Little Beard,
+      a young Seneca renowned for ferocity, and others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir John
+      Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his oath of
+      neutrality, the condition of his release, and then, fleeing to Canada, had
+      returned to wage bloody war on the settlements; his brother-in-law,
+      Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy;
+      his son, Walter Butler, of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart;
+      the Canadian Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark
+      Tory, Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together, wore the
+      handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed many dark deeds or
+      permitted them to be done by men under his command, and he had secured the
+      opportunity only through his broken oath, but he had lost greatly. The
+      vast estates of his father, Sir William Johnson, were being torn from him,
+      and perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he had done he
+      would lose all and become an exile from the country in which he was born.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not a cheerful council. There was no exultation as after Wyoming
+      and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places. Sir John bit his lip
+      uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his hand on his knee, stared
+      gloomily at the fire. The two Butlers were silent, and the dark face of
+      Thayendanegea was overcast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a mile
+      long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner that an enemy
+      could attack only in front and on one flank, that flank itself being
+      approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge which ran parallel to the
+      river. The ground about the camp was covered with pine and scrub oaks.
+      Many others had been cut down and added to the breastwork. A deep brook
+      ran at the foot of the hill on which the leaders sat. About the slopes of
+      this hill and another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian
+      warriors, all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white
+      allies, conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+      Rangers. These men made but little noise now. They were resting and
+      waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at the fire.
+      He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said in his excellent
+      English: &ldquo;The king promised us that if we would take up arms for him
+      against the Yankees, he would send a great army, many thousands, to help
+      us. We believed him, and we took up the hatchet for him. We fought in the
+      dark and the storm with Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many of our warriors
+      fell. But we did not sulk in our lodges. We have ravaged and driven in the
+      whole American border along a line of hundreds of miles. Now the Congress
+      sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we have done, and the great
+      forces of the king are not here. I have been across the sea; I have seen
+      the mighty city of London and its people as numerous as the blades of
+      grass. Why has not the king kept his promise and sent men enough to save
+      the Iroquois?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the soul of the
+      great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred. His penetrating mind saw the
+      uplifted hand about to strike-and the target was his own people. His tone
+      became bitterly sarcastic as he spoke, and when he ceased he looked
+      directly at the baronet in a manner that showed a reply must be given. Sir
+      John moved uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;but the king has
+      many things to do. The war is spread over a vast area, and he must keep
+      his largest armies in the East. But the Royal Greens, the Rangers, and all
+      others whom we can raise, even in Canada, are here to help you. In the
+      coming battle your fortunes are our fortunes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased. His glance fell upon
+      the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are many in England itself,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;who wish us harm, and who
+      perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that we ought to
+      have. They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of the torture and of the
+      slaughter of women and children, and they say that war must not be carried
+      on in such a way. But there are some among us who are more savage than the
+      savages themselves, as they call us. It was you, John Butler, who led at
+      Wyoming, and it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed the women and children
+      to be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would have been slain there had I
+      not, come up in time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The dark face of &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler grew darker, and the pallid face of his
+      son grew more pallid. Both were angry, and at the same time a little
+      afraid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won at Wyoming in fair battle,&rdquo; said the elder Butler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But afterwards?&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians against us,&rdquo;
+       continued Thayendanegea. &ldquo;It is because of them that the commander of the
+      Bostonians has sent a great army, and the Long House is threatened with
+      destruction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son and I have fought for our common cause,&rdquo; said &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; Butler, the
+      blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson interfered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois,&rdquo; he said, calling
+      the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name, &ldquo;but I and my
+      brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain Butler have already lost
+      though we may regain. And with this strong position and the aid of ambush
+      it is likely that we can defeat the rebels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long embankment,
+      the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors scattered numerously here
+      and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may be right, Sir John,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;yes, I think you are right, and by
+      all the gods, red and white, we shall see. I wish to fight here, because
+      this is the best place in which to meet the Bostonians. What say you,
+      Timmendiquas, sworn brother of mine, great warrior and great chief of the
+      Wyandots, the bravest of all the western nations?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was sonorous, and
+      his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we fight&mdash;and we must fight&mdash;this is the place in which to
+      meet the white army,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Wyandots are here to help the
+      Iroquois, as the Iroquois would go to help them. The Manitou of the
+      Wyandots, the Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he said no
+      more. All regarded him with respect and admiration. Even Braxton Wyatt
+      felt that it was a noble deed to remain and face destruction for the sake
+      of tribes not his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the while in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What further
+      information can you give us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow,&rdquo; replied Wyatt, &ldquo;and the
+      American army is advancing cautiously. It has out strong flanking parties,
+      and it is preceded by the scouts, those Kentuckians whom I know and have
+      met often, Murphy, Elerson, Heemskerk, and the others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we could only lead them into an ambush,&rdquo; said Sir John. &ldquo;Any kind of
+      troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before an unseen foe
+      pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep woods. Then they magnify the
+      enemy tenfold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. &ldquo;When we killed
+      Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors stood in the
+      moccasins of only one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir John frowned. He did not like this allusion to the time when the
+      Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a great defeat.
+      But he feared to rebuke the old chief. Hiokatoo and the Senecas were too
+      important.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The foliage
+      is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is not used to
+      forest warfare. What say you to this, Wyatt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt shook his head. He knew the caliber of the five from Kentucky, and
+      he had little hope of such good fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have learned from many lessons,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and their scouts are
+      the best. Moreover, they will attempt anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the renegade roved
+      about the dark circle of trees and warriors that inclosed them. Presently
+      he saw something that caused him to rise and walk a little distance from
+      the fire. Although his eye suspected and his mind confirmed, Braxton Wyatt
+      could not believe that it was true. It was incredible. No one, be he ever
+      so daring, would dare such a thing. But the figure down there among the
+      trees, passing about among the warriors, many of whom did not know one
+      another, certainly looked familiar, despite the Indian paint and garb.
+      Only that of Timmendiquas could rival it in height and nobility. These
+      were facts that could not be hidden by any disguise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Wyatt?&rdquo; asked Sir John. &ldquo;What do you see? Why do you look so
+      startled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not seen here
+      before,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;he is as tall and as powerful as Timmendiquas, and
+      there is only one such. There is a spy among us, and it is Henry Ware.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the flitting
+      figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you say?&rdquo; exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, &ldquo;a spy, and
+      you know him to be such!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he is the worst of them all,&rdquo; replied Wyatt. &ldquo;I know him. I could
+      not mistake him. But he has dared too much. He cannot get away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The great camp was now in an uproar. The tall figure was seen here and
+      there, always to vanish quickly. Twenty shots were fired at it. None hit.
+      Many more would have been fired, but the camp was too much crowded to take
+      such a risk. Every moment the tumult and confusion increased, but
+      Thayendanegea quickly posted warriors on the embankment and the flanks, to
+      prevent the escape of the fugitive in any of those directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. It was
+      next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving to strike with a
+      tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great force. The next instant the
+      figure leaped far out into the stream. The moonlight glimmered an instant
+      on the bare head, while bullets the next moment pattered on the water
+      where it had been. Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger
+      reclaimed the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods with
+      more vain bullets flying about him. But he sent back a shout of irony and
+      triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the bank bite their
+      lips in anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a trumpet
+      awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henry was standing
+      beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's excitement, danger, and
+      escape, but his face was flushed and his eyes sparkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up, Paul! Up!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;We know the enemy's position, and we will be in
+      battle before another sun sets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on his feet,
+      rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great attack. He, like all the
+      others, had slept on such a night fully dressed. Shif'less Sol, Long Jim,
+      Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the rest were by the side of him, and all about
+      them rose the sounds of an army going into battle, commands sharp and
+      short, the rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of bayonets, the
+      clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of men talking in
+      half-finished sentences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was the first time
+      that they had ever beheld a large and regular army going into action, and
+      they were a part of it, a part by no means unimportant. It was Henry, with
+      his consummate skill and daring, who had uncovered the position of the
+      enemy, and now, without snatching a moment's sleep, he was ready to lead
+      where the fray might be thickest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and the army
+      began to move through the thick forest. A light wind, crisp with the air
+      of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. The sun, swinging upward in
+      the east, poured down a flood of brilliant rays that lighted up
+      everything, the buff and blue uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the
+      bayonets, and the forest, still heavy with foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now! now!&rdquo; thought every one of the five, &ldquo;we begin the vengeance for
+      Wyoming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the thickets for
+      the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so terribly. As Braxton Wyatt
+      had truly said, these scouts were the best in the world. Nothing could
+      escape the trained eyes of Henry Ware and his comrades, and those of
+      Murphy, Ellerson, and the others, while off on either flank of the army
+      heavy detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement. They
+      saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deep silence in front of
+      them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its golden light down upon the
+      army in such an intense, vivid flood that rifle barrels and bayonets gave
+      back a metallic gleam. All around them the deep woods swayed and rustled
+      before the light breeze, and now and then they caught glimpses of the
+      river, its surface now gold, then silver, under the shining sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, but he had
+      seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he could not keep
+      down the desire to see punishment. It is only those in sheltered homes who
+      can forgive the tomahawk and the stake. Now he was the very first of the
+      scouts, although his comrades and a dozen others were close behind him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them by the
+      forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and the sound of
+      commands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankment ran, and he
+      knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by timber. They were not
+      far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded very slowly, examining every tree
+      and clump of bushes to see whether a lurking enemy was hidden there. The
+      silence endured longer than he had thought. Nothing could be seen in front
+      save the waving forest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown shoulder's edge
+      showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all the scouts sank to the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle, whistled over
+      their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loud at such a time, came
+      back from the forest in many echoes, and a light puff of smoke arose.
+      Quick as a flash, before the brown shoulder and body exposed to take aim
+      could be withdrawn, Tom Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his
+      death yell. The Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a war
+      whoop, fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and before
+      it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in tremendous
+      volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout that had often appalled
+      the bravest, but the little band of scouts were not afraid. When its last
+      echo died they sent forth a fierce, defiant note of their own, and,
+      crawling forward, began to send in their bullets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers, who
+      replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line through the
+      undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of smoke arose and,
+      uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed. Twigs and bark fell, and now
+      and then a man, as they fought from tree to tree. Henry caught one glimpse
+      of a face that was white, that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought a shot at
+      the renegade leader, but he could not get it. But the scouts pushed on,
+      and the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on the flanks they
+      began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of the army were in
+      action, but the main body still advanced without firing a shot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and rifle pits,
+      and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and Tory skirmishers
+      leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge with their army. Then they
+      turned back and saw the long line of their own army steadily advancing,
+      while the sounds of heavy firing still continued on both flanks. Henry
+      looked proudly at the unbroken array, the front of steel, and the cannon.
+      He felt prouder still when the general turned to him and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
+      lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of the
+      rifles shall talk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest of
+      the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there among
+      the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
+      waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
+      be thickest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
+      and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells, new
+      and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
+      position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in a
+      curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
+      followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
+      aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+      like cry came back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the medicine!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I wonder how you like that, you Butlers
+      an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your scalp-taking
+      crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
+      the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower of
+      rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short, and the
+      whoop hurt no one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision, while
+      the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
+      engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
+      his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
+      from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
+      bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field. They
+      could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork, the
+      dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by shell and
+      shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the great
+      chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men, and
+      striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
+      bullets at close quarters, but more terrifying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian camp,
+      creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance to shoot down
+      the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watching them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, boys,&rdquo; exclaimed Henry. &ldquo;Here's work for us now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the skirmishers,
+      who were soon driven in again. The artillery fire had never ceased for a
+      moment, the shells and balls passing over their heads. Their work done,
+      the sharpshooters fell back again, the gunners worked faster for a while,
+      and then at a command they ceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all the
+      others knew instinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in every
+      bone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now!&rdquo; Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment the order was
+      given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke floating away for the
+      moment and the sun flashing off the bayonets. The five sprang up and
+      rushed on ahead. A sheet of flame burst from the embankment, and the rifle
+      pits sprang into fire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past them, and
+      the sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never ceased to rush
+      straight for the embankment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. There was one
+      continuous flash from the earthwork, and a continuous flash replied. The
+      rifles were at work now, thousands of them, and they kept up an incessant
+      crash, while above them rose the unbroken thunder of the cannon. The
+      volume of smoke deepened, and it was shot through with the sharp, pungent
+      odor of burned gunpowder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded, and fired
+      again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had never ceased. It
+      had not been checked even for a moment, and the bayonets of one of the
+      regiments glittered in the sun a straight line of steel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was lowest. He
+      saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he intended to strike if
+      he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulating and shouting to his men to stand
+      fast and drive back the charge. He believed even then, and he knew later,
+      that Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were showing courage superior to that
+      of the Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian allies.
+      The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the Iroquois did
+      not cease to send a stream of bullets from the earthwork.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and closer. He
+      saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he snapped his empty
+      pistol at it. But it was hidden the next instant behind others, and then
+      they were at the embankment. He saw the glowing faces of his comrades at
+      his side, the singular figure of Heemskerk revolving swiftly, and behind
+      them the line of bayonets closing in with the grimness of fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him point blank, and
+      he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then his comrades were by his
+      side, and they leaped down into the Indian camp. After them came the
+      riflemen, and then the line of bayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and
+      the great Wyandot shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal
+      Greens and the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+      McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
+      had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
+      of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown faces
+      before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and there,
+      shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that the
+      battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal Greens
+      and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best of the
+      Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+      overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they fell
+      back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest fighter,
+      the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly Timmendiquas,
+      Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who were most
+      strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield, with its
+      numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them. They
+      retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of bullets,
+      and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
+      face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The victory is won already!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Now to drive it home!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; cried Henry in return, &ldquo;and we'll lead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long Jim
+      and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed, and
+      they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they now
+      took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down in
+      Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their bullets
+      searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled them to
+      retreat anew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
+      the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
+      Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of their
+      allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and white
+      force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a
+      greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee
+      with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but the people
+      of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in their history,
+      and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the Iroquois chiefs as
+      they fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but the
+      heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army was
+      driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
+      confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
+      the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere. The
+      victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that
+      had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The Iroquois
+      were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might be hemmed in
+      against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford. Uttering their
+      cry of despair, &ldquo;Oonali! Oonali!&rdquo; a wail for a battle lost, they sprang
+      into the stream, many of them throwing away their rifles, tomahawks, and
+      blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the Scouts and a body of
+      riflemen were after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
+      opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
+      men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men in
+      the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
+      pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
+      kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering fire
+      over their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton Wyatt
+      again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the riflemen,
+      he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders were driven
+      back. Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence, escaped among the
+      thickets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Little groups
+      seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away. Thayendanegea
+      and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together enough men for an
+      ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but they were pushed
+      too hard and fast. A rally was always destroyed in the beginning, and the
+      chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives. The pursuit was continued
+      for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the army itself moved
+      forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest on the trail of the
+      flying Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close watch,
+      nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then they exchanged shots with a
+      band, but the Indians always fled quickly, and at last they stopped
+      because they could no longer find any resistance. They had been in action
+      or pursuit for many hours, and they were black with smoke, dust, and
+      sweat, but they were not yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk drew a
+      great red silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his glowing face,
+      which was as red as the handkerchief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a year,&rdquo; he
+      said. &ldquo;The Iroquois have always thought they were invincible, and now the
+      spell's been broke. If we only follow it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's sure to be done,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;I heard General Sullivan himself
+      say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps over the
+      path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. They beheld a dead
+      warrior at every step, and at intervals were rifles, tomahawks, scalping
+      knives, blankets, and an occasional shot pouch or powder horn. Presently
+      they reached the main army, which was going into camp for the night. Many
+      camp fires were built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory, were
+      getting ready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been told
+      already that they were to march again in the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field of
+      battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was now coming, and it
+      was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets, and the trees were torn
+      by cannon balls. Some tents raised by the Tories lay in ruins, and the
+      earth was stained with many dark splotches. But the army had passed on,
+      and it was silent and desolate where so many men had fought. The twilight
+      drew swiftly on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome sounds. The
+      wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done so much to turn
+      into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they were telling it to
+      one another. By and by, as the night deepened, the five saw fiery eyes in
+      the thickets, and the long howls came again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House,&rdquo; said Paul,
+      upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush of victory
+      in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoice over a fallen
+      foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory, and none of them could
+      wish any part of it undone. They returned slowly to the camp, and once
+      more they heard behind them the howl of the wolves as they invaded the
+      battlefield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp fires
+      twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many men talking.
+      Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, lads,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You must eat-you won't find out until you begin,
+      how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we march early
+      to-morrow, and we march fast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food since morning;
+      they had never thought of it, but now, with the relaxation from battle,
+      they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's mighty good,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and ate
+      bread and meat and drank coffee, &ldquo;but I'll say this for you, you old
+      ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than the venison an'
+      bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more,&rdquo; said Long Jim
+      complacently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo again, Jim,&rdquo;
+       said Henry. &ldquo;We are going on a long campaign through the Iroquois
+      country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' it's shore to be a dangerous one,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Men like
+      warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one fight. They'll be
+      hangin' on our flanks like wasps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but in my opinion the Iroquois are overthrown
+      forever. One defeat means more to them than a half dozen to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the fires.
+      They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
+      scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could not
+      sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He watched
+      the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth around the
+      camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank to sleep. The
+      fires which had formed a great core of light also sank, and the shadows
+      crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing sentinels, rifle on
+      shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves, attuned so long to great
+      effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over him, and his eyelids drooped,
+      the sounds in the camp sank to the lowest murmur, but just as he was
+      falling asleep there came from the battlefield behind then the far, faint
+      howl of a wolf, the dirge of the Iroquois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose, refreshed,
+      ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and breakfast was
+      cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as all had eaten,
+      the army marched, going northward and westward, intending to cut through
+      the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come from the great
+      commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had been so long such a
+      terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be annihilated. They must
+      be made strangers in their own country. Women and children were not to be
+      molested, but their towns must perish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung, the
+      power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the border did
+      not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had promised them
+      certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the promises would
+      come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were fugitives in
+      their own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
+      and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for a
+      surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still lurked
+      in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the bullets of
+      ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible. Nothing
+      could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory chiefs might
+      plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
+      sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little danger of the
+      latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at least, bring a
+      sufficient force into the field. But after the moon had risen, the five,
+      with Heemskerk, went ahead through the forest. The Iroquois town of
+      Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the army would reach it on the morrow. It
+      was the intention of the scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was near midnight when the little party drew near to Kanawaholla and
+      watched it from the shelter of the forest. Like most other Iroquois towns,
+      it contained wooden houses, and cultivated fields were about it. No smoke
+      rose from any of the chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts saw loaded
+      figures departing through a great field of ripe and waving corn. It was
+      the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could carry. Two or
+      three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives, but the scouts
+      made no attempt to pursue. They could not restrain a little feeling of
+      sympathy and pity, although a just retribution was coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the war, as we
+      asked them,&rdquo; said Heemskerk, &ldquo;how much might have been spared to both
+      sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of the corn
+      field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were taking a last look
+      at their town, and the feeling of pity and sympathy deepened, despite
+      Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the rest. But that feeling never extended
+      to the white allies of the Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea characterized in
+      word and in writing as &ldquo;more savage than the savages themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul was in
+      Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken away, but that was
+      all. Most of the houses were in disorder, showing the signs of hasty
+      flight, but the town lay wholly at the mercy of the advancing army. Henry
+      and his comrades withdrew with the news, and the next day, when the troops
+      advanced, Kanawaholla was put to the torch. In an hour it was smoking
+      ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the Iroquois
+      power under foot and laying waste the country. One after another the
+      Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown, Kendaia, Kanadesaga,
+      Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye, Kanaghsawa, Gathtsewarohare,
+      and others, forming a long roll, bearing the sounding Iroquois names.
+      Villages around Cayuga and other lakes were burned by detachments. The
+      smoke of perishing towns arose everywhere in the Iroquois country, while
+      the Iroquois themselves fled before the advancing army. They sent appeal
+      after appeal for help from those to whom they had given so much help, but
+      none came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold. The forests blazed with
+      brilliant colors. The winds blew, leaves rustled and fell. The winter
+      would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so proud of what they had
+      achieved, would have to find what shelter they could in the forests or at
+      the British posts on the Canadian frontier. Thayendanegea was destined to
+      come again with bands of red men and white and inflict great loss, but the
+      power of the Six Nations was overthrown forever, after four centuries of
+      victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all the time in the
+      thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched into the Genesee
+      Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul, as they lay on their
+      blankets one night, counted fires in three different directions, and every
+      one of the three marked a perishing Indian village. It was not a work in
+      which they took any delight; on the contrary, it often saddened them, but
+      they felt that it had to be done, and they could not shirk the task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of scouts and
+      riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in advance of the army. It
+      was a democratic little band, everyone saying what he pleased, but
+      yielding in the end to the authority of the leader. They were now far up
+      the Genesee toward the Great Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of advancing
+      ahead of the army on the great Seneca village known variously as the
+      Seneca Castle and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full match in
+      cruelty for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. Several causes led to this
+      decision. It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas, all the
+      Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there. While not likely to be
+      true about all, it was probably true about some of them, and a bold stroke
+      might effect much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind. The renegade was
+      in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he had developed great
+      abilities as a partisan, being skillfully seconded by the squat Tory,
+      Coleman. His reputation now was equal at least to that of Walter Butler,
+      and he had skirmished more than once with the vanguard of the army.
+      Growing in Henry's heart was a strong desire to match forces with him, and
+      it was quite probable that a swift advance might find him at the Seneca
+      Castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late autumn. The
+      night had been clear and cold, with a touch of winter in it, and the
+      brilliant colors of the foliage had now turned to a solid brown. Whenever
+      the wind blew, the leaves fell in showers. The sky was a fleecy blue, but
+      over hills, valley, and forest hung a fine misty veil that is the mark of
+      Indian summer. The land was nowhere inhabited. They saw the cabin of
+      neither white man nor Indian. A desolation and a silence, brought by the
+      great struggle, hung over everything. Many discerning eyes among the
+      riflemen noted the beauty and fertility of the country, with its noble
+      forests and rich meadows. At times they caught glimpses of the river, a
+      clear stream sparkling under the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in Kentucky,&rdquo; said
+      Shif'less Sol, &ldquo;an' it seems to me I like one about ez well ez t'other.
+      Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go back home? 'Pears to me that we're
+      always goin' farther an' farther away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us away,
+      Sol,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said the shiftless one with a resigned air, &ldquo;I hope them same
+      circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me gently, but
+      strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest fur a lazy an' tired
+      man like me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at least,&rdquo; said
+      Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were wholly
+      irrelevant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow night?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely anxious for
+      a fight,&rdquo; Henry replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I try to be resigned,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. But his eyes were sparkling
+      with the light of battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca Castle
+      about ten miles ahead. Henry was quite sure that the Senecas to whom it
+      belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with the aid of the other tribes
+      might make a stand there. It was more than likely, too, that the Senecas
+      had sharpshooters and sentinels well to the south of their town, and it
+      behooved the riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a
+      hornet's nest. Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind that
+      searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their blankets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in the
+      thickets. Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry. He had observed his
+      young leader's face closely that day, and he had a mind of uncommon
+      penetration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton Wyatt an'
+      his band at Little Beard's town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That among other things,&rdquo; replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That first, and the others afterwards,&rdquo; persisted the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so,&rdquo; admitted Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel the same way you do,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;You see, we've knowed
+      Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that one who started out a
+      boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. An' think uv all the cruel
+      things that he's done an' helped to do. I ain't hidin' my feelin's. I'm
+      jest itchin' to git at him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;I'd like for our band to have it out with his.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that night,
+      because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the following night, in
+      view of an enterprise that he had in mind. The rosy Dutchman, Heemskerk,
+      was in command of the guard, and he revolved continually about the camp
+      with amazing ease, and with a footstep so light that it made no sound
+      whatever. Now and then he came back in the thicket and looked down at the
+      faces of the sleeping five from Kentucky. &ldquo;Goot boys,&rdquo; he murmured to
+      himself. &ldquo;Brave boys, to stay here and help. May they go through all our
+      battles and take no harm. The goot and great God often watches over the
+      brave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to the new
+      nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout man, despite a
+      life of danger and hardship. The people of the woods do not lose faith,
+      and he looked up at the dark skies as if he found encouragement there.
+      Then he resumed his circle about the camp. He heard various noises-the
+      hoot of an owl, the long whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of deer
+      going down to the river to drink. But the sounds were all natural, made by
+      the animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it. Once or twice
+      he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to indicate the
+      presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and beat up the woods, the
+      night passed, eventless, away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw sure
+      indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois evidently were
+      not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. Henry had learned that
+      this was one of the largest and strongest of all the Iroquois towns,
+      containing between a hundred and two hundred wooden houses, and with a
+      population likely to be swollen greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois
+      towns already destroyed. The need of caution&mdash;great caution&mdash;was
+      borne in upon him, and he paid good heed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about three
+      miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry, according to
+      his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross. He was
+      resolved to find out more about this important town, and his enterprise
+      was in full accord with his duties, chief among which was to save the
+      vanguard of the army from ambush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the covert,
+      and, after traveling a short distance through the forest, turned in toward
+      the river. As the town lay on or near the river, Henry thought they might
+      see some signs of Indian life on the stream, and from this they could
+      proceed to discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when they first saw the river it was desolate. Not a canoe was moving
+      on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the undergrowth, followed
+      the bank toward the town. But the forest soon ceased, and they came upon a
+      great field, where the Senecas had raised corn, and where stalks, stripped
+      of their ears and browned by the autumn cold, were still standing. But all
+      the work of planting, tending, and reaping this great field, like all the
+      other work in all the Iroquois fields, had been done by the Iroquois
+      women, not by the warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint lines of
+      smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca Castle. The dry
+      cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew across the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The stalks will make a little shelter,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we must cross
+      the field. We want to keep near the river.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and bearing
+      back toward the river. They crossed the field without being observed, and
+      came into a thick fringe of trees and undergrowth along the river. They
+      moved cautiously in this shelter for a rod or two, and then the three,
+      without word from any one of them, stopped simultaneously. They heard in
+      the water the unmistakable ripple made by a paddle, and then the sound of
+      several more. They crept to the edge of the bank and crouched down among
+      the bushes. Then they saw a singular procession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. They were
+      in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. But the aspect of the
+      little fleet was wholly different from that of an ordinary group of
+      Iroquois war canoes. It was dark, somber, and funereal, and in every
+      canoe, between the feet of the paddlers, lay a figure, stiff and
+      impassive, the body of a chief slain in battle. It had all the appearance
+      of a funeral procession, but the eyes of the three, as they roved over it,
+      fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as they were to the
+      strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who half
+      sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. Her long black
+      hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered head. She wore a
+      brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but it was stained and torn.
+      The woman's whole attitude expressed grief, anger, and despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Queen Esther!&rdquo; whispered Henry. The other two nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman at
+      Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now. The picture of the
+      great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound prisoners was still too
+      vivid. She had several sons, one or two of whom were slain in battle with
+      the colonists, and the body that lay in the boat may have been one of
+      them. Henry always believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and now she
+      raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're goin' to land,&rdquo; whispered Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it approached, a
+      group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca chief, appeared among
+      the trees, coming forward to meet them. The three in their covert crouched
+      closer, interested so intensely that they were prepared to brave the
+      danger in order to remain. But the absorption of the Iroquois in what they
+      were about to do favored the three scouts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her crouching
+      position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of grief, rage, and
+      despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. It was fiercer than the
+      cry of a wolf, and it came back from the dark forest in terrifying echoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's not a woman, but a fiend,&rdquo; whispered Henry; and, as before, his
+      comrades nodded in assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty that had
+      once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was long since gone.
+      Her white half of blood had been submerged years ago in her Indian half,
+      and there was nothing now about her to remind one of civilization or of
+      the French Governor General of Canada who was said to have been her
+      father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois stood respectfully before her. It was evident that she had
+      lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power proceeding partly
+      from her force and partly from superstition. As the bodies were brought
+      ashore, one by one, and laid upon the ground, she uttered the long wailing
+      cry again and again, and the others repeated it in a sort of chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+      chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the ground, and
+      began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to interpret roughly to
+      the others. She sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory.
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could ever
+      remember or translate. But every verse ended with the melancholy refrain:
+      &ldquo;Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!&rdquo; which the others also
+      repeated in chorus. Then the warriors lifted up the bodies, and they moved
+      in procession toward the town. The three watched them, but they did not
+      rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit trees. Then they stood
+      up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;She
+      gives me the creeps. She must be a witch huntin' for blood. She is shore
+      to stir up the Iroquois in this town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but I mean to go nearer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wa'al,&rdquo; said Tom Ross, &ldquo;I reckon that if you mean it we mean it, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are certainly Tories in the town,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and if we are seen
+      we can probably pass for them. I'm bound to find out what's here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean to know if he's here,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lead on,&rdquo; said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of sight,
+      and entered the orchard. From that point they saw the houses and great
+      numbers of Indians, including squaws and children, gathered in the open
+      spaces, where the funeral train was passing. Queen Esther still stalked at
+      its head, but her chant was now taken up by many scores of voices, and the
+      volume of sound penetrated far in the night. Henry yet relied upon the
+      absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him a chance for a
+      good look through the town, and he and his comrades advanced with
+      boldness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as their occupants had gone
+      to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white men-a few of the
+      Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other Tories, who were dressed
+      much like Henry and his comrades. One of them spoke to Shif'less Sol, who
+      nodded carelessly and passed by. The Tory seemed satisfied and went his
+      way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead o' the
+      army,&rdquo; said the shiftless one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. He saw that
+      no preparations for defense had been made, and there was no evidence that
+      any would be made. All was confusion and despair. Already some of the
+      squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy burdens. The three coupled caution
+      with boldness. If they met a Tory they merely exchanged a word or two, and
+      passed swiftly on. Henry, although he had seen enough to know that the
+      army could advance without hesitation, still pursued the quest. Shif'less
+      Sol was right. At the bottom of Henry's heart was a desire to know whether
+      Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a desire soon satisfied, as they
+      reached the great Council House, turned a corner of it, and met the
+      renegade face to face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he uttered a
+      cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. There was no light but
+      that of the moon, but he knew his foe in an instant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry Ware!&rdquo; he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a weapon.
+      Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching Wyatt on the jaw, and
+      sending him down as if he had been shot. Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross ran
+      bodily over Coleman, hurling him down, and leaping across his prostrate
+      figure. Then they ran their utmost, knowing that their lives depended on
+      speed and skill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They quickly put the Council House between them and their pursuers, and
+      darted away among the houses. Braxton Wyatt was stunned, but he speedily
+      regained his wits and his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again!&rdquo; he cried to his
+      lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up. &ldquo;Come, men! After
+      them! After them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they began a
+      search among the houses. But it was hard to find the fugitives. The light
+      was not good, many flitting figures were about, and the frantic search
+      developed confusion. Other Tories were often mistaken for the three
+      scouts, and were overhauled, much to their disgust and that of the
+      overhaulers. Iroquois, drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join in
+      the hunt, but Wyatt could give them little information. He had merely seen
+      an enemy, and then the enemy had gone. It was quite certain that this
+      enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades were crafty. Trained by ambush and escape, flight
+      and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive their pursuers. When
+      Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran around the Council House, a
+      large and solid structure, and, finding a door on the opposite side and no
+      one there or in sight from that point, they entered it, closing the door
+      behind them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they made out
+      the log wall of the great, single room which constituted the Council
+      House. After that, with more accustomed eyes, they saw on the wall arms,
+      pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some with long hair and some with
+      short. The hair was usually blonde, and most of the scalps had been
+      stretched tight over little hoops. Henry clenched his fist in the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think so,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;At any rate they'd find us if we were
+      rushing about the village. Here we at least have a chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes, and the
+      three sat down behind them in the very heart of the Iroquois sanctuary.
+      Should anyone casually enter the Council House they would still be hidden.
+      They sat in Turkish fashion on the floor, close together and with their
+      rifles lying across their knees. A thin light filtered through a window
+      and threw pallid streaks on the floor, which they could see when they
+      peeped around the edge of the mats. But outside they heard very clearly
+      the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the village. Shif'less
+      Sol chuckled. It was very low, but it was a chuckle, nevertheless, and the
+      others heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em,&rdquo; said the shiftless one, &ldquo;layin'
+      here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're ragin' an' tearin' up
+      the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. Gives me a mighty snug feelin',
+      though, like the one you have when you're safe in a big log house, an' the
+      wind an' the hail an' the snow are beatin' outside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're shorely right, Sol,&rdquo; said Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to me,&rdquo; continued the irrepressible Sol, &ldquo;that you did git in a
+      good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all. Ain't he unhappy now, bitin' his
+      fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? I feel real sorry, I do,
+      fur Braxton. It's hard fur a nice young feller to have to suffer sech
+      disappointments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in the
+      darkness. Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong. It would be a bitter blow to
+      Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, it was pleasant where they sat. A hard floor was
+      soft to them, and as they leaned against the wall they could relax and
+      rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?&rdquo; asked Tom Ross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't have to think,&rdquo; replied Henry. &ldquo;They'll sit quiet as we're
+      doing and wait.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops came
+      from different points of the village. There were shrill cries of women and
+      children, and the sound of many running feet. After a while it began to
+      sink, and soon after that they heard no more noises than those of people
+      preparing for flight. Henry felt sure that the town would be abandoned on
+      the morrow, but his desire to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt
+      was as strong as ever. It was certain that the army could not overtake
+      Wyatt's band, but he might match his own against it. He was thinking of
+      making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their great amazement,
+      they heard the door of the Council House open and shut, and then footsteps
+      inside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky figures
+      near the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINAL FIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and the three
+      would have recognized those figures anywhere. The taller was Timmendiquas,
+      the other Thayendanegea. The thin light from the window fell upon their
+      faces, and Henry saw that both were sad. Haughty and proud they were
+      still, but each bore the look that comes only from continued defeat and
+      great disappointment. It is truth to say that the concealed three watched
+      them with a curiosity so intense that all thought of their own risk was
+      forgotten. To Henry, as well as his comrades, these two were the greatest
+      of all Indian chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the Mohawks
+      stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window, taking a last
+      look at the great Seneca Castle. It was Thayendanegea who spoke first,
+      using Wyandot, which Henry understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have
+      come far with your warriors, and you have been by our side in battle. The
+      Six Nations owe you much. You have helped us in victory, and you have not
+      deserted us in defeat. You are the greatest of warriors, the boldest in
+      battle, and the most skillful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots. We owe you much, and
+      some day we may repay. Here the Bostonians crowd us hard, and the Mohawks
+      may yet fight by your side to save your own hunting grounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Timmendiquas. &ldquo;There, too, we' must fight the
+      Americans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Victory was long with us here,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea, &ldquo;but the rebels have
+      at last brought an army against us, and the king who persuaded us to make
+      war upon the Americans adds nothing to the help that he has given us
+      already. Our white allies were the first to run at the Chemung, and now
+      the Iroquois country, so large and so beautiful, is at the mercy of the
+      invader. We perish. In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes. The
+      American army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca Castle, the
+      last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames. I know not how
+      our people will live through the Winter that is yet to come. Aieroski has
+      turned his face from us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Six Nations will regain their country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The great League of
+      the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so many generations,
+      cannot be destroyed. All the tribes from here to the Mississippi will
+      help, and will press down upon the settlements. I will return to stir them
+      anew, and the British posts will give us arms and ammunition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You raise my spirits again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We flee now, but we shall come
+      back again. The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit. We will ravage all their
+      settlements, and burn and destroy. We will make a wilderness where they
+      have been. The king and his men will yet give us more help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding Thayendanegea was
+      long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had refused the requested neutrality,
+      had lost their Country forever, save such portions as the victor in the
+      end chose to offer to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I give you
+      a last farewell,&rdquo; said Thayendanegea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the white
+      man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House, shutting the
+      door behind him. Thayendanegea lingered a while at the window, and the
+      look of sadness returned to his face. Henry could read many of the
+      thoughts that were passing through the Mohawk's proud mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the power
+      and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory of the Iroquois,
+      of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by Sir John Johnson, the half
+      brother of the children of Molly Brant, Thayendanegea's own sister, of the
+      Butlers and all the others who had said that the rebels would be easy to
+      conquer. He knew better now, he had long known better, ever since that
+      dreadful battle in the dark defile of the Oriskany, when the Palatine
+      Germans, with old Herkimer at their head, beat the Tories, the English,
+      and the Iroquois, and made the taking of Burgoyne possible. The Indian
+      chieftain was a statesman, and it may be that from this moment he saw that
+      the cause of both the Iroquois and their white allies was doomed.
+      Presently Thayendanegea left the window, walking slowly toward the door.
+      He paused there a moment or two, and then went out, closing it behind him,
+      as Timmendiquas had done. The three did not speak until several minutes
+      after he had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;that either of them thinks, despite their
+      brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Serves 'em right,&rdquo; said Tom Ross. &ldquo;I remember what I saw at Wyoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whether they kin do it or not,&rdquo; said the practical Sol, &ldquo;it's time for us
+      to git out o' here, an' go back to our men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True words, Sol,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and we'll go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened slightly,
+      they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. The preparations for
+      departure had probably ceased until morning. Forth stole the three,
+      passing swiftly among the houses, going, with silent foot toward the
+      orchard. An old squaw, carrying a bundle from a house, saw them, looked
+      sharply into their faces, and knew them to be white. She threw down her
+      bundle with a fierce, shrill scream, and ran, repeating the scream as she
+      ran.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. Wyatt caught
+      a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on each side, running
+      toward the orchard, and he knew it. Hate and the hope to capture or kill
+      swelled afresh. He put a whistle to his lip and blew shrilly. It was a
+      signal to his band, and they came from every point, leading the pursuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt who had
+      made the sound. A single glance backward confirmed him. He knew Wyatt's
+      figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark mass with him was certainly
+      composed of his own men. The other Indians and Tories, in all likelihood,
+      would turn back soon, and that fact would give him the chance he wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the orchard, and
+      Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don't want to dodge 'em,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's face he
+      understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad you thought uv it,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They crossed the very corn field through which they had come, Braxton
+      Wyatt and his band in full cry after them. Several shots were fired, but
+      the three kept too far ahead for any sort of marksmanship, and they were
+      not touched. When they finally entered the woods they curved a little, and
+      then, keeping just far enough ahead to be within sight, but not close
+      enough for the bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of the
+      riflemen. As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered the long
+      shout of the forest runner. He shouted a second time, and now Shif'less
+      Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry penetrating far
+      through the woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and Tories
+      suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never knew, but the
+      pursuit came on with undiminished speed. There was a good silver moon now,
+      shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt still in the van, with his Tory
+      lieutenant close behind, and after them red men and white, spreading out
+      like a fan to inclose the fugitives in a trap. The blood leaped in his
+      veins. It was a tide of fierce joy. He had achieved both of the purposes
+      for which he had come. He had thoroughly scouted the Seneca Castle, and he
+      was about to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt and the band which
+      he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was startled. He
+      had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute, and so pitiless. He
+      seemed to remember as one single, fearful picture all the ruthless and
+      terrible scenes of the last year. Henry uttered again that cry which was
+      at once a defiance and a signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was
+      answered, signal for signal. The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim, and
+      Heemskerk at their head. They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw the
+      flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them. From the Indians and
+      Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and every one in either band knew
+      that the issue was now about to be settled by battle, and by battle alone.
+      They used all the tactics of the forest. Both sides instantly dropped down
+      among the trees and undergrowth, three or four hundred yards apart, and
+      for a few moments there was no sound save heavy breathing, heard only by
+      those who lay close by. Not a single human being would have been visible
+      to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight, which tipped boughs and bushes
+      with ghostly silver. Yet no area so small ever held a greater store of
+      resolution and deadly animosity. On one side were the riflemen, nearly
+      every one of whom had slaughtered kin to mourn, often wives and little
+      children, and on the other the Tories and Iroquois, about to lose their
+      country, and swayed by the utmost passions of hate and revenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Spread out,&rdquo; whispered Henry. &ldquo;Don't give them a chance to flank us. You,
+      Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you, Heemskerk, take ten and go
+      to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; whispered Heemskerk. &ldquo;You have a great head, Mynheer Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen remained in
+      the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim on one side of him,
+      and Silent Tom on the other. When he thought that the two flanking parties
+      had reached the right position, he uttered a low whistle, and back came
+      two low whistles, signals that all was ready. Then the line began its slow
+      advance, creeping forward from tree to tree and from bush to bush. Henry
+      raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see anything where the
+      hostile force lay hidden. They went a little farther, and then all lay
+      down again to look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. He was
+      almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling himself along by a
+      sort of muscular action of his whole body. Now he was so still that he did
+      not seem to breathe. Yet his eyes, uncommonly eager now, were searching
+      the thickets ahead. They rested at last on a spot of brown showing through
+      some bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure aim. The Iroquois
+      uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and then fell back prone.
+      Shots were fired in return, and a dozen riflemen replied to them. The
+      battle was joined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of the
+      Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack of the
+      rifles. The riflemen continued to advance in slow, creeping fashion,
+      always pressing the enemy. Every time they caught sight of a hostile face
+      or body they sent a bullet at it, and Wyatt's men did the same. The two
+      lines came closer, and all along each there were many sharp little jets of
+      fire and smoke. Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two were slain,
+      dying quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who continued to
+      press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and Shif'less Sol
+      and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a moment, and
+      which was now without the sound of voices, continued without a moment's
+      cessation in the dark forest. The fury of the combatants increased as the
+      time went on, and neither side was yet victorious. Closer and closer came
+      the lines. Meanwhile dark clouds were piling in a bank in the southwest.
+      Slow thunder rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at intervals by
+      lightning. But the combatants did not notice the heralds of storm. Their
+      attention was only for each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had culminated.
+      Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his pitiless resolve was
+      not relaxed a particle. The thunder and the lightning, although he did not
+      notice them, seemed to act upon him as an incitement, and with low words
+      he continually urged those about him to push the battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver on
+      boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire, pressed
+      down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees, and the moon was
+      partly hidden. But file combat did not relax because of the obscurity.
+      Wandering Indians, hearing the firing, came to Wyatt's relief, but,
+      despite their aid, he was compelled to give ground. His were the most
+      desperate and hardened men, red and white, in all the allied forces, but
+      they were faced by sharpshooters better than themselves. Many of them were
+      already killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and Coleman raged
+      and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so hard pressed were
+      they that the Iroquois could not perform the sacred duty of carrying off
+      their dead. No one sought to carry away the Tories, who lay with the rain,
+      that had now begun to fall, beating upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point where bodies
+      of their enemies lay. Again that fierce joy surged up in Henry's heart.
+      His friends and he were winning. But he wished to do more than win. This
+      band, if left alone, would merely flee from the Seneca Castle before the
+      advance of the army, and would still exist to ravage and slay elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep on, Tom! Keep on!&rdquo; he cried to Ross and the others. &ldquo;Never let them
+      rest!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won't! We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing,&rdquo; replied the
+      redoubtable one as he loaded and fired. &ldquo;Thar, I got another!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way faster. Some
+      sought to dart away to right or left, and bury themselves in the forest,
+      but they were caught by the flanking parties of Shif'less Sol and
+      Heemskerk, and driven back on the center. They could not retreat except
+      straight on the town, and the riflemen followed them step for step. The
+      moan of the distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell, but the
+      deadly crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note that claimed
+      the whole attention of both combatants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help. Twenty or more scouts
+      and others abroad in the forest were called by the rifle fire, and went at
+      once into the battle. Then Wyatt was helped a second time by a band of
+      Senecas and Mohawks, but, despite all the aid, they could not withstand
+      the riflemen. Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to them and
+      sometimes cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat could not be
+      stopped. Men fell fast. Every one of the riflemen was a sharpshooter, and
+      few bullets missed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field through
+      which Henry had passed. Here the retreat became faster, and, with shouts
+      of triumph, the riflemen followed after. Wyatt lost some men in the flight
+      through the field, but when he came to the orchard, having the advantage
+      of cover, he made another desperate stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks, pouring in a
+      destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth of his band, all that
+      survived, broke into a run for the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was impossible
+      to restrain their pursuit. Henry would have stopped here, knowing the
+      danger of following into the town, especially when the army was near at
+      band with an irresistible force, but he could not stay them. He decided
+      then that if they would charge it must be done with the utmost fire and
+      spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On, men! On!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Give them no chance to take cover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties, and the
+      riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of pursuit. Wyatt and his
+      men had no chance to turn and fire, or even to reload. Bullets beat upon
+      them as they fled, and here perished nearly all of that savage band.
+      Wyatt, Coleman, and only a half dozen made good the town, where a portion
+      of the Iroquois who had not yet fled received them. But the exultant
+      riflemen did not stop even there. They were hot on the heels of Wyatt and
+      the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who came to their relief.
+      So fierce was their rush that these new forces were driven back at once.
+      Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a dozen more, seeing no other escape, fled to
+      a large log house used as a granary, threw themselves into it, barred the
+      doors heavily, and began to fire from the upper windows, small openings
+      usually closed with boards. Other Indians from the covert of house, tepee,
+      or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a fresh battle began in the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation promptly.
+      Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into a house some forty
+      yards from that of Braxton Wyatt. Others seized another house, while the
+      rest remained outside, sheltered by little outhouses, trees, or
+      inequalities of the earth, and maintained rapid sharpshooting in reply to
+      the Iroquois in the town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the house. Now the
+      combat became fiercer than ever. The warriors uttered yells, and Wyatt's
+      men in the house sent forth defiant shouts. From another part of the town
+      came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on their fighting men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now about four o'clock in the morning. The thunder and lightning
+      had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling. The Indians had lighted
+      fires some distance away. Several carried torches. Helped by these, and,
+      used so long to the night, the combatants saw distinctly. The five lay
+      behind a low embankment, and they paid their whole attention to the big
+      house that sheltered Wyatt and his men. On the sides and behind they were
+      protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep low, Paul,&rdquo; said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. &ldquo;Those
+      fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose you. There,
+      didn't I tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's cap, but
+      clipped only his hair. Before the flash from the window passed, Long Jim
+      fired in return, and something fell back inside. Bullets came from other
+      windows. Shif'less Sol fired, and a Seneca fell forward banging half out
+      of the window, his naked body a glistening brown in the firelight. But he
+      hung only a few seconds. Then he fell to the ground and lay still. The
+      five crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity. Behind them, and on
+      either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and challenging cries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were still alive
+      in the strong log house. Two or three were wounded, but they scarcely
+      noticed it in the passion of conflict. The house was a veritable fortress,
+      and the renegade's hopes rose high as he heard the rifle fire from
+      different parts of the town. His own band had been annihilated by the
+      riflemen, led by Henry Ware, but he had a sanguine hope now that his
+      enemies had rushed into a trap. The Iroquois would turn back and destroy
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they crouched in the
+      room and fired from the two little windows. His clothes and those of the
+      white men had been torn by bushes and briars in their flight, and their
+      faces had been raked, too, until they bled, but they had paid no attention
+      to such wounds, and the blood was mingled with sweat and powder smoke. The
+      Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion, and streaked, too,
+      with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the muz'zles of their rifles at
+      the windows, seeking something human to kill. One and all, red and white,
+      they were now raging savages, There was not one among them who did not
+      have some foul murder of woman or child to his credit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wyatt himself was mad for revenge. Every evil passion in him was up and
+      leaping. His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than a human being,
+      blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black. By the side of him the dark
+      Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses fully as fierce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To think of it!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;He led us directly into a trap, that
+      Ware! And here our band is destroyed! All the good men that we gathered
+      together, except these few, are killed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we may pay them back,&rdquo; said Coleman. &ldquo;We were in their trap, but now
+      they are in ours! Listen to that firing and the war whoop! There are
+      enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill every one of those rebels!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so! I believe so!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;Look out, Coleman! Ah, he's
+      pinked you! That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and he's the best
+      sharpshooter of them all except Ware!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a good aim at
+      something. He had disclosed only a little of his face, but in an instant a
+      bullet had seared his forehead like the flaming stroke of a sword, passing
+      on and burying itself in the wall. Fresh blood dripped down over his face.
+      He tore a strip from the inside of his coat, bound it about his head, and
+      went on with the defense.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window. Like a flash
+      came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the room, stone dead,
+      with a bullet through his bead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was Ware himself,&rdquo; said Wyatt. &ldquo;I told you he was the best shot of
+      them all. I give him that credit. But they're all good. Look out! There
+      goes another of our men! It was Ross who did that! I tell you, be careful!
+      Be careful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head on the
+      window sill until another Indian pulled him inside. A minute later a Tory,
+      who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a bullet through his head, and
+      sank down on the floor. A sort of terror spread among the others. What
+      could they do in the face of such terrible sharpshooting? It was uncanny,
+      almost superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one another. Smoke from
+      their own firing had gathered in the room, and it formed a ghastly veil
+      about their faces. They heard the crash of the rifles outside from every
+      point, but no help came to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're bound to do something!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;Here you, Jones, stick up
+      the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it I'll put a bullet in the
+      man who pulls the trigger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be taken in
+      by an old trick. The cap remained unhurt, but when Jones in his eagerness
+      thrust it higher until he exposed his arm, his wrist was smashed in an
+      instant by a bullet, and he fell back with a howl of pain. Wyatt swore and
+      bit his lips savagely. He and all of them began to fear that they were in
+      another and tighter trap, one from which there was no escape unless the
+      Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that they could as yet see
+      no sign. The sharpshooters held their place behind the embankment and the
+      little outhouse, and so little as a finger, even, at the windows became a
+      sure mark for their terrible bullets. A Seneca, seeking a new trial for a
+      shot, received a bullet through the shoulder, and a Tory who followed him
+      in the effort was slain outright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was coming.
+      Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened into red and yellow.
+      The beams reached the room where the beleaguered remains of Wyatt's band
+      fought, but, mingling with the smoke, they gave a new and more ghastly
+      tint to the desperate faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to fight!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt. &ldquo;We can't sit here and be taken
+      like beasts in a trap! Suppose we unbar the doors below and make a rush
+      for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Coleman shook his head. &ldquo;Every one of us would be killed within twenty
+      yards,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the Iroquois must come back,&rdquo; cried Wyatt. &ldquo;Where is Joe Brant?
+      Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John Johnson? Will
+      they come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won't come,&rdquo; said Coleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which swayed
+      hither and thither. The smoke in the room thinned somewhat, and the
+      daylight broadened and deepened. As a desperate resort they resumed fire
+      from the windows, but three more of their number were slain, and, bitter
+      with chagrin, they crouched once more on the floor out of range. Wyatt
+      looked at the figures of the living and the dead. Savage despair tore at
+      his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this increased. It
+      was being served out to him and his band as they had served it out to many
+      a defenseless family in the beautiful valleys of the border. Despite the
+      sharpshooters, he took another look at the window, but kept so far back
+      that there was no chance for a shot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two of them are slipping away,&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;They are Ross and the one
+      they call Long Jim! I wish I dared a shot! Now they're gone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lay again in silence for a time. There was still firing in the town,
+      and now and then they heard shouts. Wyatt looked at his lieutenant, and
+      his lieutenant looked at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw,&rdquo; said Wyatt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine,&rdquo; said Coleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed faces of each
+      other, and then laughed wildly. A wounded Seneca sitting with his back
+      against the wall began to chant a low, wailing death song.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut up! Stop that infernal noise!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued his chant.
+      Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. He knew that
+      everything was lost. The main force of the Iroquois would not come back to
+      his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. He sat down on the floor, and
+      muttered fierce words under his breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hark!&rdquo; suddenly exclaimed Coleman. &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+      instantly. It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood, and of
+      that wood was built the house they now held. Even as they listened they
+      could hear the flames leap and roar into new and larger life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!&rdquo; exclaimed Wyatt.
+      &ldquo;We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in our trap!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I,&rdquo; said Coleman, &ldquo;I'm goin' to make a rush for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the only thing to be done,&rdquo; said Wyatt. &ldquo;Come, all of you that are
+      left!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca, who
+      sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant. Wyatt
+      glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed down the
+      stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were roaring.
+      They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower of bullets
+      met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up his arms, and
+      fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the smaller men,
+      and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the fire of his
+      foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man whom he held
+      was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he made the corner.
+      In an instant he put the burning building between him and his pursuers,
+      and ran as he had never run before in all his life, deadly fear putting
+      wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom of a cannon, and he
+      knew that the American army was entering the Seneca Castle. Ahead of him
+      he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the woods, and behind him the
+      burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping flames and sparks in
+      myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We didn't get Wyatt,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;but we did pretty well, nevertheless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol. &ldquo;Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
+      hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I guess
+      we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this morning's
+      work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never a doubt of it,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and here's the army now finishing up
+      the task.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
+      hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no part
+      in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had been
+      grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed. As they
+      rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by so much
+      material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes drifted
+      over all the forest beyond the fields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
+      British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
+      already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for two
+      or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its steps down the
+      Genesee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was finished.
+      Kentucky was calling to them. They had no doubt that Braxton Wyatt, now
+      that his band was destroyed, would return there, and he would surely be
+      plotting more danger. It was their part to meet and defeat him. They
+      wished, too, to see again the valley, the river, and the village in which
+      their people had made their home, and they wished yet more to look upon
+      the faces of these people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others of the
+      riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant Dutchman and his
+      comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends,&rdquo; said Heemskerk,
+      &ldquo;and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry; to you, Mynheer
+      Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom; and to you, Mynheer Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away to hide
+      his emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. When they
+      looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his hand to them. They
+      waved in return, and then disappeared in the forest. It was a long journey
+      to Pittsburgh, but they found it a pleasant one. It was yet deep autumn on
+      the Pennsylvania hills, and the forest was glowing with scarlet and gold.
+      The air was the very wine of life, and when they needed game it was there
+      to be shot. As the cold weather hung off, they did not hurry, and they
+      enjoyed the peace of the forest. They realized now that after their vast
+      labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed a great rest, and they took
+      it. It was singular, and perhaps not so singular, how their minds turned
+      from battle, pursuit, and escape, to gentle things. A little brook or
+      fountain pleased them. They admired the magnificent colors of the foliage,
+      and lingered over the views from the low mountains. Doe and fawn fled from
+      them, but without cause. At night they built splendid fires, and sat
+      before them, while everyone in his turn told tales according to his nature
+      or experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at the point
+      where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set sail down the Ohio.
+      It was winter now, but in their stout caravel they did not care. They had
+      ample supplies of all kinds, including ammunition, and their hearts were
+      light when they swung into the middle of the Ohio and moved with its
+      current.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now for a great voyage,&rdquo; said Paul, looking at the clear stream with
+      sparkling eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder what it will bring to us,&rdquo; said Shif'less Sol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; said Henry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, 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 Scouts of the Valley
+
+Author: Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+Posting Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #1078]
+Release Date: October, 1997
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY
+
+by Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE LONE CANOE
+
+
+A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly
+up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and
+deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it
+lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and
+without noise.
+
+The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over
+the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun,
+which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft,
+piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank,
+fell directly upon the figure in the boat, as a hidden light illuminates
+a great picture, while the rest is left in shadow. It was no common
+forest runner who sat in the middle of the red beam. Yet a boy, in
+nothing but years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that
+the strongest man in the West might have envied. His rifle, with the
+stock carved beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of the
+border, lay by his side. He could bring the paddle into the boat,
+grasp the rifle, and carry it to his shoulder with a single, continuous
+movement.
+
+His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even would have
+noticed, was an extraordinary vitality. He created in the minds of those
+who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely every moment of his life.
+Born and-bred in the forest, he was essentially its child, a perfect
+physical being, trained by the utmost hardship and danger, and with
+every faculty, mental and physical, in complete coordination. It is only
+by a singular combination of time and place, and only once in millions
+of chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+
+The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light, and its
+occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle, held it steady in
+the current, while he listened. Every feature stood out in the glow, the
+firm chin, the straight strong nose, the blue eyes, and the thick yellow
+hair. The red blue, and yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned
+deerskin flashed in the brilliant rays. He was the great picture of
+fact, not of fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+
+He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into the
+shadow. His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern shore, where
+bushes and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. It would have taken
+a keen eye now to have seen either the canoe or its occupant, and
+Henry Ware paddled slowly and without noise in the darkest heart of the
+shadow.
+
+The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the stream. Then
+the red changed to pink. The pink, in its turn, faded, and the whole
+surface of the river was somber gray, flowing between two lines of black
+forest.
+
+The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy. He swung a little
+farther out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging boughs would
+not get in his way, and continued his course with some increase of
+speed.
+
+The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length of
+stroke was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster, and the
+muscles on his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were the play of
+a child. Henry was in waters unknown to him. He had nothing more than
+hearsay upon which to rely, and he used all the wilderness caution that
+he had acquired through nature and training. He called into use every
+faculty of his perfect physical being. His trained eyes continually
+pierced the darkness. At times, he stopped and listened with ears that
+could hear the footfall of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought
+report of anything unusual. The river flowed with a soft, sighing sound.
+Now and then a wild creature stirred in the forest, and once a deer
+came down to the margin to drink, but this was the ordinary life of the
+woods, and he passed it by.
+
+He went on, hour after hour. The river narrowed. The banks grew higher
+and rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the moon, flowed in
+a somewhat swifter current. Henry gave a little stronger sweep to the
+paddle, and the speed of the canoe was maintained. He still kept within
+the shadow of the northern bank.
+
+He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before the moon.
+The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind came out of the
+southwest. The touch of the air on, his face was damp. It was the token
+of rain, and he felt that it would not be delayed long.
+
+It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the Monongahela.
+Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might sink his frail canoe,
+and he looked for a refuge. The river was widening again, and the banks
+sank down until they were but little above the water. Presently he saw
+a place that he knew would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and
+weeds growing into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred
+yards or more along the shore.
+
+He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it in
+shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could scarcely see
+the main stream of the river. The water where he came to rest was not
+more than a foot deep, but he remained in the canoe, half reclining and
+wrapping closely around himself and his rifle a beautiful blanket woven
+of the tightest fiber.
+
+His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and his
+shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to him, and he
+awaited calmly whatever might come. Here and there were little spaces
+among the leaves overhead, and through them he saw a moon, now almost
+hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a sky that had grown dark and
+somber. The last timid star had ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind
+was wet and cold. He was glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner
+that he was, he never traveled without it. Henry remained perfectly
+still. The light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction
+of an inch. His upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed
+through the leaves grow darker and darker. The bushes about him were
+now bending before the wind, which blew steadily from the south, and
+presently drops of rain began to fall lightly on the water.
+
+The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness, surrounded by
+danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black midnight sky above him,
+felt neither fear nor awe. Being what nature and circumstance had made
+him, he was conscious, instead, of a deep sense of peace and comfort.
+He was at ease, in a nest for the night, and there was only the remotest
+possibility that the prying eye of an enemy would see him. The leaves
+directly over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as
+he heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof, that
+soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+
+Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled along the
+southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a rain, not hard, but
+cold and persistent, began to fall, coming straight down. Henry saw that
+it might last all night, but he merely eased himself a little in the
+canoe, drew the edges of the blanket around his chin, and let his
+eyelids droop.
+
+The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but he did
+not care. It could not penetrate the close fiber of the blanket, and the
+fur cap drawn far down on his head met the blanket. Only his face was
+uncovered, and when a cold drop fell upon it, it was to him, hardened by
+forest life, cool and pleasant to the touch.
+
+Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the tendency to
+sleep. It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with the body completely
+relaxed, but with the senses alert. The wind ceased to blow, and the
+rain came down straight with an even beat that was not unmusical. No
+other sound was heard in the forest, as the ripple of the river at the
+edges was merged into it. Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by
+and by, and, laying the paddle across the boat in such a way that it
+sheltered his face, he closed his eyes. In five minutes he would have
+been sleeping as soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with
+a quick motion he suddenly put the paddle aside and raised himself a
+little in the canoe, while one hand slipped down under the folds of the
+blanket to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the river. He
+heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a soft sound, long and
+sighing, but regular. He listened, and then he knew it. It was made by
+oars, many of them swung in unison, keeping admirable time.
+
+Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full of
+Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would be abroad
+upon these waters at such a time. He made no attempt to move. Where he
+lay it was black as the darkest cave, and his cool judgment told him
+that there was no need of flight.
+
+The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently as he
+looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a great war
+canoe came into view. It contained at least twenty warriors, of what
+tribe he could not tell, but they were wet, and they looked cold and
+miserable. Soon they were opposite him, and he saw the outline of every
+figure. Scalp locks drooped in the rain, and he knew that the warriors,
+hardy as they might be, were suffering.
+
+Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned toward
+a shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they beached it there.
+Then all sprang out, drew it up on the land, and, after turning it over,
+propped it up at an angle. When this was done they sat under it in a
+close group, sheltered from the rain. They were using their great canoe
+as a roof, after the habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+
+The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little openings
+in the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as they were all
+night, but presently he saw a movement among them, and a little flash
+of light. He understood it. They were trying to kindle a fire-with flint
+and steel, under the shelter of the boat. He continued to watch them
+'lazily and without alarm.
+
+Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light upon him
+in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against the flame, and
+he could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to tell to what tribe
+they belonged.
+
+He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered in
+a close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind, strove with
+flint and steel. Sparks sprang up and went out, but Henry at last saw a
+little blaze rise and cling to life. Then, fed with tinder and bark, it
+grew under the roof made by the boat until it was ruddy and strong. The
+boat was tilted farther back, and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled
+cheerfully, while the flames leaped higher.
+
+By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the thick
+blackness felt the influence of the fire, also. Its warmth was upon his
+face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow light victorious
+against the sodden background of the rain and dripping forest. The
+figures of the warriors passed and repassed before the fire, and the boy
+in the boat moved suddenly. His body was not shifted more than an inch,
+but his surprise was great.
+
+A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly against
+the red light. It was a splendid figure, young, much beyond the average
+height, the erect and noble head crowned with the defiant scalplock, the
+strong, slightly curved nose and the massive chin cut as clearly as if
+they had been carved in copper. The man who had laid aside a wet blanket
+was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play
+on chest and shoulders as he moved.
+
+The boy knew him. It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all the Western
+chiefs. Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight of his old foe and
+almost friend. As always, he felt admiration at the sight of the
+young chief. It was not likely that he would ever behold such another
+magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+
+The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of significance.
+The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry and his comrades in
+the van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. Thence the arms, ammunition,
+and other supplies were started on the overland journey for the American
+army, but the five lingered before beginning the return to Kentucky.
+A rumor came that the Indian alliance was spreading along the entire
+frontier, both west and north. It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to
+fiery energy by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the
+Iroquois, the famous Six Nations. These warlike tribes were friendly
+with the Wyandots, and the league would be a formidable danger to the
+Colonies, the full strength of which was absorbed already in the great
+war.
+
+But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol, and the
+others. The return to Kentucky was postponed. They could be of greater
+service here, and they plunged into the great woods to the north and,
+east to see what might be stirring among the warriors.
+
+Now Henry, as he looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had told
+the truth. The great chief would not be on the fringe of the Iroquois
+country, if he did not have such a plan, and he had the energy and
+ability to carry it through. Henry shuddered at the thought of the
+tomahawk flashing along every mile of a frontier so vast, and defended
+so thinly. He was glad in every fiber that he and his comrades had
+remained to hang upon the Indian hordes, and be heralds of their
+marches. In the forest a warning usually meant the saving of life.
+
+The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the trees
+everywhere. But the big fire made an area of dry earth about it, and the
+warriors replaced the long boat in the water. Then all but four or five
+of them lay beside the coals and went to sleep. Timmendiquas was one of
+those who remained awake, and Henry saw that he was in deep thought. He
+walked back and forth much like a white man, and now and then he folded
+his hands behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it.
+Henry could guess what was in his mind. He would draw forth the full
+power of the Six Nations, league them with the Indians of the great
+valley, and hurl them all in one mass upon the frontier. He was planning
+now the means to the end.
+
+The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the edge of
+the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable that he
+would conclude to search among them, but some accident, a chance, might
+happen, and Henry began to feel a little alarm. Certainly, the coming
+of the day would make his refuge insecure, and he resolved to slip away
+while it was yet light.
+
+The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost caution,
+because the slightest sound out of the common might arouse Timmendiquas
+to the knowledge of a hostile presence. The canoe must make no plash in
+the water. Gradually he unwrapped the blanket and tied it in a folded
+square at his back. Then he took thought a few moments. The forest was
+so silent now that he did not believe he could push the canoe through
+the bushes without being heard. He would leave it there for use another
+day and go on foot through the woods to his comrades.
+
+Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the bottom, and
+then he remained still. The chief had paused in his restless walk back
+and forth. Could it be possible that he had heard so slight a sound as
+that of a human foot sinking softly into the water? Henry waited with
+his rifle ready. If necessary he would fire, and then dart away among
+the bushes.
+
+Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his restless
+pacing. If he had heard, he had passed it by as nothing, and Henry
+raised the other foot out of the canoe. He was as delicate in his
+movement as a surgeon mending the human eye, and he had full cause, as
+not eye alone, but life as well, depended upon his success. Both feet
+now rested upon the muddy bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+
+The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher, his
+features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk back and
+forth before the flames. Henry took a final look at the lofty features,
+contracted now into a frown, then began to wade among the bushes,
+pushing his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of
+all. The water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes
+to rustle as he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and
+his feet were about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged
+in the mud broke under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the
+silence of the night.
+
+Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
+glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
+which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
+his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the
+protecting darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing
+and defiant, a cry of a quality that could come only from a white
+throat. The warriors would know it, and he intended for them to know it.
+Then, holding his rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly
+away through the black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came
+to his, the Indian yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the
+night would not check pursuit.
+
+Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
+places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
+then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
+grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
+clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
+dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
+and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity
+of Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness,
+but the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.
+
+He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
+thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
+under his arm.
+
+His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed
+its regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He
+thought at first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second
+thought convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the
+thicket, he saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking
+searchingly about him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a
+different direction, approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were
+of the party of Timmendiquas. They had followed him in some manner,
+perhaps by chance, and it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+
+A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. Henry
+realized that it was much lighter. Keen eyes under such a starry sky
+could see much, and they might strike his trail. The fear quickly became
+fact. One of the warriors, uttering a short cry, raised his head and
+beckoned to the others. He had seen broken twigs or trampled grass, and
+Henry, knowing that it was no time to hesitate, sprang from his covert.
+Two of the warriors caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the
+bullets cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that
+he was lost to view in an instant.
+
+The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements of
+danger. He was about to have another example of the tenacity and
+resource of the great young chief of the Wyandots, and he felt a certain
+anger. He, did not wish to be disturbed in his plans, he wished to
+rejoin his comrades and move farther east toward the chosen lands of
+the Six Nations; instead, he must spend precious moments running for his
+life.
+
+Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends. He was too wise,
+too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he curved away in a
+course that would take him to the south of them. He glanced up and saw
+that the heavens were lightening yet more. A thin gray color like a mist
+was appearing in the east. It was the herald of day, and now the Indians
+would be able to find his trail. But Henry was not afraid. His anger
+over the loss of time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of
+his moccasins making scarcely any noise as he passed.
+
+It was no unusual incident. Thousands of such pursuits occurred in
+the border life of our country, and were lost to the chronicler. For
+generations they were almost a part of the daily life of the frontier,
+but the present, while not out of the common in itself, had, uncommon
+phases. It was the most splendid type of white life in all the
+wilderness that fled, and the finest type of red life that followed.
+
+It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward Timmendiquas.
+In his place he would have done what he was doing. It was hard to give
+up these great woods and beautiful lakes and rivers, and the wild life
+that wild men lived and loved. There was so much chivalry in the boy's
+nature that he could think of all these things while he fled to escape
+the tomahawk or the stake.
+
+Up came the sun. The gray light turned to silver, and then to red and
+blazing gold. A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry of the pursuing
+warriors, rose behind him. Henry turned his head for one look. He saw
+a group of them poised for a moment on the crest of a low hill and
+outlined against the broad flame in the east. He saw their scalp locks,
+the rifles in their hands, and their bare chests shining bronze in the
+glow. Once more he sent back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs,
+and then, calling upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with
+a speed that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+
+Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to evade
+the pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs, and wading in
+brooks. He did not see the warriors again, but instinct warned him that
+they were yet following. At long intervals he would rest for a quarter
+of an hour or so among the bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the
+venison that he always carried. Three hours later he came to the river
+again, and swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern
+side. When the twilight was falling once more he sat still in dense
+covert for a long time. He neither saw nor heard a sign of human
+presence, and he was sure now that the pursuit had failed. Without an
+effort he dismissed it from his mind, ate a little more of the venison,
+and made his bed for the night.
+
+The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the forest
+was dry once more. As far as Henry could see it circled away on every
+side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and beech, maple and elm
+making a soft, sighing sound as they waved gently in the wind. It told
+Henry of nothing but peace. He had eluded the pursuit, hence it was no
+more. This was a great, friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe
+him, and to receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+
+He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year lay
+deep upon the ground. He drew up enough of them for a soft bed, because
+now and for the moment he was a forest sybarite. He was wise enough to
+take his ease when he found it, knowing that it would pay his body to
+relax.
+
+He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and spread
+the blanket over himself and the weapon. The twilight was gone, and the
+night, dark and without stars, as he wished to see it, rolled up, fold
+after fold, covering and hiding everything. He looked a little while at
+a breadth of inky sky showing through the leaves, and then, free from
+trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+
+
+Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves, fell upon
+his face. Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once more upon his back,
+and looked about him. Nothing had come in the night to disturb him,
+no enemy was near, and the morning sun was bright and beautiful. The
+venison was exhausted, but he bathed his face in the brook and resumed
+his journey, traveling with a long, swift stride that carried him at
+great speed.
+
+The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well, although
+nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to him. The country
+here was rougher than it usually is in the great valley to the west, and
+as he advanced it became yet more broken, range after range of steep,
+stony hills, with fertile but narrow little valleys between. He went
+on without hesitation for at least two hours, and then stopping under a
+great oak he uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+
+It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating, carrying far
+through the forest. A sound like an echo came back, but Henry knew that
+instead of an echo it was a reply to his own signal. Then he advanced
+boldly and swiftly and came to the edge of a snug little valley set deep
+among rocks and trees like a bowl. He stopped behind the great trunk of
+a beech, and looked into the valley with a smile of approval.
+
+Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals that
+gave forth no smoke. They appeared to be absorbed in some very pleasant
+task, and a faint odor that came to Henry's nostrils filled him with
+agreeable anticipations. He stepped forward boldly and called:
+
+"Jim, save that piece for me!"
+
+Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that he had
+toasted on a stick. Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his feet, Silent Tom
+Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+
+"Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast."
+
+Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded him
+keenly.
+
+"I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot race," he
+drawled.
+
+"And why do you think that?" asked Henry.
+
+"I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. Reckon
+that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry."
+
+"You're right," said Henry. "Now, Jim, you've been holding that venison
+in the air long enough. Give it to me, and after I've eaten it I'll tell
+you all that I've been doing, and all that's been done to me."
+
+Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in the
+circle before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a powerful
+human creature whose food had been more than scanty for at least two
+days.
+
+"Take another piece," said Long Jim, observing him with approval. "Take
+two pieces, take three, take the whole deer. I always like to see a
+hungry man eat. It gives him sech satisfaction that I git a kind uv
+taste uv it myself."
+
+Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
+Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
+
+"Boys, I've got a lot to tell."
+
+Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+
+"I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins."
+
+"It has," continued Henry with emphasis, "and I want to say to you boys
+that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots."
+
+"Timmendiquas!" exclaimed the others together.
+
+"No less a man than he," resumed Henry. "I've looked upon his very face,
+I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
+pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you
+see those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol."
+
+"Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to
+continued war," said Paul Cotter, "and he will succeed. He is a mighty
+chief, and his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet.
+I'm glad that we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees
+and the Miamis; I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some
+people out of the way before the blow falls."
+
+"Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?"
+asked Long Jim.
+
+"Their name is as big as it sounds," replied Henry. "They are the
+Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
+used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south
+and fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the
+league, as a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard,
+formed the league a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the
+grand sachem or high priest of them all, but the head chief of the
+Mohawks is the leading war chief."
+
+"I've heard," said Paul, "that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all
+these tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
+friendliness to Timmendiquas."
+
+"Seems to me," said Tom Ross, "that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
+job ahead."
+
+"Then," said Henry, "we must make a most tremendous big effort."
+
+"That's so," agreed all.
+
+After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
+remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on
+the leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have
+something worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but
+they always came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of
+a famous Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to
+the Americans as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense
+animosity against the white people, who encroached, every year, more and
+more upon the Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of
+Timmendiquas, and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater
+endeavor for the undoing of the white man. What more likely than that
+they intended to meet?
+
+"All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?" said Henry.
+
+They nodded.
+
+"It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him. I remember
+hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred miles to the
+east of this point was a Long House or Council House of the Six Nations.
+Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we must go, too. We must find out
+where they intend to strike. What do you say?"
+
+"We go there!" exclaimed four voices together.
+
+Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+
+As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and the others rose with him.
+Saying no more, he led toward the east, and the others followed him,
+also saying no more. Separately every one of them was strong, brave, and
+resourceful, but when the five were together they felt that they had the
+skill and strength of twenty. The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored
+them after the dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New
+Orleans.
+
+They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and bullet, and
+they did not fear any task.
+
+Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy forest,
+but often without undergrowth. They avoided the open spaces, preferring
+to be seen of men, who were sure to be red men, as little as possible.
+Their caution was well taken. They saw Indian signs, once a feather that
+had fallen from a scalp lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a
+deer recently thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it. The
+country seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky. Small settlements, so
+they had heard, were scattered at great distances through the forest,
+but they saw none. There was no cabin smoke, no trail of the plow, just
+the woods and the hills and the clear streams. Buffalo had never reached
+this region, but deer were abundant, and they risked a shot to replenish
+their supplies.
+
+They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula at the
+confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. Henry judged
+that they were well within the western range of the Six Nations, and
+they cooked their deer meat over a smothered fire, nothing more than
+a few coals among the leaves. When supper was over they arranged soft
+places for themselves and their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose
+turn it was to scout among the woods for a possible foe.
+
+"Don't be gone long, Jim," said Henry as he composed himself in a
+comfortable position. "A circle of a half mile about us will do."
+
+"I'll not be gone more'n an hour," said Long Jim, picking up his rifle
+confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+
+"Not likely he'll see anything," said Shif'less Sol, "but I'd shorely
+like to know what White Lightning is about. He must be terrible stirred
+up by them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an' they say that Mohawk,
+Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. They'll shorely make a heap
+of trouble."
+
+"But both of them are far from here just now," said Henry, "and we won't
+bother about either."
+
+He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm under
+his head and his blanket over his body. He had a remarkable capacity for
+dismissing trouble or apprehension, and just then he was enjoying great
+physical and mental peace. He looked through half closed eyes at his
+comrades, who also were enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce
+Long Jim in the forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and
+finding no menace.
+
+"Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?" said the shiftless one. "I like a
+clean, bold country like this. No more plowin' around in swamps for me."
+
+"Yes," said Henry sleepily, "it's a good country."
+
+The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+
+"Time for Long Jim to be back."
+
+"Jim don't do things by halves," said the shiftless one. "Guess he's
+beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes. He'll be here soon."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half hour,
+and no sign of him. Henry cast off the blanket and stood up. The night
+was not very dark and he could see some distance, but he did not see
+their comrade.
+
+"I wonder why he's so slow," he said with a faint trace of anxiety.
+
+"He'll be 'long directly," said Tom Ross with confidence.
+
+Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim. Henry sent forth the low
+penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a signal.
+
+"He cannot fail to hear that," he said, "and he'll answer."
+
+No answer came. The four looked at one another in alarm. Long Jim had
+been gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue. His failure to
+reply to the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened
+or that--he had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
+
+The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while
+in silence.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked Paul.
+
+"It must be all right," said Shif'less Sol. "Mebbe Jim has lost the
+camp."
+
+Henry shook his head.
+
+"It isn't that," he said. "Jim is too good a woodsman for such a
+mistake. I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think
+something has happened to Jim."
+
+"Suppose you an' me go an' look for him," said Shif'less Sol, "while
+Paul and Tom stay here an' keep house."
+
+"We'd better do it," said Henry. "Come, Sol."
+
+The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the
+darkness, while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of the
+trees and waited.
+
+Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about the
+camp in a great circle and then in another yet greater. They did not
+find Jim, and the dusk was so great that they saw no evidences of his
+trail. Long Jim had disappeared as completely as if he had left the
+earth for another planet. When they felt that they must abandon the
+search for the time, Henry and Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a
+dismay that the dusk could not hide.
+
+"Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it," said the
+shiftless one hopefully. "If anything looked mysterious an' troublesome,
+Jim would want to hunt it down."
+
+"I hope so," said Henry, "but we've got to go back to the camp now and
+report failure. Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I don't like it,
+Sol, I don't like it!"
+
+"No more do I," said Shif'less Sol. "'Tain't like Jim not to come back,
+ef he could. Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow."
+
+They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out of the
+darkness.
+
+"You ain't seen him?" said Tom, noting that but two figures had
+returned.
+
+"Not a trace," replied Henry. "It's a singular thing."
+
+The four talked together a little while, and they were far from
+cheerful. Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch, sitting
+with his back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. All the peace
+and content that he had felt earlier in the evening were gone. He was
+oppressed by a sense of danger, mysterious and powerful. It did not seem
+possible that Long Jim could have gone away in such a noiseless manner,
+leaving no trace behind. But it was true.
+
+He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an enemy.
+He was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin figure coming
+among the bushes, and then hear the old pleasant drawl. But he did not
+see the figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+
+Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches. Paul, Sol, and
+Tom were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his life. He tried
+to put away the feeling of mystery and danger. He assured himself that
+Long Jim would soon come, delayed by some trail that he had sought to
+solve. Nothing could have happened to a man so brave and skillful. His
+nerves must be growing weak when he allowed himself to be troubled so
+much by a delayed return.
+
+But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none of them.
+The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but the light that it
+threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. Henry's feeling of mystery
+and danger deepened. Once he thought he heard a rustling in the thicket
+and, finger on the trigger of his rifle, he stole among the bushes to
+discover what caused it. He found nothing and, returning to his lonely
+watch, saw that Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly. But
+Henry was annoyed greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to
+trace its origin. After an hour's watching he looked a second time. The
+result was once more in vain, and he resumed his seat upon the leaves,
+with his back reclining against an oak. Here, despite the fact that the
+night was growing darker, nothing within range of a rifle shot could
+escape his eyes.
+
+Nothing stirred. The noise did not come a second time from the thicket.
+The very silence was oppressive. There was no wind, not even a stray
+puff, and the bushes never rustled. Henry longed for a noise of some
+kind to break that terrible, oppressive silence. What he really wished
+to hear was the soft crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and
+leaves.
+
+The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. Long
+Jim was still missing and their alarm was justified. Whatever trail lie
+might have struck, he would have returned in the night unless something
+had happened to him. Henry had vague theories, but nothing definite, and
+he kept them to himself. Yet they must make a change in their plans. To
+go on and leave Long Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable.
+No task could interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+
+"We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian countries," said
+Henry. "We are on the fringe of the region over which the Six Nations
+roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a band of the Wyandots are here
+also. Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees have come, too."
+
+"We've got to find Long Jim," said Silent Tom briefly.
+
+They went about their task in five minutes. Breakfast consisted of cold
+venison and a drink from a brook. Then they began to search the forest.
+They felt sure that such woodsmen as they, with the daylight to help
+them, would find some trace of Long Jim, but they saw none at all,
+although they constantly widened their circle, and again tried all their
+signals. Half the forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held
+a council.
+
+"I think we'd better scatter," said Shif'less Sol, "an' meet here again
+when the sun marks noon."
+
+It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little hill
+crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy to remember.
+Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was so dense that in two
+minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. He went several miles,
+and his search was most rigid. He was amazed to find that the sense of
+mystery and danger that he attributed to the darkness of the night did
+not disappear wholly in the bright daylight. His spirit, usually so
+optimistic, was oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would
+find Long Jim.
+
+At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the black
+oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw Shif'less Sol coming
+from another. The shiftless one walked despondently. His gait was loose
+and shambling-a rare thing with him, and Henry knew that he, too,
+had failed. He realized now that he had not expected anything else.
+Shif'less Sol shook his head, sat down on a root and said nothing. Henry
+sat down, also, and the two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+
+"The others will be here directly," said Henry, "and perhaps Long Jim
+will be with one of them."
+
+But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the shiftless one
+knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+
+"If not," said Henry, resolved to see the better side, "we'll stay
+anyhow until we find him. We can't spare good old Long Jim."
+
+Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie saw
+the bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+
+"There comes Tom," he said, after a single comprehensive glance, "and
+he's alone."
+
+Tom Ross was also a dejected figure. He looked at the two on the hill,
+and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was not with them,
+became more dejected than before.
+
+"Paul's our last chance," he said, as he joined them. "He's gen'rally a
+lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day."
+
+"I hope so," said Henry fervently. "He ought to be along in a few
+minutes."
+
+They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that Paul
+would bring in the missing man, but Paul was late. The noon hour was
+well past. Henry took a glance at the sun. Noon was gone at least a half
+hour, and he stirred uneasily.
+
+"Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight," he said.
+
+"No," said Shif'less Sol, "he couldn't get lost!"
+
+Henry noticed his emphasis on the word "lost," and a sudden fear sprang
+up in his heart. Some power had taken away Long Jim; could the same
+power have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and he paled under his
+brown, turning away lest the others see his face. All three now examined
+the whole circle of the horizon for a sight of moving bushes that would
+tell of the boy's coming.
+
+The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over everything, and
+Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an hour past due, and the
+three, oppressed already by Long jim's disappearance, were convinced
+that he would not return. But they gave him a half hour longer. Then
+Henry said:
+
+"We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever happens we
+three must stay together."
+
+"I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself," said the
+shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw trace of
+footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly,
+lost on hard ground, and after that there was nothing. They stopped
+shortly before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
+
+"What do you think of it, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I don't know what to think," replied the youth, "but it seems to me
+that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also."
+
+"Looks like it," said Sol, "an' I guess it follers that we're in the
+same kind o' danger."
+
+"We three of us could put up a good fight," said Henry, "and I propose
+that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here."
+
+"Yes, an' watch good," said Tom Ross.
+
+Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the
+low boughs of a tree. Their supper was a little venison, and then they
+watched the coming of the darkness. It was a heavy hour for the three.
+Long Jim was gone, and then Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the
+pet of the little band.
+
+"Ef we could only know how it happened," whispered Shif'less Sol, "then
+we might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim back. But you
+can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. In all them fights o'
+ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed what wuz ag'inst us, but
+here we don't know nothin'."
+
+"It is true, Sol," sighed Henry. "We were making such big plans, too,
+and before we can even start our force is cut nearly in half. To-morrow
+we'll begin the hunt again. We'll never desert Paul and Jim, so long as
+we don't know they're dead."
+
+"It's my watch," said Tom. "You two sleep. We've got to keep our
+strength."
+
+Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest spots
+under the tree sat down. Tom Ross took his place about ten feet in front
+of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands clasped around his knees,
+and his rifle resting on his arm. Henry watched him idly for a little
+while, thinking all the time of his lost comrades. The night promised to
+be dark, a good thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+
+Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away, knew by
+his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was still wide-eyed.
+
+The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping slowly,
+and the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small circle. Within this
+area the distinctive object was the figure of Tom Ross, sitting with
+his rifle across his knees. Tom had an infinite capacity for immobility.
+Henry had never seen another man, not even an Indian, who could remain
+so long in one position contented and happy. He believed that the silent
+one could sit as he was all night.
+
+His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for him. Would
+he remain absolutely still? He would certainly shift an arm or a leg.
+Henry's interest in the question kept him awake. He turned silently
+on the other side, but, no matter how intently he studied the sitting
+figure of his comrade, he could not see it stir. He did not know how
+long he had been awake, trying thus to decide a question that should be
+of no importance at such a time. Although unable to sleep, he fell into
+a dreamy condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent
+sentinel.
+
+He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. The
+exciting question was solved at last. The man would not sit all night
+absolutely immovable. There could be no doubt of the fact that he had
+raised an arm, and that his figure had straightened. Then he stood
+up, full height, remained motionless for perhaps ten seconds, and then
+suddenly glided away among the bushes.
+
+Henry knew what this meant. Tom had heard something moving in the
+thickets, and, like a good sentinel, he had gone to investigate. A
+rabbit, doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. Henry rose to a
+sitting position, and drew his own rifle across his knees. He would
+watch while Tom was gone, and then lie would sink quietly back, not
+letting his comrade know that lie had taken his place.
+
+The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets. Light clouds
+drifted before the moon. Henry, sitting with his rifle across his knees,
+and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were invisible, but Henry saw
+beyond the circle of darkness that enveloped them into the grayish light
+that fell over the bushes. He marked the particular point at which he
+expected Tom Ross to appear, a slight opening that held out invitation
+for the passage of a man.
+
+He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the
+sentinel did not return. Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy state.
+He felt with all the terrible thrill of certainty that what happened to
+Long Jim and Paul had happened also to Silent Tom Ross. He stood erect,
+a tense, tall figure, alarmed, but not afraid. His eyes searched the
+thickets, but saw nothing. The slight movement of the bushes was made by
+the wind, and no other sound reached his ears.
+
+But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions
+were sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank
+down in a crouching position, where he would offer the least target for
+the eye.
+
+The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
+of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
+that he had seen.
+
+"Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him," whispered the shiftless one
+at once.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+"An' we're bound to look for him right now," continued Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
+Sol, we must follow 'em together."
+
+"It would be safer," said Sol. "I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an'
+I want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves."
+
+It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
+the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
+same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
+But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too,
+had vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
+strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
+to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
+stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost
+like walls.
+
+"It will be daylight soon," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I think we'd better
+lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything,
+so we'd better wait an' see what will find us."
+
+"It looks like the best plan to me," said Henry, "but I think we might
+first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
+over there."
+
+"That's so," replied Shif'less Sol, "but the water is at least seven
+feet deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose
+you go up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin
+give a signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four
+hundred yards."
+
+Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
+stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
+soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred
+yards lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he
+uttered the low cry that was their signal, and went back to meet
+Shif'less Sol. He reached the exact point at which they had parted, and
+waited. The shiftless one did not come. The last of his comrades was
+gone, and he was alone in the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+
+
+Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the
+exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had
+parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming.
+The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had
+taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and
+with all the five senses developed to the highest pitch. Yet his powers
+had availed him nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running
+down his spine.
+
+Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his
+instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the
+forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly
+hidden that no one could see him ten feet away. There he lay down
+and rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four
+disappearances. They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his
+duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the
+greater. Such a thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own
+life never entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would
+penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+
+It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and method. To
+approach an arduous task right one must possess freshness and vigor, and
+one could have neither without sleep. His present place of hiding seemed
+to be as secure as any that could be found. So composing himself he took
+all chances and sought slumber. Yet it needed a great effort of the will
+to calm his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any
+of the soothing effect that precedes sleep. But fall asleep he did at
+last, and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the morning.
+
+Henry did not awake to a bright day. The sun had risen, but it was
+obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. A cold wind
+began to blow, and with it came drops of rain. He shivered despite the
+enfolding blanket. The coming of the morning had invariably brought
+cheerfulness and increase of spirits, but now he felt depression. He
+foresaw heavy rain again, and it would destroy any but the deepest
+trail. Moreover, his supplies of food were exhausted and he must
+replenish them in some manner before proceeding further.
+
+A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have despaired.
+He had found his comrades, only to lose them again, and the danger that
+had threatened them, and the elements as well, now threatened him, too.
+An acute judge of sky and air, he knew that the rain, cold, insistent,
+penetrating, would fall all day, and that he must seek shelter if he
+would keep his strength. The Indians themselves always took to cover at
+such times.
+
+He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well from neck
+to ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but with his hand
+upon it, ready for instant use if it should be needed. Then he started,
+walking straight ahead until he came to the crown of a little hill.
+The clouds meanwhile thickened, and the rain, of the kind that he had
+foreseen and as cold as ice, was blown against him. The grass and bushes
+were reeking, and his moccasins became sodden. Despite the vigorous
+walking, lie felt the wet cold entering his system. There come times
+when the hardiest must yield, and he saw the increasing need of refuge.
+
+He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill. All around was a
+dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped everywhere. There was
+no open country. All was forest, and the heavy rolling masses of foliage
+dripped with icy water, too.
+
+Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised that in
+a valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that he craved. He
+needed it badly. As he stood there he shivered again and again from
+head to foot, despite the folds of the blanket. So he started at once,
+walking fast, and feeling little fear of a foe. It was not likely that
+any would be seeking him at such a time. The rain struck him squarely
+in the face now. Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was
+pressed against the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds
+of the blanket, little streams of it, like ice to the touch, flowed down
+his neck and made their way under his clothing. He could not remember a
+time when he had felt more miserable.
+
+He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised, was the
+edge of a considerable valley. He ran down the slope, and looked all
+about for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak in the lee of a hill,
+or an outcropping of stone, but he saw neither, and, as he continued
+the search, he came to marshy ground. He saw ahead among the weeds and
+bushes the gleam of standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when
+he noticed three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one
+another, projecting slightly above the black muck. It struck him that
+the stones would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity
+aroused, he stepped lightly from one stone to another. When he came to
+the last stone that he had seen from the hard ground he beheld several
+more that had been hidden from him by the bushes. Sure now that he had
+happened upon something not created by nature alone, he followed these
+stones, leading like steps into the very depths of the swamp, which was
+now deep and dark with ooze all about him. He no longer doubted that the
+stones, the artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest
+eye and most logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he was
+resolved to know its nature.
+
+The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and the
+last thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. Then he came
+to a bit of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire, upon which he could
+stand without sinking at all. He looked back from there, and he could
+not see his point of departure. Bushes, weeds, and saplings grew out of
+the swamp to a height of a dozen or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed
+completely. All the vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place
+was one of the most dismal that he had ever seen. But he had no thought
+of turning back.
+
+Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he inferred
+from the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from the fact that
+an odd one here and there had sunk completely out of sight-that they had
+not been used in a long time, perhaps for years. He found on the other
+side of the islet a second line of stones, and they led across a marsh,
+that was almost like a black liquid, to another and larger island.
+
+Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of large
+trees. It seemed to Henry that this island might be seventy or eighty
+yards across, and he began at once to explore it. In the center,
+surrounded so closely by swamp oaks that they almost formed a living
+wall, he found what he had hoped to find, and his relief was so great
+that, despite his natural and trained stoicism, he gave a little cry of
+pleasure when he saw it.
+
+A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois
+fashion, stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost the
+whole of the space. It was apparently abandoned long ago, and time
+and weather had done it much damage. But the bark walls, although they
+leaned in places at dangerous angles, still stood. The bark roof was
+pierced by holes on one side, but on the other it was still solid, and
+shed all the rain from its slope.
+
+The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark cunningly
+joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw that he could
+make use of it. He stepped inside. The hut had a bark floor which was
+dry on one side, where the roof was solid, but dripping on the other.
+Several old articles of Indian use lay about. In one corner was a basket
+woven of split willow and still fit for service. There were pieces of
+thread made of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm. There were
+also a piece of pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon
+such as every Iroquois carried. In the corner farthest from the door
+was a rude fireplace made of large flat stones, although there was no
+opening for the smoke.
+
+Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion that
+it was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an inquiring mind who
+had found this secret place, and who had recognized its possibilities.
+Here after an expedition for game he could lie hidden from enemies and
+take his comfort without fear. Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy
+days like the present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm
+of which the Indian is capable.
+
+Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and carved
+beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf. Henry picked it tip and
+examined the bowl. It was as dry as a bone, and not a particle of
+tobacco was left there. He believed that it had not been used for at
+least a year. Doubtless the Indian who had built this hunting lodge had
+fallen in some foray, and the secret of it had been lost until Henry
+Ware, seeking through the cold and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+
+It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark, all
+a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry was strong
+and skillful. He covered the holes in the roof with fallen pieces of
+bark, laying heavy pieces of wood across them to hold them in place.
+Then he lifted the bark shutter into position and closed the door. Some
+drops of rain still came in through the roof, but they were not many,
+and he would not mind them for the present. Then he opened the door and
+began his hardest task.
+
+He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing fallen
+wood, he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the inside. It was
+slow work and he was very cold, his wet feet sending chills through
+him, but he persevered, and the little heap of dry splinters grew to
+a respectable size. Then he cut larger pieces, laying them on one side
+while he worked with his flint and steel on the splinters.
+
+Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful, and
+Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it finally
+took hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. He watched it
+as it ran along the little piece of wood and ignited another and then
+another, the beautiful little red and yellow flames leaping up half a
+foot in height. Already he felt the grateful warmth and glow, but he
+would not let himself indulge in premature joy. He fed it with larger
+and larger pieces until the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and
+yellow, rose at least two feet, and big coals began to form. He left
+the door open a while in order that the smoke might go out, but when the
+fire had become mostly coals he closed it again, all except a crack of
+about six inches, which would serve at once to let any stray smoke out,
+and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+
+Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected, proceeded to
+luxuriate. He spread the soaked blanket out on the bark floor, took off
+the sodden moccasins and placed them at one angle of the fire, while
+he sat with his bare feet in front. What a glorious warmth it was! It
+seemed to enter at his toes and proceed upward through his body, seeking
+out every little nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full
+of new glow and life.
+
+He sat there a long time, his being radiating with physical comfort. The
+moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the other. Finally they dried
+all over and all through, and he put them on again. Then he hung the
+blanket on the bark wall near the fire, and it, too, would be dry in
+another hour or so. He foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and
+sleep. Now if one only had food! But he must do without that for the
+present.
+
+He rose and tested all his bones and muscles. No stiffness or soreness
+had come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. He was fit for
+any physical emergency. He looked out through the crevice. Night was
+coming, and on the little island in the swamp it looked inexpressibly
+black and gloomy. His stomach complained, but he shrugged his shoulders,
+acknowledging primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire.
+There he sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+
+In the last hour or two Henry did not move. He remained before the fire,
+crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed the flame of life
+in him. A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice at the door, fell on the
+earth outside, but it did not pass beyond the close group of circling
+trees. The rain still fell with uncommon steadiness and persistence,
+but at times hail was mingled with it. Henry could not remember in his
+experience a more desolate night. It seemed that the whole world dwelt
+in perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it.
+Yet within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm
+and bright, and he was not unhappy.
+
+He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the dry
+blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first raked ashes
+over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of his life. All
+night long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it, at intervals, came
+gusts of hail that rattled like bird shot on the bark walls of the hut.
+Some of the white pellets blew in at the door, and lay for a moment or
+two on the floor, then melted in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+
+But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry. He was as safe, for the
+time, in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at Pittsburgh
+or behind the palisades at Wareville. Dawn came, the sky still heavy and
+dark with clouds, and the rain still falling.
+
+Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became
+conscious of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now keep
+quiet. His was a powerful system, needing much nourishment, and he must
+eat. That hunger became so great that it was acute physical pain. He
+was assailed by it at all points, and it could be repelled by only one
+thing, food. He must go forth, taking all risks, and seek it.
+
+He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it might not
+blaze too high, and left the islet. The stepping stones were slippery
+with water, and his moccasins soon became soaked again, but he forgot
+the cold and wet in that ferocious hunger, the attacks of which became
+more violent every minute. He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or
+even a squirrel, but the animals themselves were likely to keep under
+cover in such a rain. He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended
+also by much danger--these woods must be full of Indians--but he thought
+little of the risk. His hunger was taking complete possession of his
+mind. He was realizing now that one might want a thing so much that it
+would drive away all other thoughts.
+
+Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
+through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce
+as a famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to
+anything. The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his
+hollow tree, and the deer did not leave his covert.
+
+Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so
+fearfully long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that
+it must be about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished
+panther to which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the
+circle of the dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and
+he knew that he could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he
+had no idea of returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else
+could resist was pushing him on his search.
+
+Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a
+thin and darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with
+certainty, that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation,
+turned his course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and
+containing the deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived
+beside himself in this wilderness.
+
+He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
+Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
+warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
+bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
+roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
+bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils.
+But it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible
+pang of hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+
+The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels,
+and they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they
+wanted. Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them
+as they ate strip after strip of the delicate, tender meat with the
+wonderful appetite that the Indian has after long fasting. A fierce,
+unreasoning anger and jealousy laid hold of him. He was starving, and
+they rejoiced in plenty only fifty yards away. He began to form plans
+for a piratical incursion upon them. Half the body of a deer lay near
+the edge of the opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away.
+It might be possible to escape with such spoil.
+
+Then he recalled his prudence. Such a thing was impossible. The whole
+band of warriors would be upon him in an instant. The best thing that he
+could do was to shut out the sight of so much luxury in which he could
+not share, and he crept away among the bushes wondering what he could
+do to drive away those terrible pains. His vigorous system was crying
+louder than ever for the food that would sustain it. His eyes were
+burning a little too brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+
+Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the feasting
+Indians under the bark shelters. He saw a warrior raise a bone, grasping
+it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender flesh that clothed it.
+The sight inflamed him into an anger almost uncontrollable. He clenched
+his fist and shook it at the warrior, who little suspected the proximity
+of a hatred so intense. Then he bent his head down and rushed away among
+the wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him across
+the face.
+
+Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. The aspect
+of air and sky had not changed. The heavens still dripped icy water,
+and there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. The game remained well
+hidden.
+
+It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing weak he
+made no haste. He came to dense clumps of bushes, and plowing his way
+through them, he saw a dark opening under some trees thrown down by an
+old hurricane. Having some vague idea that it might be the lair of a
+wild animal, he thrust the muzzle of his rifle into the darkness. It
+touched a soft substance. There was a growl, and a black form shot out
+almost into his face. Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his
+powers and faculties returned. He had stirred up a black bear, and
+before the animal, frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far
+the boy, careless how many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle and
+fired.
+
+His aim was good. The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was dead.
+Henry, transformed, ran up to him. Bear life had been given up to
+sustain man's. Here was food for many days, and he rejoiced with a great
+joy. He did not now envy those warriors back there.
+
+The bear, although small, was very fat. Evidently he had fed well on
+acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks which, to one with
+Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare. He calculated that it was
+more than a mile to the swamp, and, after a few preliminaries, he flung
+the body of the bear over his shoulder. Through some power of the mind
+over the body his full strength had returned to him miraculously, and
+when he reached the stepping stones he crossed from one to another
+lightly and firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+
+He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. The
+night had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the ashes, and
+there was plenty of dry wood. He did everything decently and in order.
+He took the pelt from the bear, carved the body properly, and then, just
+as the Indians had done, he broiled strips over the coals. He ate them
+one after another, slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as
+was the mere physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness.
+Not only was the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain the
+strength to seek his comrades.
+
+When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in
+several portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which evidently
+had been placed there by the former owner of the hut for this very
+purpose. Then, sure that the savor of the food would draw other wild
+animals, he brought one of the stepping stones and placed it on the
+inside of the door. The door could not be pushed aside without arousing
+him, and, secure in the knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE RED CHIEFS
+
+
+Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between midnight and
+morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even in sleep, warned
+him that something was at the door. He rose cautiously upon his arm, saw
+a dark muzzle at the crevice, and behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming
+eyes. He knew at once that it was a panther, probably living in the
+swamp and drawn by the food. It must be very hungry to dare thus the
+smell of man. Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the
+other end of which was a glowing coal. Then he seized it and hurled it
+directly at the inquisitive head.
+
+The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. There
+was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the big cat's
+feet as it fled into the swamp. Then he turned over on his side, and
+laughed in genuine pleasure at what was to him a true forest joke. He
+knew the panther would not come, at least not while he was in the hut,
+and he calmly closed his eyes once more. The old Henry was himself
+again.
+
+He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still falling. It
+seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever, but he was resolved,
+nevertheless, now that he had food and the strength that food brings, to
+begin the search for his comrades. The islet in the swamp would serve as
+his base-nothing could be better-and he would never cease until he found
+them or discovered what had become of them.
+
+A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet to lose
+itself quickly in the swamp. Henry drank there after his breakfast, and
+then felt as strong and active as ever. As he knew, the mind may triumph
+over the body, but the mind cannot save the body without food. Then
+he made his precious bear meat secure against the prowling panther or
+others of his kind, tying it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and
+too slender to support the weight of a large animal. This task finished
+quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie had
+seen the Mohawks.
+
+The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as the
+whole forest was enveloped in a sort of gloom, and he was less likely to
+be seen. But when he had gone about half the distance he heard Indians
+signaling to one another, and, burying himself as usual in the wet
+bushes, he saw two small groups of warriors meet and talk. Presently
+they separated, one party going toward the east and the other toward the
+west. Henry thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took
+little care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no
+matter how great the supply might be.
+
+When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these were
+traveling directly south. He was quite sure now that his theory was
+correct. They were sending out hunters in every direction, in order that
+they might beat up the woods thoroughly for game, and his own position
+anywhere except on the islet was becoming exceedingly precarious.
+Nevertheless, using all his wonderful skill, he continued the hunt. He
+had an abiding faith that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant
+to prove it.
+
+In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain decreased,
+though it did not cease. The Indian signs multiplied, and Henry felt
+sure that the forest within a radius of twenty miles of his islet
+contained more than one camp. Some great gathering must be in progress
+and the hunters were out to supply it with food. Four times he heard
+the sound of shots, and thrice more he saw warriors passing through
+the forest. Once a wounded deer darted past him, and, lying down in the
+bushes, he saw the Indians following the fleeing animal. As the day grew
+older the trails multiplied. Certainly a formidable gathering of bands
+was in progress, and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in a
+net, he returned to the islet, which had now become a veritable fort for
+him.
+
+It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had been
+except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which he
+had fastened the big pieces of bear meat. Henry felt a malicious
+satisfaction at the disappointment of the panthers.
+
+"Come again, and have the same bad luck," he murmured.
+
+At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey in the
+night. He examined his powder carefully to see that no particle of it
+was wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and then examined the skies.
+There was a little moon, not too much, enough to show him the way, but
+not enough to disclose him to an enemy unless very near. Then he left
+the islet and went swiftly through the forest, laying his course a third
+time toward the Indian camp. He was sure now that all the hunters had
+returned, and he did not expect the necessity of making any stops for
+the purpose of hiding. His hopes were justified, and as he drew near the
+camp he became aware that its population had increased greatly. It was
+proved by many signs. New trails converged upon it, and some of them
+were very broad, indicating that many warriors had passed. They
+had passed, too, in perfect confidence, as there was no effort at
+concealment, and Henry surmised that no white force of any size could
+be within many days' march of this place. But the very security of the
+Indians helped his own design. They would not dream that any one of the
+hated race was daring to come almost within the light of their fires.
+
+Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs. If the Indians had
+any of their mongrel curs with them, they would quickly scent him
+out and give the alarm with their barking. But he believed that the
+probabilities were against it. This, so he thought then, was a war or
+hunting camp, and it was likely that the Indians would leave the dogs
+at their permanent villages. At any rate he would take the risk, and
+he drew slowly toward the oak opening, where some Indians stood about.
+Beyond them, in another dip of the valley, was a wider opening which
+he had not seen on his first trip, and this contained not only bark
+shelters, but buildings that indicated a permanent village. The second
+and larger opening was filled with a great concourse of warriors.
+
+Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many trees
+and thickets everywhere. Henry crept to the very rim, where, lying in
+the blackest of the shadows, and well hidden himself, he could yet see
+nearly everything in the camp. The men were not eating now, although it
+was obvious that the hunters had done well. The dressed bodies of deer
+and bear hung in the bark shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the
+fires, and it seemed to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At
+least two hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint,
+although there were several styles of paint. There was a difference
+in appearance, too, in the warriors, and Henry surmised that
+representatives of all the tribes of the Iroquois were there, coming to
+the extreme western boundary or fringe of their country.
+
+While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing and
+manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him and talked
+together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward the forest, and
+he was quite sure that they were expecting somebody, a person of
+importance. He became deeply interested. He was lying in a dense clump
+of hazel bushes, flat upon his stomach, his face raised but little above
+the ground. He would have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet
+away, but the faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight
+were so clearly visible to him that he could see every change of
+expression. They were fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall, lean,
+their noses hooked, features cut clean and strong, and their heads
+shaved, all except the defiant scalp lock, into which the feather of
+an eagle was twisted. Their bodies were draped in fine red or blue
+blankets, and they wore leggins and moccasins of beautifully tanned
+deerskin.
+
+They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing note
+from the west. Some one in the camp replied with a cry in kind, and then
+a silence fell upon them all. The chiefs stood erect, looking toward the
+west. Henry knew that he whom they expected was at hand.
+
+The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into the
+opening, in the full blaze of the firelight. He was entirely naked save
+for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild and savage figure.
+He stood for a moment or two, then faced the chiefs, and, bowing before
+them, spoke a few words in the Wyandot tongue-Henry knew already by his
+paint that he was a Wyandot.
+
+The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning, leaped
+back into the forest. In two or three minutes six men, including the
+herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a little when he saw the
+first of the six, all of whom were Wyandots. It was Timmendiquas, head
+chief of the Wyandots, and Henry had never seen him more splendid in
+manner and bearing than he was as he thus met the representatives of the
+famous Six Nations. Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was
+its valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only as
+an equal, in his heart a superior.
+
+It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment, burrowing
+in the earth that he might not lose his life at the hands of either, was
+an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas. It was the young Wyandot chief
+whom he wished to be first, to make the greatest impression, and he was
+pleased when he heard the low hum of admiration go round the circle of
+two hundred savage warriors. It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that
+the Iroquois had looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+
+Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the chiefs, and
+the Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois. Henry could tell by the manner
+of the chiefs that the reputation of the famous White Lightning had
+preceded him, and that they had already found fact equal to report.
+
+The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the fire,
+and all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance, where they stood
+and watched in silence. The oldest chief took his long pipe, beautifully
+carved and shaped like a trumpet, and filled it with tobacco which he
+lighted with a coal from the fire. Then he took two or three whiffs and
+passed the pipe to Timmendiquas, who did the same. Every chief smoked
+the pipe, and then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+
+Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a spectacle
+and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and that he was an
+enemy. He wondered now at their silence. If this was a council surely
+they would discuss whatever question had brought them there! But he was
+soon enlightened. That low far cry came again, but from the east. It
+was answered, as before, from the camp, and in three or four minutes a
+warrior sprang from the forest into the opening. Like the first, he was
+naked except for the breech cloth and moccasins. The chiefs rose at his
+coming, received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. Then
+he returned to the forest, and all waited in the splendid calm of the
+Indian.
+
+Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle. Who was coming now? It must be
+some man of great importance, or they would not wait so silently.
+There was the same air of expectancy that had preceded the arrival of
+Timmendiquas. All the warriors looked toward the eastern wall of the
+forest, and Henry looked the same way. Presently the black foliage
+parted, and a man stepped forth, followed at a little distance by seven
+or eight others. The stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to
+Timmendiquas, but he, too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it
+was evident to anyone versed at all in forest lore that here was a great
+chief. He was lean but sinewy, and he moved with great ease and grace.
+He reminded Henry of a powerful panther. He was dressed, after the
+manner of famous chiefs, with the utmost care. His short military coat
+of fine blue cloth bore a silver epaulet on either shoulder. His
+head was not bare, disclosing the scalp lock, like those of the other
+Indians; it was covered instead with a small hat of felt, round and
+laced. Hanging carelessly over one shoulder was a blanket of blue cloth
+with a red border. At his side, from a belt of blue leather swung a
+silver-mounted small sword. His leggins were of superfine blue cloth and
+his moccasins of deerskin. Both were trimmed with small beads of many
+colors.
+
+The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence that still
+held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet him. These two held
+the gaze of everyone, and what they and they alone did had become of
+surpassing interest. Each was haughty, fully aware of his own dignity
+and importance, but they met half way, looked intently for a moment or
+two into the eyes of each other, and then saluted gravely.
+
+All at once Henry knew the stranger. He had never seen him before, but
+his impressive reception, and the mixture of military and savage attire
+revealed him. This could be none other than the great Mohawk war chief,
+Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white men, terrible name on the border.
+Henry gazed at him eagerly from his covert, etching his features forever
+on his memory. His face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of
+Timmendiquas, and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the fire,
+and once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. The two young
+chiefs received the seats of favor, and others sat about them. But they
+were not the only great chiefs present, though all yielded first place
+to them because of their character and exploits.
+
+Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important council,
+although its extent exceeded even his surmise. Delegates and head chiefs
+of all the Six Nations were present to confer with the warlike Wyandots
+of the west who had come so far east to meet them. Thayendanegea was the
+great war chief of the Mohawks, but not their titular chief. The latter
+was an older man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.
+The other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled); the
+Oneida, O-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver); the Cayuga, Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He
+Who Looks Both Ways); the Seneca, Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake); and
+the Tuscarora, Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a
+Tree). The names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had
+formed the great confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council,
+and were also the high priests and titular head of the Six Nations. But
+the Mohawks were first on-the war path.
+
+All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan, camping in
+its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+
+Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their wonderful
+league, and their wonderful history. He knew that according to the
+legend the league had been formed by Hiawatha, an Onondaga. He was
+opposed in this plan by Tododaho, then head chief of the Onondagas,
+but he went to the Mohawks and gained the support of their great
+chief, Dekanawidah. With his aid the league was formed, and the solemn
+agreement, never broken, was made at the Onondaga Lake. Now they were a
+perfect little state, with fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs,
+fifty-six.
+
+Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn
+many of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he
+little dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the
+meeting of the fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike
+power of the Six Nations.
+
+Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
+listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the
+trope, allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the
+unseen deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic
+dreams. He spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which
+to the Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit,
+which was Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in
+the Iroquois belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was
+so mighty that he did not need body.
+
+"This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
+brave Wyandots," he said to Timmendiquas. "Once there was no land, only
+the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam.
+Then he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls
+grew the Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined
+us and other tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave
+Wyandots."
+
+Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker
+at this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other
+tribes. A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished
+to unite the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio
+valley. The coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense
+heat. Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back,
+revealing a bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of
+the Mohawks, a flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and
+Seneca head chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest
+of the Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great
+pipe, and the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.
+
+"We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,"
+said Thayendanegea, "and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
+Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
+Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
+all our brethren of the Six Nations. All the land from the salt water to
+the setting sun was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not
+defend it we cannot keep it."
+
+"It is so," said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time. "We have
+fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come with their
+rifles and axes. The whole might of the Wyandots, the Shawnees, the
+Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the Ottawas has gone forth
+against them. We have slain many of them, but we have failed to drive
+them back. Now we have come to ask the Six Nations to press down upon
+them in the east with all your power, while we do the same in the west.
+Surely then your Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not
+refuse us success."
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+
+"You speak well, Timmendiquas," he said. "All the red men must unite to
+fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised above the sea, and
+we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to lead them to battle."
+
+"It is so," said Timmendiquas gravely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+
+
+Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes. He had forgotten about the dogs
+that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his surmise that the
+camp contained none. Nothing disturbed him while he stared at what was
+passing by the firelight. There could be no doubt that the meeting of
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not
+be stirred from his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their
+fate.
+
+They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse. Others-older men,
+chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them. But these two, proud,
+dominating, both singularly handsome men of the Indian type, were always
+there. Henry was almost ready to steal away when he saw a new figure
+approaching the two chiefs. The walk and bearing of the stranger were
+familiar, and HENRY knew him even before his face was lighted tip by
+the fire. It was Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great
+battles on both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. Henry
+felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could inspire in
+him. They fought for their own land and their own people, but Braxton
+Wyatt had violated everything that an honest man should hold sacred.
+
+Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him. Such a chance was
+sure to draw Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, the war, so far as it pertained to
+the border, seemed to be sweeping toward the northeast, and it bore many
+stormy petrels upon its crest.
+
+He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires. There the
+renegade sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the best
+of terms. He was presently joined by two more renegades, whom Henry
+recognized as Blackstaffe and Quarles. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+rose after a while, and walked toward the center of the camp, where
+several of the bark shelters had been enclosed entirely. Henry judged
+that one had been set apart for each, but they were lost from his view
+when they passed within the circling ring of warriors.
+
+Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a fortified
+camp here, a place from which they would make sudden and terrible forays
+upon the settlements. He based his opinion upon the good location and
+the great number of saplings that had been cut down already. They would
+build strong lodges and then a palisade around them with the saplings.
+He was speedily confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to
+the forest with hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings. He knew
+then that it was time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him at
+any time.
+
+He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. His limbs
+were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position, but that soon
+wore away, and he was comparatively fresh when he came once more to the
+islet in the swamp. A good moon was now shining, tipping the forest with
+a fine silvery gray, and Henry purveyed with the greatest satisfaction
+the simple little shelter that he had found so opportunely. It was a
+good house, too, good to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry.
+It was made of nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all
+that long, penetrating rain of the last three or four days, and when he
+lifted the big stone aside and opened the door it seemed as snug a place
+as he could have wished.
+
+He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat stones,
+having no fear that it would be seen through the dense curtain that shut
+him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the coals. When he had eaten
+and the fire had died he went out and sat beside the hut. He was well
+satisfied with the day's work, and he wished now to think with all
+the concentration that one must put upon a great task if he expects to
+achieve it. He intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well
+that it was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted.
+Yet scouts and hunters had done such things and had escaped with their
+lives. He must not shrink from the path that others had trodden.
+
+He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of
+operations. Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament that he
+began to regard the deed itself as almost achieved. Decision is always
+soothing after doubt, and he fell into a pleasant dreamy state. A gentle
+wind was blowing, the forest was dry and the leaves rustled with the low
+note that is like the softest chord of a violin. It became penetrating,
+thrillingly sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew.
+It was the same voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling
+him to be of heart and courage. He would triumph over hardships and
+dangers, and he would see his friends again.
+
+Henry started up from his vision. The song was gone, and he heard only
+the wind softly moving the leaves. It had been vague and shadowy as
+gossamer, light as the substance of a dream, but it was real to him,
+nevertheless, and the deep glow of certain triumph permeated his being,
+body and mind. It was not strange that he had in his nature something
+of the Indian mysticism that personified the winds and the trees
+and everything about him. The Manitou of the red man and the ancient
+Aieroski of the Iroquois were the same as his own God. He could not
+doubt that he had a message. Down on the Ohio he had had the same
+message more than once, and it had always come true.
+
+He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting perfectly
+still, he saw a black bear emerge into the open. It had gained the islet
+in some manner, probably floundering through the black mire, and the
+thought occurred to him that it was the mate of the one he had slain,
+drawn perhaps by instinct on the trail of a lost comrade. He could
+have shot the bear as he sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food
+soon-but he did not have the heart to do it.
+
+The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the human odor
+away from him, and sat back on his haunches. Henry did not believe that
+the animal had seen him or was yet aware of his presence, although he
+might suspect. There was something humorous and also pathetic in the
+visitor, who cocked his head on one side and looked about him. He made
+a distinct appeal to Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that
+the little bear could not be sure at first that he was a human being.
+A minute passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy. Henry
+felt pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain friendly
+relations only by remaining quiet.
+
+"If I have eaten your comrade, my friend," he said to himself, "it is
+only because of hard necessity." The bear, little, comic, and yet with
+that touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little further over on
+one side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell upon him Henry could
+see one red eye gleaming. It was a singular fact, but the boy, alone
+in the wilderness, and the loser of his comrades, felt for the moment a
+sense of comradeship with the bear, which was also alone, and doubtless
+the loser of a comrade, also. He uttered a soft growling sound like the
+satisfied purr of a bear eating its food.
+
+The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and looked in
+astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered sounds so familiar.
+Yet the figure was not familiar. He had never seen a human being before,
+and the shape and outline were very strange to him. It might be some new
+kind of animal, and he was disposed to be inquiring, because there was
+nothing in these forests which the black bear was afraid of until man
+came.
+
+He advanced a step or two and growled gently. Then he reared up again
+on his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his amusing manner.
+Henry, still motionless, smiled at him. Here, for an instant at least,
+was a cheery visitor and companionship. He at least would not break the
+spell.
+
+"You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow," he said to himself,
+"and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of questions."
+
+The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. It
+certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or twenty yards
+before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to solve the mystery
+of this creature. But caution held him back.
+
+There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze. It shifted about and
+brought the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest black bear.
+It was something entirely new to him, but it contained the quality of
+fear. That still strange figure was his deadliest foe. Dropping down
+upon his four paws, he fled among the trees, and then scrambled somehow
+through the swamp to the mainland.
+
+Henry sighed. Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned by
+instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
+himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into
+the hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left
+the islet once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he
+found it a most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting.
+As he had judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking
+in several directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the
+thickets, willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was
+advisable, moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was
+going to succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there
+through the forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed
+so numerous in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+
+He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
+distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
+cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
+would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected.
+He waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer.
+He knew that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first
+opinion.
+
+Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
+hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its
+discovery. Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness
+came, hiding his trail, to double back and regain the hut.
+
+He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
+It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as
+possible, annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along,
+stopping at intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had
+drawn near, but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the
+sky, willing that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+
+His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was
+setting. The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the
+east the forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and
+went back toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much
+closer to the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over
+the curve of the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs
+melted into a solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and
+with it its petty annoyances. He directed his course boldly now for the
+stepping stones, and traveled fast. Soon the first of them would be less
+than a hundred yards away.
+
+But the incident was not over. Wary and skillful though the young forest
+runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and it led to great
+consequences. As he skirted the edge of the swamp in the darkness, now
+fully come, a dusky figure suddenly appeared. It was a stray warrior
+from some small band, wandering about at will. The meeting was probably
+as little expected by him as it was by Henry, and they were so close
+together when they saw each other that neither had time to raise his
+rifle. The warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching
+out a knife, sprang at once upon his enemy.
+
+Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an immense
+effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of the Indian's
+knife hand, exerted all his great strength. The warrior wished to change
+the weapon from his right band, but he dared not let go with the other
+lest he be thrown down at once, and with great violence. His first
+rush having failed, he was now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not
+generally a wrestler. Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter
+and tighter around the red wrist. He wished to tear the knife from it,
+but he, too, was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two
+remained locked fast. Neither uttered a cry after the first contact, and
+the only sounds in the dark were their hard breathing, which turned to a
+gasp now and then, and the shuffle of their feet over the earth.
+
+Henry felt that it must end soon. One or the other must give way. Their
+sinews were already strained to the cracking point, and making a supreme
+effort he bore all his weight upon the warrior, who, unable to sustain
+himself, went down with the youth upon him. The Indian uttered a groan,
+and Henry, leaping instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen
+antagonist, who did not stir. He knew the cause. As they fell the point
+of the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's
+heart.
+
+Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the slain
+man in a sort of pity. He had not wished to take anyone's life, and, in
+reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. But it was a stern time
+and the feeling soon passed. The Wyandot, for such he was by his paint,
+would never have felt a particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+
+The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully at the
+still face. Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up in his brain,
+with such an impulse that it carried conviction. He would take this
+warrior's place and go to the Indian camp. So eager was he, and so
+full of his plan, that he did not feel any repulsion as he opened the
+warrior's deerskin shirt and took his totem from a place near his heart.
+It was a little deerskin bag containing a bunch of red feathers. This
+was his charm, his magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had
+failed him so woefully this time. Henry, not without a touch of the
+forest belief, put it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although
+he laughed at himself, that if the red man's medicine had any potency it
+should be on his own side.
+
+Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his war
+paint and the feather brush with which he put it on. The next hour
+witnessed a singular transformation. A white youth was turned into a red
+warrior. He cut his own hair closely, all except a tuft in the center,
+with his sharp hunting knife. The tuft and the close crop he stained
+black with the Indian's paint. It was a poor black, but he hoped that
+it would pass in the night. He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and
+intertwined it with a feather from the Indian's own tuft. Then he
+stained his face, neck, hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood
+forth a powerful young warrior of a western nation.
+
+He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the brush.
+Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge of the swamp and
+dropped it in. His object was not alone concealment, but burial as well.
+He still felt sorry for the unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him
+until he sank completely from sight in the mire. Then he turned away and
+traveled a straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+
+He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the bright
+moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection. By night, at least,
+it was certainly that of an Indian, and, summoning all his confidence,
+he continued upon his chosen and desperate task.
+
+Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his disguise,
+but he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was prepared to incur
+all risks and to endure all penalties. He even felt a certain lightness
+of heart as he hurried on his way, and at length saw through the forest
+the flare of light from the Indian camp.
+
+He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a good
+look into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In a single
+day the village had been enlarged much more. It seemed to him that it
+contained at least twice as many warriors. Women and children, too, had
+come, and he heard a stray dog barking here and there. Many more fires
+than usual were burning, and there was a great murmur of voices.
+
+Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about to
+plunge into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a time,
+too, when something of extreme importance was going on, but a little
+reflection showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many people, and so
+much ferment it was not at all likely that he would be noticed closely.
+It was his intention, if the necessity came, to pass himself off as a
+warrior of the Shawnee tribe who had wandered far eastward, but he meant
+to avoid sedulously the eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size
+and stature, divine his identity.
+
+As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether to wait
+a little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he became aware
+that all sounds in the village-for such it was instead of a camp-had
+ceased suddenly, except the light tread of feet and the sound of many
+people talking low. He saw through the bushes that all the Iroquois, and
+with them the detachment of Wyandots under White Lightning, were going
+toward a large structure in the center, which he surmised to be the
+Council House. He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west
+that the Iroquois built such structures.
+
+He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest importance
+was about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he left the bushes
+and entered the village, going with the crowd toward the great pole
+building, which was, indeed, the Council House.
+
+But little attention was paid to Henry. He would have drawn none at all,
+had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two glanced at him
+he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he had wandered far,
+and was glad to come to the hospitable Iroquois. One who could speak
+a little Shawnee bade him welcome, and they went on, satisfied, their
+minds more intent upon the ceremony than upon a visitor.
+
+The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles and
+thatch, was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet wide, with a
+large door on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other
+sides. As Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois
+were entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and
+women, and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and,
+knowing the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the
+ceremony, whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He
+himself drew to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow,
+but he was using to its utmost power every faculty of observation that
+Nature had given him.
+
+Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with
+great brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and
+investing with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive
+this ceremony, held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the
+primeval forest. Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which
+was at once a mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east
+with his own people and the election and welcome of their successors.
+
+The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was
+more generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
+Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient
+and undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of
+the Six Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were:
+Atotarho (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons
+(Looking Both Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The
+Scattered). They were men of stature and fine countenance, proud of
+the titular primacy that belonged to them because it was the Onondaga,
+Hiawatha, who had formed the great confederacy more than four hundred
+years before our day, or just about the time Columbus was landing on the
+shores of the New World.
+
+Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
+nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
+were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
+should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
+was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
+(Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+
+Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih
+(The Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+
+These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed the
+three senior nations. After them, in order of precedence, came
+the chiefs of the three junior nations, the Oneidas, Cayugas, and
+Tuscaroras. All of the great chiefs had assistant chiefs, usually
+relatives, who, in case of death, often succeeded to their places. But
+these assistants now remained in the crowd with other minor chiefs and
+the mass of the warriors. A little apart stood Timmendiquas and his
+Wyandots. He, too, was absorbed in the ceremony so sacred to him, an
+Indian, and he did not notice the tall figure of the strange Shawnee
+lingering in the deepest of the shadows.
+
+The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched across the
+clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where two young warriors
+had kindled a little fire of sticks as a signal of welcome. The chiefs
+gathered around the fire and spoke together in low tones. This was
+Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means "The Reception at the Edge of the Wood."
+
+Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see, and his
+interest increased. He shared the spiritual feeling which was impressed
+upon the red faces about him. The bright moonlight, too, added to the
+effect, giving it the tinge of an old Druidical ceremony.
+
+The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. Then
+rose the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a procession of
+young and inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas, appeared, slowly approaching
+the fire. Behind them were warriors, and behind the warriors were many
+women and children. All the women were in their brightest attire, gay
+with feather headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the
+British posts.
+
+The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from the
+chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon, formed the men
+in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women and children grouped
+in an irregular mass behind them. The singing meanwhile had stopped. The
+two groups stood facing each other, attentive and listening.
+
+Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth in the
+space between the two groups, chanting a welcome. Like all Indian songs
+it was monotonous. Every line he uttered with emphasis and a rising
+inflection, the phrase "Haih-haih" which may be translated "Hail to
+thee!" or better, "All hail!" Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the
+wilderness and with rapt faces about him, it was deeply impressive.
+Henry found it so.
+
+Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the fire.
+Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his hands beautifully
+beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward and made a speech of
+condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. Then the head chiefs and
+the minor chiefs smoked pipes together, after which the head chiefs,
+followed by the minor chiefs, and these in turn by the crowd, led the
+way back to the village.
+
+Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still very
+grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by the sacred nature of
+this ancient rite. The chief entered the great door of the Long House,
+and all who could find places not reserved followed. Henry went in with
+the others, and sat in a corner, making himself as small as possible.
+Many women, the place of whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in
+the Long House.
+
+The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great room.
+In front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of the three
+older nations on the left, and of the three younger nations on the
+right. In front of these, but sitting on the bark floor, was a group of
+warriors. At the east end, on both high and low seats, were warriors,
+and facing them on the western side were women, also on both high
+and low seats. The southern side facing the chiefs was divided into
+sections, each with high and low seats. The one on the left was occupied
+by men, and the one on the right by women. Two small fires burned in the
+center of the Long House about fifteen feet apart.
+
+It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes that
+Henry had ever beheld. When all had found their seats there was a deep
+silence. Henry could hear the slight crackling made by the two fires as
+they burned, and the light fell faintly across the multitude of dark,
+eager faces. Not less than five hundred people were in the Long House,
+and here was the red man at his best, the first of the wild, not the
+second or third of the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins
+brings to the white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it
+does when that blood belongs to some other races.
+
+The effect upon Henry was singular. He almost forgot that he was a foe
+among them on a mission. For the moment he shared in their feelings, and
+he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+
+Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great chiefs.
+The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho, the Onondaga,
+but the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion to Thayendanegea, and
+there was no objection. Thayendanegea was an educated man, he had been
+in England, he was a member of a Christian church, and he had translated
+a part of the Bible from English into his own tongue, but now he was all
+a Mohawk, a son of the forest.
+
+He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six Nations, how
+Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired Hiawatha to form the
+Great Confederacy of the Five Nations, afterwards the Six; how they had
+held their hunting grounds for nearly two centuries against both English
+and French; and how they would hold them against the Americans. He
+stopped at moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long
+House. The eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator spoke of
+their glory and greatness. Timmendiquas, in a place of honor, nodded
+approval. If he could he would form such another league in the west.
+
+The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. It seemed
+to have in it a touch of fire. The orator's words burned. Swift and deep
+impressions were left upon the excited brain. The tall figure of the
+Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the half light, and the spell that he threw
+over all was complete.
+
+He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit down.
+Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long House that
+something more was coming from Thayendanegea. Suddenly the red chief
+began to sing in a deep, vibrant voice, and this was the song that he
+sung:
+
+
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+There was the same incessant repetition of "Haih haih!" that Henry had
+noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it seemed to give a
+cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and at every slight pause
+that deep breath of approval ran through the crowd in the Long House.
+The effect of the song was indescribable. Fire ran in the veins of all,
+men, women, and children. The great pulses in their throats leaped up.
+They were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the English
+since first a white man was seen in the land, and that would keep back
+the Americans now.
+
+Henry glanced at Timmendiquas. The nostrils of the great White Lightning
+were twitching. The song reached to the very roots of his being, and
+aroused all his powers. Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he
+saw that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than
+English or French had ever been. The Americans were upon the ground, and
+incessantly pressed upon the red man, eye to eye. Only powerful leagues
+like those of the Iroquois could withstand them.
+
+Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period
+lasting about two minutes. These silences seemed to be a necessary part
+of all Iroquois rites. When it closed two young warriors stretched an
+elm bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling,
+but between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs. Then they hung dressed
+skins all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the
+view of each other. This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a
+silence. The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little
+was to be seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. Then a
+slender man of middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation,
+arose and sang:
+
+
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song
+was sad. At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd
+in the Long House. Grief for the dead held them all. When he finished,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum,
+uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to
+which they listened patiently. The chant over, he handed the belts to
+an attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few
+moments and looked at them gravely.
+
+One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was
+purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace.
+They were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+
+When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a
+lake supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man
+tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the
+shore he found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred
+to him to use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He
+strung them on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league
+was formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For
+four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.
+
+Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
+returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once
+more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now
+he did not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and
+the time became faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow
+to exultation and menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and
+victory. The song sung as it was now became a genuine battle song,
+rousing and thrilling. The Long House trembled with the mighty chorus,
+and its volume poured forth into the encircling dark woods.
+
+All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
+holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
+attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now
+went to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires,
+asked who were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.
+
+The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among
+their own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and
+Henry was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of
+the brave Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as
+a great sign of friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the
+Mohawks, Keepers of the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the
+Iroquois tribes.
+
+As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
+than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long
+House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons
+of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among
+the Iroquois.
+
+The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened
+in grave silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was
+concluded. Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside--although
+that was much--and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the
+Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest
+two red chiefs on all the American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+
+
+Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping
+somewhat and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. But there
+was little danger now that any one would notice him, as long as he
+behaved with prudence, because all grief and solemnity were thrown
+aside, and a thousand red souls intended to rejoice. A vast banquet was
+arranged. Great fires leaped up all through the village. At every fire
+the Indian women, both young and old, were already far forward with the
+cooking. Deer, bear, squirrel, rabbit, fish, and every other variety
+of game with which the woods and rivers of western New York and
+Pennsylvania swarmed were frying or roasting over the coals, and the air
+was permeated with savory odors. There was a great hum of voices and
+an incessant chattering. Here in the forest, among themselves, and in
+complete security, the Indian stoicism was relaxed. According to their
+customs everybody fell to eating at a prodigious rate, as if they had
+not tasted anything for a month, and as if they intended to eat enough
+now to last another month.
+
+It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a long
+time, but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting crowd, and the
+flames of the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped and danced. This was
+an oasis of light and life. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together
+before the largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the
+others. Even at the banquet they would not relax their dignity as
+great chiefs. Old Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs
+though they were of the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as
+the rich Romans of the Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all
+kinds of meat, and drinking a sort of cider that the women made. Several
+warriors ate and drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires.
+The same warriors on the hunt or the war path would go for days without
+food, enduring every manner of hardship. Now and then a warrior would
+leap up and begin a chant telling of some glorious deed of his. Those at
+his own fire would listen, but elsewhere they took no notice.
+
+In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face
+suddenly uttered a sharp cry: "Hehmio!" which he rapidly repeated twice.
+Two score voices instantly replied, "Heh!" and a rush was made for him.
+At least a hundred gathered around him, but they stood in a respectful
+circle, no one nearer than ten feet. He waved his hand, and all sat down
+on the ground. Then, he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and
+with expectancy.
+
+He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and honored
+among the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than Hiawatha. He
+began at once the story of the warrior who learned to talk with the
+deer and the bear, carrying it on through many chapters. Now and then a
+delighted listener would cry "Hah!" but if anyone became bored and fell
+asleep it was considered an omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he
+was chased ignominiously to his tepee. The Iroquois romancer was better
+protected than the white one is. He could finish some of his stories in
+one evening, but others were serials. When he arrived at the end of the
+night's installment he would cry, "Si-ga!" which was equivalent to our
+"To be continued in our next." Then all would rise, and if tired would
+seek sleep, but if not they would catch the closing part of some other
+story-teller's romance.
+
+At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden flute of
+their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not without a certain
+sweetness. In a corner a half dozen warriors hurt in battle were bathing
+their wounds with a soothing lotion made from the sap of the bass wood.
+
+Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the feasting,
+hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a space to the
+story-tellers and the enthusiastic "Hahs!" They were so full of feasting
+and merrymaking now that one could almost do as he pleased, and he stole
+toward the southern end of the village, where he had noticed several
+huts, much more strongly built than the others. Despite all his natural
+skill and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the first.
+He was about to achieve the great exploration upon which he had ventured
+so much. Whether he would find anything at the end of the risk he ran,
+he was soon to see.
+
+The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was built
+strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a clapboard door
+fastened stoutly on the outside with withes. The hut was well in the
+shadow of tepees, and all were still at the feasting and merrymaking.
+He cut the withes with two sweeps of his sharp hunting knife, opened the
+door, bent his head, stepped in and then closed the door behind him, in
+order that no Iroquois might see what had happened.
+
+It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between the
+poles, and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of bark. They
+revealed also a figure lying full length on one side of the hut. A great
+pulse of joy leaped up in Henry's throat, and with it was a deep pity,
+also. The figure was that of Shif'less Sol, but he was pale and thin,
+and his arms and legs were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+
+Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he did not
+stir. Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually so sensitive to
+the lightest movement, he perceived nothing now, and, had he not found
+him bound, Henry would have been afraid that he was looking upon his
+dead comrade. The hands of the shiftless one, when the hands were cut,
+had fallen limply by his side, and his face looked all the more pallid
+by contrast with the yellow hair which fell in length about it. But it
+was his old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the
+five to vanish so mysteriously.
+
+Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder. The captive yawned,
+stretched himself a little, and lay still again with closed eyes.
+Henry shook him a second time and more violently. Shif'less Sol sat up
+quickly, and Henry knew that indignation prompted the movement. Sol held
+his arms and legs stiffly and seemed to be totally unconscious that they
+were unbound. He cast one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the
+tall warrior bending over him.
+
+"I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever name you
+like better!" he exclaimed. "I won't show you how to surprise the white
+settlements. You can burn me at the stake or tear me in pieces first.
+Now go away and let me sleep."
+
+He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. It was
+then that he noticed for the first time that his hands were unbound.
+He held them up before his face, as if they were strange objects wholly
+unattached to himself, and gazed at them in amazement. He moved his legs
+and saw that they, too, were unbound. Then he turned his startled gaze
+upward at the face of the tall warrior who was looking down at him.
+Shif'less Sol was wholly awake now. Every faculty in him was alive, and
+he pierced through the Shawnee disguise. He knew who it was. He knew
+who had come to save him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the one
+word:
+
+"Henry!"
+
+The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which only many
+dangers endured together can give.
+
+"How did you get here?" asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+
+"I met an Indian in the forest," replied Henry, "and well I am now he."
+
+Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+
+"I see," said he, "but how did you get through the camp? It's a big
+one, and the Iroquois are watchful. Timmendiquas is here, too, with his
+Wyandots."
+
+"They are having a great feast," replied Henry, "and I could go about
+almost unnoticed. Where are the others, Sol?"
+
+"In the cabins close by."
+
+"Then we'll get out of this place. Quick! Tie up your hair! In the
+darkness you can easily pass for an Indian."
+
+The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two slipped
+from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly retying the
+thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape might occur as late
+as possible. Then they stood a few moments in the shadow of the hut and
+listened to the sounds of revelry, the monotone of the story-tellers,
+and the chant of the singers.
+
+"You don't know which huts they are in, do you?" asked Henry, anxiously.
+
+"No, I don't," replied the shiftless one.
+
+"Get back!" exclaimed Henry softly. "Don't you see who's passing out
+there?"
+
+"Braxton Wyatt," said Sol. "I'd like to get my hands on that scoundrel.
+I've had to stand a lot from him."
+
+"The score must wait. But first we'll provide you with weapons. See,
+the Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while they're at the
+feast."
+
+A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by, and
+Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best, with its
+ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his semi-civilized attire,
+still remained in the shadow of the other hut.
+
+"Why not take four?" whispered the shiftless one. "We'll need them for
+the other boys."
+
+Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily
+slipped back to the other side of the hut. A Wyandot and a Mohawk were
+passing, and they had eyes of hawks. Henry and Sol waited until the
+formidable pair were gone, and then began to examine the huts, trying to
+surmise in which their comrades lay.
+
+"I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall," said Sol, "but I reckon from the
+talk that they are here. I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. A half
+dozen reds jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to draw a weepin.
+Timmendiquas was at the head uv 'em an' he just grinned. Well, he is a
+great chief, if he did truss me up like a fowl. I reckon the same thing
+happened to the others."
+
+"Come closer, Sol! Come closer!" whispered Henry. "More warriors are
+walking this way. The feast is breaking up, and they'll spread all
+through the camp."
+
+A terrible problem was presented to the two. They could no longer search
+among the strong huts, for their comrades. The opportunity to save had
+lasted long enough for one only. But border training is stern, and these
+two had uncommon courage and decision.
+
+"We must go now, Sol," said Henry, "but we'll come back."
+
+"Yes," said the shiftless one, "we'll come back."
+
+Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the forest
+before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence of an enemy.
+Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not pause. Henry led the
+way, and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair degree of speed.
+
+"You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry," said
+Sol in a tone of humility. "When I wuz layin' thar in the lodge with my
+hands an' feet tied I wuz about eighty years old, jest ez stiff ez could
+be from the long tyin'. When I reached the edge o' the woods the blood
+wuz flowin' lively enough to make me 'bout sixty. Now I reckon I'm
+fifty, an' ef things go well I'll be back to my own nateral age in two
+or three hours."
+
+"You shall have rest before morning," said Henry, "and it will be in a
+good place, too. I can promise that."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say anything.
+Like the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most implicit confidence
+in their bold young leader. He had every reason to feel good. That
+painful soreness was disappearing from his ankles. As they advanced
+through the woods, weeks dropped from him one by one. Then the months
+began to roll away, and at last time fell year by year. As they
+approached the deeps of the forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde,
+the so called shiftless one, and wholly undeserving of the name, was
+young again.
+
+"I've got a fine little home for us, Sol," said Henry. "Best we've had
+since that time we spent a winter on the island in the lake. This is
+littler, but it's harder to find. It'll be a fine thing to know you're
+sleeping safe and sound with five hundred Iroquois warriors only a few
+miles away."
+
+"Then it'll suit me mighty well," said Shif'less Sol, grinning broadly.
+"That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble servant, which is
+me."
+
+They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+
+"Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?" he asked.
+
+"I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to," he replied. "Jest you
+jump on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me only one jump
+behind you!"
+
+Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and behind
+him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one. It was now past midnight,
+and the moon was obscured. The keenest eyes twenty yards away could
+not have seen the two dusky figures as they went by leaps into the very
+heart of the great, black swamp. They reached the solid ground, and then
+the hut.
+
+"Here, Sol," said Henry, "is my house, and yours, also, and soon, I
+hope, to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too."
+
+"Henry," said Shif'less Sol, "I'm shorely glad to come."
+
+They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall, and
+soon were sound asleep.
+
+Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. They had
+eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily. Many times had they told the
+glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League, and many times had they
+gladly acknowledged the valor and worth of Timmendiquas and the brave
+little Wyandot nation. Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side
+by side throughout the feast, but often other great chiefs were with
+them-Skanawati, Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the
+Mohawk; Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+
+Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges, and soon
+the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on the ground, wrapped
+in their blankets. The fires were allowed to sink low, and at last the
+older chiefs withdrew, leaving only Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+
+"You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois," said
+Thayendanegea. "We can bring many more warriors than are here into the
+field, and we will strike the white settlements with you."
+
+"The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great League," said
+Timmendiquas proudly, "but no one has ever been before them in battle."
+
+"You speak truth, as I have often heard it," said Thayendanegea
+thoughtfully. Then he showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor, the
+finest in the village, and retired to his own.
+
+The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous
+decision. Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they would make
+a new and formidable attack upon the white settlements, and Timmendiquas
+and his fierce Wyandots would help them. All of them, from the oldest
+to the youngest, rejoiced in the decision, and, not least, the famous
+Thayendanegea. He hated the Americans most because they were upon
+the soil, and were always pressing forward against the Indian. The
+Englishmen were far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the
+march of the American would be less rapid. He would strike once more
+with the Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on the
+American rearguard. He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the Western
+Gate, would lead in the onset. Thayendanegea considered it a good
+night's work, and he slept peacefully.
+
+The great camp relapsed into silence. The warriors on the ground
+breathed perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the fires
+were permitted to smolder down to coals. Wolves and panthers drawn by
+the scent of food crept through the thickets toward the faint firelight,
+but they were afraid to draw near. Morning came, and food and drink
+were taken to the lodges in which four prisoners were held, prisoners
+of great value, taken by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his
+urgent insistence as hostages.
+
+Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were
+loosened they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty. The one who
+spoke in a slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to be the most
+dangerous of them all, was gone. Henry and Sol had taken the severed
+thongs with them, and there was nothing to show how the prisoner had
+disappeared, except that the withes fastening the door had been cut.
+
+The news spread through the village, and there was much excitement.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at the empty hut.
+Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol had gone, but he said
+nothing. Others believed that it was the work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The
+Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh (The Spirit of the Winds) had taken
+him away.
+
+"It is well to keep a good watch on the others," said Timmendiquas, and
+Thayendanegea nodded.
+
+That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a great war
+council. A string of white wampum about a foot in length was passed
+to every chief, who held it a moment or two before handing it to his
+neighbors. It was then laid on a table in the center of the room, the
+ends touching. This signified harmony among the Six Nations. All the
+chiefs had been summoned to this place by belts of wampum sent to the
+different tribes by runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this
+honor belonged. All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of
+belts, and now this was done by the assembled chiefs.
+
+Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the real head
+of a brave and allied nation, was present throughout the council. His
+advice was asked often, and when he gave it the others listened with
+gravity and deference. The next day the village played a great game of
+lacrosse, which was invented by the Indians, and which had been played
+by them for centuries before the arrival of the white man. In this case
+the match was on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas
+and Senecas.
+
+The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great natural
+meadow surrounded by forest. The rival sides assembled opposite each
+other and bet heavily. All the stakes, under the law of the game, were
+laid upon the ground in heaps here, and they consisted of the articles
+most precious to the Iroquois. In these heaps were rifles, tomahawks,
+scalping knives, wampum, strips of colored beads, blankets, swords,
+belts, moccasins, leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in
+forays on the white settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of
+various kinds, boots, shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast
+assortment.
+
+These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older
+chiefs sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
+
+The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five hundred
+on each side, and already they began to show an excitement approaching
+that which animated them when they would go into battle. Their eyes
+glowed, and the muscles on their naked backs and chests were tense for
+the spring. In order to leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they
+wore no clothing at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist
+to the knee.
+
+The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of "byes" like
+those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart. But the goals of
+each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+
+At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants arranged
+themselves in two parallel lines facing each other, inside the area and
+about ten rods apart. Every man was armed with a strong stick three and
+a half to four feet in length, and curving toward the end. Upon
+this curved end was tightly fastened a network of thongs of untanned
+deerskin, drawn until they were rigid and taut. The ball with which they
+were to play was made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about
+the size of an ordinary apple.
+
+At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the chiefs,
+who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also score keepers.
+They kept tally of the game by cutting notches upon sticks. Every time
+one side put the ball through the other's goal it counted one, but there
+was an unusual power exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to
+the games of white men. If one side got too far ahead, its score was
+cut down at the discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more
+even, and also to protract it sometimes over three or four days. The
+warriors of the leading side might grumble among one another at the
+amount of cutting the chiefs did, but they would not dare to make any
+protest. However, the chiefs would never cut the leading side down to an
+absolute parity with the other. It was always allowed to retain a margin
+of the superiority it had won.
+
+The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became intense. Even
+the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness, while the brown bodies
+of the warriors shone in the sun, and the taut muscles leaped up under
+the skin. Fifty players on each side, sticks in hand, advanced to the
+center of the ground, and arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion
+of football players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their
+goals. Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+
+There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+beautiful of these appeared. She was not more than sixteen or seventeen
+years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer, and she was
+dressed in the finest and most richly embroidered deerskin. Her head was
+crowned with a red coronet, crested with plumes, made of the feathers of
+the eagle and heron. She wore silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+
+The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very center of
+the arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors, she placed it upon
+the ground. Then she sprang back and joined the throng of spectators.
+Two of the players, one from each side, chosen for strength and
+dexterity, advanced. They hooked the ball together in their united bats
+and thus raised it aloft, until the bats were absolutely perpendicular.
+Then with a quick, jerking motion they shot it upward. Much might
+be gained by this first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two
+players were equal, and it shot almost absolutely straight into the air.
+The nearest groups made a rush for it, and the fray began.
+
+Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually twenty or
+thirty on each side struck for the ball, and when they became exhausted
+or disabled were relieved by similar groups. All eventually came into
+action.
+
+The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity, assuming
+sometimes the aspect of a battle. Blows with the formidable sticks were
+given and received. Brown skins were streaked with blood, heads were
+cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. Such killings were not unusual in
+these games, and it was always considered the fault of the man who fell,
+due to his own awkwardness or unwariness. The body of the dead Cayuga
+was taken away in disgrace.
+
+All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and zeal,
+party relieving party. The meadow and the surrounding forest resounded
+with the shouts and yells of combatants and spectators. The old squaws
+were in a perfect frenzy of excitement, and their shrill screams of
+applause or condemnation rose above every other sound.
+
+On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one day, the
+chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. The game closed
+at sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas triumphant, and richer by far
+than they were in the morning. The Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped
+of their goods and crestfallen.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the game
+closely to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe. They and Quarles had wandered eastward with some Delawares,
+and had afterward joined the band of Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave
+them no very warm welcome. Quarles had left on some errand a few days
+before. They had rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by
+one, in the deep bush. But they had felt anger and disappointment when
+the fifth was not taken, also. Now both were concerned and alarmed over
+the escape of Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew apart from the
+Indians to discuss it.
+
+"I think," said Wyatt, "that Hyde did not manage it himself, all alone.
+How could he? He was bound both hand and foot; and I've learned, too,
+Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles have been taken. That
+means one apiece for Hyde and the three prisoners that are left."
+
+The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+
+"It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away," said
+Blackstaffe, "and their taking of the rifles means that he and Hyde
+expect to rescue the other three in the same way. You think so, too?"
+
+"Of course," replied Wyatt. "What makes the Indians, who are so
+wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so careless when
+they have a great feast?"
+
+Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It is their way," he replied. "You cannot change it. Ware must have
+noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of it. But I don't
+think any of the others will go that way."
+
+"The boy Cotter is in here," said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the side of a
+small hut. "Let's go in and see him."
+
+
+"Good enough," said Blackstaffe. "But we mustn't let him know that Hyde
+has escaped."
+
+Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. He, too,
+was pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon him heavily-but
+Paul's spirit could never be daunted. He looked at the two renegades
+with hatred and contempt.
+
+"Well, you're in a fine fix," said Wyatt sneeringly. "We just came in to
+tell you that we took Henry Ware last night."
+
+Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that the
+renegade was lying.
+
+"I know better," he said.
+
+"Then we will get him," said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, "and all of you
+will die at the stake."
+
+"You, will not get him," said Paul defiantly, "and as for the rest of
+us dying at the stake, that's to be seen. I know this: Timmendiquas
+considers us of value, to be traded or exchanged, and he's too smart
+a man to destroy what he regards as his own property. Besides, we may
+escape. I don't want to boast, Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're
+hard to hold."
+
+Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if he were
+through with them. They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said sulkily:
+
+"Nothing to be got out of him."
+
+"No," said Blackstaffe, "but we must urge that the strictest kind of
+guard be kept over the others."
+
+The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all their
+forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had in mind. The
+Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum belts of purple shells,
+sign of war, to distant villages of the tribes, and parties of warriors
+were still coming in. A band of Cayugas arrived that night, and with
+them they brought a half starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had
+picked up near the camp. The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might
+have been when in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had
+reached him through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the
+Iroquois on the white settlements, and the spirits would not let him
+rest unless he bore his part in it. He prayed therefore to be accepted
+among them.
+
+Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to a
+lodge to rest. To-morrow he would be well, and he would be welcomed to
+the ranks of the Cayugas, a Younger nation. But when the morning came,
+the lodge was empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was gone, and with him the
+boy, Paul, the youngest of the prisoners. Guards bad been posted all
+around the camp, but evidently the two had slipped between. Brave
+and advanced as were the Iroquois, superstition seized upon them.
+Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work among them, coming in the form of the
+famished Lenni-Lenape. He had steeped them in a deep sleep, and then
+he had vanished with the prisoner in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had
+taken away the boy, who was one of a hated race, for some sacrifice or
+mystery of his own. The fears of the Iroquois rose. If the Spirit of
+Evil was among them, greater harm could be expected.
+
+But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did not
+believe in the interference of either good spirits or bad spirits, and
+just now their special hatred was a famished Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+
+"Why on earth didn't I think of it?" exclaimed Wyatt. "I'm sure now by
+his size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he slipped to the lodge,
+let Cotter out, and they dodged about in the darkness until they escaped
+in the forest. I'll complain to Timmendiquas."
+
+He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both Iroquois and
+Wyandots. The great White Lightning regarded him with an icy stare.
+
+"You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?" he asked.
+
+"I do," exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+"Then why did you not prevent it?"
+
+Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+
+"Since when," continued Timmendiquas, "have you, a deserter front your
+own people, had the right to hold to account the head chief of the
+Wyandots?" Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly was, trembled yet
+more. He knew that Timmendiquas did not like him, and that the Wyandot
+chieftain could make his position among the Indians precarious.
+
+"I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in particular,"
+he exclaimed hastily, "but I've been hearing so much talk about the
+Spirit of Evil having a hand in this that I couldn't keep front saying
+something. Of course, it was Henry Ware and Hyde who did it!"
+
+"It may be," said Timmendiquas icily, "but neither the Manitou of the
+Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me the eyes to
+see everything that happens in the dark."
+
+Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more. He and
+Blackstaffe held many conferences through the day, and they longed for
+the presence of Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+
+That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest villages
+of the Mohawks, far east toward Albany. He had been sent from a farther
+village, and was not known personally to the warriors in the great camp,
+but he bore a wampum belt of purple shells, the sign of war, and he
+reported directly to Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and
+satisfactory words. After ample feasting, as became one who had come
+so far, he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought
+sleep.
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep. His evil spirit warned
+him to rise and go to the huts, where the two remaining prisoners were
+kept. It was then about one o'clock in the morning, and as he passed he
+saw the Onondaga runner at the door of one of the prison lodges. He was
+about to cry out, but the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent
+blow with the butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic,
+that he fell senseless. When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him
+an hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the
+prisoners, the one called Ross, was gone.
+
+Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil was
+among them. When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea
+were deceived, how could a common warrior hope to escape its wicked
+influence!
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a bed of
+skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him no comfort.
+
+The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, wind and rain. Many of the lodges were thrown
+down, and when the storm finally whirled itself away, it was found that
+the last of the prisoners, he of the long arms and long legs, had gone
+on the edge of the blast.
+
+Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. CATHARINE MONTOUR
+
+
+The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of content.
+The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his comrades, had
+disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward. The lightning was flaring
+its last on the distant horizon, but the rain still pattered in the
+great woods.
+
+It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it. They were
+dry, warm, and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and the
+wilderness. The four after their imprisonment and privations were
+recovering their weight and color. Paul, who had suffered the most,
+had, on the other hand, made the quickest recovery, and their present
+situation, so fortunate in contrast with their threatened fate a few
+days before, made a great appeal to his imagination. The door was
+allowed to stand open six inches, and through the crevice he watched the
+rain pattering on the dark earth. He felt an immense sense of security
+and comfort. Paul was hopeful by nature and full of courage, but when he
+lay bound and alone in a hut in the Iroquois camp it seemed to him that
+no chance was left. The comrades had been kept separate, and he had
+supposed the others to be dead. But here he was snatched from the very
+pit of death, and all the others had been saved from a like fate.
+
+"If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry," he said, "I'd
+never have given up hope. It was a wonderful thing you did to start the
+chain that drew us all away."
+
+"It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done," said
+Henry.
+
+"We might have tried it," said Long Jim Hart, "but I ain't sure that
+we'd have done it. Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me my scalp
+would be dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a Mohawk village. Say,
+Sol, how wuz it that you talked Onondaga when you played the part uv
+that Onondaga runner. Didn't know you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo."
+
+Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a thoughtful hand
+once or twice across his forehead.
+
+"Jim," he said, "I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the instincts
+uv the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty strong hold on me.
+Ef I'd had the chance, I might be a purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin'
+poetry. I ain't told you about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I
+moved with the settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk
+Iroquois a heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been
+now. Ain't it funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an' it gits
+all covered with rust and mold, the time comes when that same forgot
+little thing is the most vallyble article in the world to you."
+
+"Weren't you scared, Sol," persisted Paul, "to face a man like Brant,
+an' pass yourself off as an Onondaga?"
+
+"No, I wuzn't," replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, "I've been wuss
+scared over little things. I guess that when your life depends on jest
+a motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word, Natur' somehow comes to
+your help an' holds you up. I didn't get good an' skeered till it wuz
+all over, an' then I had one fit right after another."
+
+"I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin'," said Tom Ross; "jest
+beginnin' to git over it. I tell you, Henry, it wuz pow'ful lucky fur
+us you found them steppin' stones, an' this solid little place in the
+middle uv all that black mud."
+
+"Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island in
+the lake," said Long Jim. "That waz shorely a nice place an' pow'ful
+comf'table we wuz thar. But we're a long way from it now. That island uv
+ours must be seven or eight hundred miles from here, an' I reckon it's
+nigh to fifteen hundred to New Orleans, whar we wuz once."
+
+"Shet up," said Tom Ross suddenly. "Time fur all uv you to go to sleep,
+an' I'm goin' to watch."
+
+"I'll watch," said Henry.
+
+"I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time," said Tom.
+
+"Needn't quarrel with me about it," said Shif'less Sol. "A lazy man like
+me is always willin' to go to sleep. You kin hev my watch, Tom, every
+night fur the next five years."
+
+He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was sound
+asleep. Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they, too, soon
+slept. Tom sat at the door, one of the captured rifles across his knees,
+and watched the forest and the swamp. He saw the last flare of the
+distant lightning, and he listened to the falling of the rain drops
+until they vanished with the vanishing wind, leaving the forest still
+and without noise.
+
+Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although
+powerful in action, he was singularly chary of speech. Henry was the
+leader, but somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other
+four, a sort of elder brother. As the moon came out a little in the wake
+of the retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
+
+"One, two, three, four, five," he murmured to himself. "We're all here,
+an' Henry come fur us. That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez
+ever seed. Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal that Paul talks about
+couldn't hev been knee high to Henry. Besides, ef them old Greeks an'
+Romans hed hed to fight Wyandots an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've
+done, whar'd they hev been?"
+
+Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of that
+sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. Then he went
+outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for the tenth time what
+a wonderful little refuge it was. He was about to return to the hut when
+he saw a dozen dark blots along the high bough of a tree. He knew them.
+They were welcome blots. They were wild turkeys that had found what had
+seemed to be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+
+Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted, and here
+was more food come to their hand. "We're five pow'ful feeders, an' we'll
+need you," he murmured, looking up at the turkeys, "but you kin rest
+thar till nearly mornin'."
+
+He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the hut to
+resume his watch. Just before the first dawn he awoke Henry.
+
+"Henry," he said, "a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest on the
+limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv ourn. 'Pears
+to me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers like us to eat. Kin
+we risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too dangerous?"
+
+"I think we can risk the shots," said Henry, rising and taking his
+rifle. "We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely that Indians
+are anywhere near."
+
+They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound asleep,
+and stepped noiselessly among the trees. The first pale gray bar that
+heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+
+"Thar they are," said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots on the
+high bough.
+
+"We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull trigger,"
+said Henry.
+
+He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but he noticed when
+he drew the bead that a second turkey just behind the first was directly
+in his line of fire. The fact aroused his ambition to kill both with
+one bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display
+marksmanship, but they needed the extra turkey for food.
+
+"Are you ready, Tom?" he asked. "Then fire."
+
+They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
+under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
+turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
+and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+
+Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+
+"Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!" he cried in tense
+tones.
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" asked the boy in surprise.
+
+"Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot?
+An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv
+them turkeys at the same time we did."
+
+Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+
+"There's no Indian about," he said. "I killed two turkeys with one shot,
+and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the
+line of the bullet, and it went through both."
+
+Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.
+
+"I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry," he said. "Now when I saw
+that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe
+more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that
+we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind
+just natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I
+want to eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight,
+'though I 'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the
+woods?"
+
+They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found
+them large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to
+their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life
+of the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
+westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures,
+all three with leveled rifles.
+
+"All right, boys," sang out Henry. "It's nobody but Tom and myself,
+bringing in our breakfast."
+
+The three dropped their rifles.
+
+"That's good," said Shif'less Sol. "When them shots roused us out o'
+our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot,
+artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned
+we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.
+
+"But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I
+reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down
+with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and
+Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.
+But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!"
+
+"You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde," said Long Jim.
+"Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you
+back."
+
+But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued
+on the turkeys.
+
+"I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin'," he said, "but I'm goin'
+to help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The
+quicker they are cooked the better it'll suit me."
+
+While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the
+sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and
+scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence,
+and, relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.
+
+Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a contented
+five that worked on one of the turkeys--the other two being saved for
+further needs.
+
+"What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?"
+asked Long Jim as they ate.
+
+"We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us," replied the boy.
+"It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that
+they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has
+told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea,
+and from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a
+big army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named
+the Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river,
+and they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by
+British from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but
+shall we go and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?"
+
+"Of course," said the four together.
+
+"Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference," said
+Shif'less Sol. "We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we
+sent word back from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while
+here in the east on mighty important business."
+
+"Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,"
+said Henry. "That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans,
+Sol?"
+
+"They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to
+a place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv
+'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our
+Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our
+people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole
+ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John
+Butler is to command 'em."
+
+Paul shuddered.
+
+"I've heard of him," he said. "They called him 'Indian' Butler at
+Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the
+Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is
+as bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the
+Johnsons and Claus."
+
+"'Pears ez ef we would be needed," said Tom Ross.
+
+"I don't think we ought to hurry," said Henry. "The more we know about
+the Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a
+safe and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the
+Indian movements."
+
+"Suits me," drawled Shif'less Sol. "My legs an' arms are still stiff
+from them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I
+guess I'll take a rest from travelin."
+
+"You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself," rejoined Long Jim; "an' I'm
+afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal
+better than you deserve."
+
+They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch
+on the Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting
+parties, as the region was far from any settled portion of the country,
+and the Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence.
+But the hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy
+jerking meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great
+campaign, but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting
+was done by Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick
+brushwood and watched, by the light of the fires, what was passing in
+the Indian camp.
+
+On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and Shif'less Sol
+lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned
+in the Indian camp, warriors were polishing their weapons, and the women
+were cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard
+from a point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a
+kind of chant.
+
+"Another war party comin'," whispered Shif'less Sol, "an' singin' about
+the victories that they're goin' to win."
+
+"But did you notice that voice?" Henry whispered back. "It's not a
+man's, it's a woman's."
+
+"Now that you speak of it, you're right," said Shif'less Sol. "It's
+funny to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into
+camp. That's the business o' warriors."
+
+"Then this is no ordinary woman," said Henry.
+
+"They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and
+we want to see her."
+
+"So we do," said Sol, "but I ain't breathin' while they pass."
+
+They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could
+not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing
+louder, and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman.
+The trail was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The
+fierce Indian chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that
+either had ever seen came into view.
+
+The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most
+of her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a
+strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and
+moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European
+cloth with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright
+feathers, thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her
+back. She held in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung
+fiercely in time to her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression
+of one who had taken some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked
+neither to right nor to left as she strode on, chanting a song of blood,
+and swinging the keen blade.
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human
+figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength
+of a man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and
+awful in the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian
+chant. Brave as they were, Henry and the shiftless one felt fear, as
+perhaps they had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might!
+They were destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the
+most awful of which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery
+almost unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know
+it, but they were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French
+Governor General of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the
+Iroquois, and of a memory infamous forever on the border, where she was
+known as "Queen Esther."
+
+Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+
+"I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians."
+
+A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and
+their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every
+sense. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great
+Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois.
+In her youth she had been treated as a white woman, educated and dressed
+as a white woman, and she had played a part in colonial society at
+Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned
+toward the savage half of herself, had become wholly a savage, had
+married a savage chief, bad been the mother of savage children, and here
+she was, at midnight, striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness,
+her head aflame with visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+
+The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
+still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol
+was so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to
+see her entry.
+
+Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
+and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
+welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
+stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he
+received her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest,
+though an ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the
+Six Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame
+the Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+
+After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village
+died down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they
+had been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
+formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
+be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
+their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+shivered slightly.
+
+"Henry," he said, "I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
+comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
+afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think
+she is a witch?"
+
+"There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
+Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to happen is
+right."
+
+It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the islet. Tom
+Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered peacefully on. They told Tom
+what they had seen, and he told them the identity of the terrible woman.
+
+"I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about her
+afore I went to Kentucky to live. She's got a tre-men-jeous power over
+the Iroquois. They think she ken throw spells, an' all that sort of
+thing-an' mebbe she kin."
+
+Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets, and then
+they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. Now they were
+white men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir John Johnson's Royal
+Greens, as Henry afterward learned; and with them was the infamous John
+Butler, or "Indian" Butler, as he was generally known on the New York
+and Pennsylvania frontier, middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant
+of appearance, but energetic, savage and cruel in nature. He was a
+descendant of the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the
+terrible battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year
+before.
+
+Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council around
+one of the fires. In this group were Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea, Queen
+Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations, and the white men, John
+Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy, Braxton Wyatt. It seemed to
+Henry that Timmendiquas, King of the Wyandots, was superior to all the
+other chiefs present, even to Thayendanegea. His expression was nobler
+than that of the great Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+
+Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they felt sure
+the Iroquois were about to break up their village and march on the great
+campaign they had planned. The two and their comrades could render no
+greater service than to watch their march, and then warn those upon whom
+the blow was to fall.
+
+The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well
+equipped with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois dismantle
+their village, all except the Long House and two or three other of the
+more solid structures, and begin the march. Henry and his comrades went
+parallel with them, watching their movements as closely as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+
+
+The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to keep
+with the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to observe what
+was going on, and to divine what was intended from what they observed.
+Fortunately it, was early summer, and the weather being very beautiful
+they could sleep without shelter. Hence they found it convenient to
+sleep sometimes by daylight, posting a watch always, and to spy upon the
+Indian camp at night. They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian
+army, particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war
+chiefs of theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of Tories.
+
+Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga, preparatory
+to their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. About four hundred
+white men, English Canadians and Tories, were present, and eight hundred
+picked warriors of the Six Nations under Thayendanegea, besides the
+little band of Wyandots led by the resolute Timmendiquas. "Indian"
+Butler was in general command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the
+high priestess of the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and
+chanting songs that made the warriors see red. Upon the rear of this
+extraordinary army hung a band of fierce old squaws, from whom every
+remnant of mercy and Gentleness had departed.
+
+From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw "Indian" Butler's
+force start for its final march upon Wyoming. It was composed of many
+diverse elements, and perhaps none more bloodthirsty ever trod the soil
+of America. In some preliminary skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been
+slain, and now her fury knew no limits. She took her place at the
+very head of the army, whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and
+neither "Indian" Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in
+anything great or small.
+
+Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened toward the
+valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into contact with the
+great war itself. They had looked upon a uniformed enemy for the first
+time, and they might soon see the colonial buff and blue of the eastern
+army. Their hearts thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+
+They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of the four
+in the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the Wyoming Valley
+and the direction in which it lay, and, taking one last look at the
+savage army, they sped toward it. The time was the close, of June, and
+the foliage was still dark green. It was a land of low mountain, hill,
+rich valley, and clear stream, and it was beautiful to every one of the
+five. Much of their course lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they
+saw signs of a more extended cultivation than any that was yet to be
+witnessed in Kentucky. From the brow of a little hill they beheld a
+field of green, and in another field a man plowing.
+
+"That's wheat," said Tom Ross.
+
+"But we can't leave the man to plow," said Henry, "or he'll never
+harvest that wheat. We'll warn him."
+
+The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into his
+field. He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay across
+the plow handles. Neither Henry nor his companions realized that their
+forest garb and long life in the wilderness made them look more like
+Indians than white men. But Henry threw up a hand as a sign of peace.
+
+"We're white like yourselves," he cried, "and we've come to warn you!
+The Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!"
+
+The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little wood,
+where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising. He could not doubt on a
+near view that these were white like himself, and the words rang true.
+
+"My house is strong," he said, "and I can beat them off. Maybe you will
+help me."
+
+"We'd help you willingly enough," said Henry, "if this were any ordinary
+raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen Esther are coming at
+the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. How could we hold a house, no
+matter how thick its walls, against such an army as that? Don't hesitate
+a moment! Get up what you can and gallop."
+
+The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his plow in
+the furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted his wife and
+children on other horses, and, taking only food and clothing, fled to
+Stroudsburg, where there was a strong fort. At a later day he gave Henry
+heartfelt thanks for his warning, as six hours afterward the vanguard
+of the horde burned his home and raged because its owner and his family
+were gone with their scalps on their own heads.
+
+The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the Lenni-Lenape,
+until they were pushed westward by other tribes, had had their village
+Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language Wyoming. It was a beautiful
+valley running twenty miles or more along the Susquehanna, and about
+three miles broad. On either side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in
+height, and further away were peaks with mists and vapors around their
+crests. The valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river
+sparkled, now in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and fell.
+
+More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs, appeared,
+and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery beacon. Simon Jennings
+was not the only man who lived to thank them for the warning. Others
+were incredulous, and soon paid the terrible price of unbelief.
+
+The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them with
+wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated fields, and
+so many signs of a numerous population. They had emerged almost for the
+first time from the wilderness, excepting their memorable visit to New
+Orleans, although this was a very different region. Long Jim spoke of
+it.
+
+"I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns," he said. "We
+found some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the ground feels
+firmer under my feet here."
+
+"The ground feels firmer," said Paul, who had some of the prescience of
+the seer, "but the skies are no brighter. They look red to me sometimes,
+Jim."
+
+Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously. A woodsman, he
+had his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon his mind. He began
+to fear a great disaster, and his experienced eye perceived at once the
+defenseless state of the valley. He remembered the council of the great
+Indian force in the deep woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther
+was again before him.
+
+"These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em," he said.
+"It ain't no time to be plowin' land."
+
+Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley. It was a fine river,
+beautiful with changing colors. The soil on either side was as deep and
+fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the mountains cut the sky
+sharp and clear. Hills and slopes were dark green with foliage.
+
+"It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and scouts
+came in, confirming it. Panic seized the settlers, and they began to
+crowd toward Forty Fort on the west side of the river. Henry and his
+comrades themselves arrived there toward the close of evening, just as
+the sun had set, blood red, behind the mountains. Some report of them
+had preceded their coming, and as soon as they had eaten they were
+summoned to the presence of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the
+military force in the valley. Singularly enough, he was a cousin of
+"Indian" Butler, who led the invading army.
+
+The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and moccasins,
+and everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife, entered a large low
+room, dimly lighted by some wicks burning in tallow. A man of middle
+years, with a keen New England face, sat at a little table, and several
+others of varying ages stood near.
+
+The five knew instinctively that the man at the table was Colonel
+Butler, and they bowed, but they did not show the faintest trace of
+subservience. They had caught suspicious glances from some of the
+officers who stood about the commander, and they stiffened at once.
+Colonel Butler looked involuntarily at Henry-everybody always took him,
+without the telling, for leader of the group.
+
+"We have had report of you," he said in cool noncommittal tones, "and
+you have been telling of great Indian councils that you have seen in the
+woods. May I ask your name and where you belong?"
+
+"My name," replied Henry with dignity, "is Henry Ware, and I come from
+Kentucky. My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde, Tom Ross, and
+Jim Hart. They, too, come from Kentucky."
+
+Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances. Certainly they
+were wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. It would
+seem strange that new settlers in that far land should be here in
+Pennsylvania. Henry saw clearly that his story was doubted.
+
+"Kentucky, you tell me?" said Colonel Butler. "Do you mean to say
+you have come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an attack by
+Indians and Tories?"
+
+Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a little, but
+he saw that the commander was not unreasonable. It was a time when
+men might well question the words of strangers. Remembering this, he
+replied:
+
+"No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you. In fact, we
+came from a point much farther than that. We came from New Orleans to
+Pittsburgh with a fleet loaded with supplies for the Continental armies,
+and commanded by Adam Colfax of New Hampshire."
+
+The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "you were on that expedition? It seems to me that
+I recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some independent
+scouts."
+
+"When we reached Pittsburgh," continued Henry, "it was our first
+intention to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war movement
+was in progress to the eastward, and we thought that we would see what
+was going on. Four of us have been captives among the Iroquois. We know
+much of their plans, and we know, too, that Timmendiquas, the great
+chief of the Wyandots, whom we fought along the Ohio, has joined them
+with a hand of his best warriors. We have also seen Thayendanegea, every
+one of us."
+
+"You have seen Brant?" exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the great
+Mohawk by his white name.
+
+"Yes," replied Henry. "We have seen him, and we have also seen the woman
+they call Queen Esther. She is continually urging the Indians on."
+
+Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. He also
+introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John Durkee, Colonel
+Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garrett,
+Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+
+"Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw," continued Colonel Butler
+courteously. "You will pardon so many questions, but we must be careful.
+You will see that yourselves. But I am a New England man myself, from
+Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. I recall now that we have heard
+of you, also, and we are grateful for your coming. Will you and your
+comrades tell us all that you have seen and heard?"
+
+The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere. They were no longer
+possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one point when it
+should be dreaded at another. The men drew closely around them, and
+listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the dim room. Henry spoke
+first, and the others in their turn. Every one of them spoke tersely but
+vividly in the language of the forest. They felt deeply what they had
+seen, and they drew the same picture for their listeners. Gradually the
+faces of the Wyoming men became shadowed. This was a formidable tale
+that they were hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+
+"It is worse than I thought it could be," said Colonel Butler at last.
+"How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?"
+
+"Close to fifteen hundred."
+
+"All trained warriors and soldiers. And at the best we cannot raise more
+than three hundreds including old men and boys, and our men, too, are
+farmers."
+
+"But we can beat them. Only give us a chance, Colonel!" exclaimed
+Captain Ransom.
+
+"I'm afraid the chance will come too soon," said Colonel Butler, and
+then turning to the five: "Help us all you can. We need scouts and
+riflemen. Come to the fort for any food and ammunition you may need."
+
+The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay, and
+do all in their power. In fact, they had come for that very purpose.
+Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had implicit faith in
+them they went forth to find that, despite the night and the darkness,
+fugitives were already crossing the river to seek refuge in Forty Fort,
+bringing with them tales of death and devastation, some of which were
+exaggerated, but too many true in all their hideous details. Men had
+been shot and scalped in the fields, houses were burning, women and
+children were captives for a fate that no one could foretell. Red ruin
+was already stalking down the valley.
+
+The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and dugouts
+across the river. Here and there a torch light flickered on the surface
+of the stream, showing the pale faces of the women and children, too
+frightened to cry. They had fled in haste, bringing with them only the
+clothes they wore and maybe a blanket or two. The borderers knew too
+well what Indian war was, with all its accompaniments of fire and the
+stake.
+
+Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night. They secured a
+large boat and crossed the river again and again, guarding the fugitives
+with their rifles, and bringing comfort to many a timid heart. Indian
+bands had penetrated far into the Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure
+that none were yet in the neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+
+It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the fugitives
+who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors of the five, had
+they so chosen, were over for the time. But their nerves were tuned to
+so high a pitch, and they felt so powerfully the presence of danger,
+that they could not rest, nor did they have any desire for sleep.
+
+
+The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of oars. It
+had been detailed for their service, and they decided to pull up the
+river. They thought it possible that they might see the advance of the
+enemy and bring news worth the telling. Long Jim and Tom Ross took the
+oars, and their powerful arms sent the boat swiftly along in the shadow
+of the western bank. Henry and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at
+the fort and a few on either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall,
+and everything else were merged in obscurity.
+
+Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger, not for
+themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs, yet so new,
+few people lived beyond the palisades, but here were rich and scattered
+settlements; and men, even in the face of great peril, are always loth
+to abandon the homes that they have built with so much toil.
+
+Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long strokes
+that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and houses sank out
+of sight. Before them lay the somber surface of the rippling river, the
+shadowy hills, and silence. The world seemed given over to the night
+save for themselves, but they knew too well to trust to such apparent
+desertion. At such hours the Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt
+that they were already near, gathering news of their victims for the
+Indian and Tory horde. Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+
+They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks and
+bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross drawing their
+oars so carefully through the water that there was never a plash to
+tell of their passing. Henry was in the prow of the boat, bent forward
+a little, eyes searching the surface of the river, and ears intent upon
+any sound that might pass on the bank. Suddenly he gave a little signal
+to the rowers and they let their oars rest.
+
+"Bring the boat in closer to the bank," he whispered. "Push it gently
+among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above."
+
+Tom and Jim obeyed. The boat slid softly among tall bushes that shadowed
+the water, and was hidden completely. Then Henry stepped out, crept
+cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here very low, and lay pressed
+closely against the earth, but supported by the exposed root of a tree.
+He had heard voices, those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to
+see. Peering through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great oak.
+The face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his element, with a
+better prospect of success than any that he had ever known before. Henry
+shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life
+when he might have taken it.
+
+
+But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might be
+saying, not to slay. Two of the warriors, as he saw by their paint, were
+Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. Moreover, his slight
+knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and gradually he gathered the
+drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
+the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed
+that his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with
+his wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid
+the place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He
+slid back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+
+"Pull back down the river as gently as you can," he whispered, "and then
+I'll tell you."
+
+The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
+yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish
+plan that he had heard.
+
+"I know that man," said Shif'less Sol. "His name is Standish. I was
+there nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his
+family an' run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't
+afraid, an' now he's got to pay the price."
+
+"No, he mustn't do that," said Henry. "It's too much to pay for just
+being foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet
+save that man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?"
+
+"Why, course," said Long Jim. "Like ez not Standish will shoot at us
+when we knock on his door, but let's try it."
+
+The others nodded assent.
+
+"How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?" asked Henry.
+
+"'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down."
+
+"Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
+Jim give Sol and me the oars now."
+
+Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
+down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
+ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house
+that they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come,
+but as they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The
+shiftless one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+
+"I hated to do it, but I had to," he murmured. The next moment Henry was
+knocking at the door.
+
+"Up! Up!" he cried, "the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
+lives!"
+
+How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!
+
+The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
+then they heard him at the door.
+
+"Who are you?" he cried. "Why are you beating on my door at such a
+time?"
+
+"We are friends, Mr. Standish," cried Henry, "and if you would save your
+wife and children you must go at once! Open the door! Open, I say!"
+
+The man inside was in a terrible quandary. It was thus that renegades
+or Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes bade a door to be
+opened, in order that they might find an easy path to slaughter. But the
+voice outside was powerfully insistent, it had the note of truth; his
+wife and children, roused, too, were crying out, in alarm. Henry knocked
+again on the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+earnestness, to open and flee. Standish could resist no longer. He took
+down the bar and flung open the door, springing back, startled at the
+five figures that stood before him. In the dusk he did not remember
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Mr. Standish," Henry said, speaking rapidly, "we are, as you can see,
+white. You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades within half
+an hour. We know that, because we heard them talking from the bushes.
+We have a boat in the river; you can reach it in five minutes. Take your
+wife and children, and pull for Forty Fort."
+
+Standish was bewildered.
+
+"How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?" he
+asked.
+
+"If we had been that you'd be a dead man already," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish recognized
+the fact. His wife had felt the truth in the tones of the strangers,
+and was begging him to go. Their children were crying at visions of the
+tomahawk and scalping knife now so near.
+
+"We'll go," said Standish. "At any rate, it can't do any harm. We'll get
+a few things together."
+
+"Do not wait for anything!" exclaimed Henry. "You haven't a minute to
+spare! Here are more blankets! Take them and run for the boat! Sol and
+Jim, see them on board, and then come back!"
+
+Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his family ran
+for the boat. Jim and the shiftless one almost threw them on board,
+thrust a pair of oars into the bands of Standish, another into the hands
+of his wife, and then told them to pull with all their might for the
+fort.
+
+"And you," cried Standish, "what becomes of you?"
+
+Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed Henry's
+plan.
+
+"Don't you trouble about us," said the shiftless one. "We will come
+later. Now pull! pull!"
+
+Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the boat and
+its occupants were lost in the darkness. Tom Ross and Sol did not pause
+to watch them, but ran swiftly back to the house. Henry was at the door.
+
+"Come in," he said briefly, and they entered. Then he closed the door
+and dropped the bar into place. Shif'less Sol and Paul were already
+inside, one sitting on the chair and the other on the edge of the bed.
+Some coals, almost hidden under ashes, smoldered and cast a faint light
+in the room, the only one that the house had, although it was divided
+into two parts by a rough homespun curtain. Henry opened one of the
+window shutters a little and looked out. The dawn had not yet come, but
+it was not a dark night, and he looked over across the little clearing
+to the trees beyond. On that side was a tiny garden, and near the wall
+of the house some roses were blooming. He could see the glow of pink and
+red. But no enemy bad yet approached. Searching the clearing carefully
+with those eyes of his, almost preternaturally keen, he was confident
+that the Indians were still in the woods. He felt an intense thrill of
+satisfaction at the success of his plan so far.
+
+He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the borderer alone
+knew what the border suffered, and only those who never saw or felt the
+torture could turn the other cheek to be smitten. The Standish house had
+made a sudden and ominous change of tenants.
+
+"It will soon be day," said Henry, "and farmers are early risers. Kindle
+up that fire a little, will you, Sol? I want some smoke to come out of
+the chimney."
+
+The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three pieces
+of wood that lay on the hearth. Little flames and smoke arose. Henry
+looked curiously about the house. It was the usual cabin of the
+frontier, although somewhat larger. The bed on which Shif'less Sol sat
+was evidently that of the father and mother, while two large ones behind
+the curtain were used by the children. On the shelf stood a pail half
+full of drinking water, and by the side of it a tin cup. Dried herbs
+hung over the fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners.
+The clothing of the children was scattered about. Unprepared food for
+breakfast stood on a table. Everything told of a hasty flight and its
+terrible need. Henry was already resolved, but his heart hardened within
+him as he saw.
+
+He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for the
+door bar nearly in two. The others said not a word. They had no need
+to speak. They understood everything that he did. He opened the window
+again and looked out. Nothing yet appeared. "The dawn will come in three
+quarters of an hour," he said, "and we shall not have to wait long for
+what we want to do."
+
+He sat down facing the door. All the others were sitting, and they, too,
+faced the door. Everyone had his rifle across his knees, with one hand
+upon the hammer. The wood on the hearth sputtered as the fire spread,
+and the flames grew. Beyond a doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising
+from the chimney, and a watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful
+and unsuspecting mind.
+
+"I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door," said
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I wouldn't be sorry," said Henry.
+
+Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. He hoped
+the waiting would be very short. The light was sufficient for him to see
+the faces of his comrades, and he noticed that they were all very tense.
+This was no common watch that they kept. Shif'less Sol remained on the
+bed, Henry sat on another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the
+chests with his back to the wall. Long Jim was near the curtain. Close
+by Paul was a home-made cradle. He put down his hand and touched it. He
+was glad that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his heart
+anew for the task that lay before them.
+
+Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. He did
+not open it, but there was a crack through which he could see. The
+others said nothing, but watched his face. When he turned away they knew
+that the moment was at hand.
+
+"They've just come from the woods," he said, "and in a minute they'll be
+at the door. Now, boys, take one last look at your rifles."
+
+A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no answer
+came from within. The knock was repeated, sharper and louder, and Henry,
+altering his voice as much as possible, exclaimed like one suddenly
+awakened from sleep:
+
+"Who is it? What do you want?"
+
+Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+
+"We've come from farther up the valley. We're scouts, we've been up to
+the Indian country. We're half starved. Open and give us food!"
+
+"I don't believe you," replied Henry. "Honest people don't come to my
+door at this time in the morning."
+
+Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his vivid
+fancy, thought he heard whispering on the other side of the door.
+
+"Open!" cried Wyatt, "or we'll break your door down!" Henry said
+nothing, nor did any of the others. They did not stir. The fire crackled
+a little, but there was no other sound in the Standish house. Presently
+they heard a slight noise outside, that of light feet.
+
+"They are going for a log with which to break the door in," whispered
+Henry. "They won't have to look far. The wood pile isn't fifty feet
+away."
+
+"An' then," said Shif'less Sol, "they won't have much left to do but to
+take the scalps of women an' little children."
+
+Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless one's
+significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. Henry went
+to the door, put his ear to the line where it joined the wall, and
+listened.
+
+"They've got their log," he said, "and in half a minute they'll rush it
+against the door."
+
+He came back to his old position. Paul's heart began to thump, and his
+thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. Then they
+heard rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew open. A half dozen
+Iroquois and a log that they held between them were hurled into the
+middle of the room. The door had given away so easily and unexpectedly
+that the warriors could not check themselves, and two or three fell
+with the log. But they sprang like cats to their feet, and with their
+comrades uttered a cry that filled the whole cabin with its terrible
+sound and import.
+
+The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at once.
+The five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, all waiting
+silent and motionless were far different from what they expected. Here
+could be no scalps, with the long, silky hair of women and children.
+
+There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their foes.
+Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five muzzles, and in an
+instant the cabin was filled with smoke and war shouts, but the warriors
+never had a chance. They could only strike blindly with their tomahawks,
+and in a half minute three of them, two wounded, rushed through the door
+and fled to the woods. They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt,
+who had hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. WYOMING
+
+
+The five made no attempt to pursue. In fact, they did not leave the
+cabin, but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen, hideous with
+war paint, but now at the end of their last trail. Their tomahawks lay
+upon the floor, and glittered when the light from the fire fell upon
+them. Smoke, heavy with the odor of burned gunpowder, drifted about the
+room.
+
+Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of air
+poured into the room. Over the mountains in the east came the first
+shaft of day. The surface of the river was lightening.
+
+"What shall we do with them?" asked Paul, pointing to the silent forms
+on the floor.
+
+"Leave them," said Henry. "Butler's army is burning everything before
+it, and this house and all in it is bound to go. You notice, however,
+that Braxton Wyatt is not here."
+
+"Trust him to escape every time," said Shif'less Sol. "Of course he
+stood back while the Indians rushed the house. But ez shore ez we live
+somebody will get him some day. People like that can't escape always."
+
+They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and not long
+after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort again, where they
+found Standish and his family. Henry replied briefly to the man's
+questions, but two hours later a scout came in and reported the grim
+sight that he had seen in the Standish home. No one could ask for
+further proof of the fealty of the five, who sought a little sleep, but
+before noon were off again.
+
+They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go farther up
+the valley. But not willing to turn back, they ascended the mountains
+that hem it in, and from the loftiest point that they could find sought
+a sight of the enemy.
+
+It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer. The blue of the heavens
+showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and the hills and
+mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark green. The river, a
+beautiful river at any time, seemed from this height a great current of
+quicksilver. Henry pointed to a place far up the stream where black dots
+appeared on its surface. These dots were moving, and they came on in
+four lines.
+
+"Boys," he said, "you know what those lines of black dots are?"
+
+"Yes," replied Shif'less Sol, "it's Butler's army of Indians, Tories,
+Canadians, an' English. They've come from Tioga Point on the river, an'
+our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon."
+
+The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the
+distance, with startling clearness. The five, watching from their peak,
+saw them turn in toward the land, where they poured forth a motley
+stream of red men and white, a stream that was quickly swallowed up in
+the forest.
+
+"They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom Ross.
+
+"And they're coming fast," said Henry. "It's for us to carry the
+warning."
+
+They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they passed,
+and once more they were in the council room with Colonel Zebulon Butler
+and his officers around him.
+
+"So they are at hand, and you have seen them?" said the colonel.
+
+"Yes," replied Henry, the spokesman, "they came down from Tioga Point
+in boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through the woods. They
+will be here today."
+
+There was a little silence in the room. The older men understood the
+danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for battle.
+
+"Why should we stay here and wait for them?" exclaimed one of the
+younger captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. "Why
+not go out, meet them, and beat them?"
+
+"They outnumber us about five to one," said Henry. "Brant, if he is
+still with them, though he may have gone to some other place from Tioga
+Point, is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, and they say
+that the Tory leader is energetic and capable."
+
+"It is all true!" exclaimed Colonel Butler. "We must stay in the fort!
+We must not go out to meet them! We are not strong enough!"
+
+A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger officers.
+
+"And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be scalped,
+while we stay behind log walls!" said one of them boldly.
+
+The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely militia,
+farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+
+Colonel Butler flushed.
+
+"We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge," he said. "It hurts
+me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we sit quiet here.
+But I know that we have no chance against so large a force, and if we
+fall what is to become of the hundreds whom we now protect?"
+
+But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were indignant. They
+would not seek shelter for themselves while others were suffering. A
+young lieutenant saw from a window two fires spring up and burn like
+torch lights against the sky. They were houses blazing before the Indian
+brand.
+
+"Look at that!" he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, "and we are
+here, under cover, doing nothing!"
+
+A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler, although
+the flush remained on his face, still shook his head. He glanced at Tom
+Ross, the oldest of the five.
+
+"You know about the Indian force," he exclaimed. "What should we do?"
+
+The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was his
+wont.
+
+"It's a hard thing to set here," he exclaimed, "but it will be harder to
+go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four or five to one."
+
+"We must not go out," repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+
+The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+
+"A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family has
+been killed and scalped," he said.
+
+A deep, angry cry went up. Colonel Butler and the few who stood with
+him were overborne. Such things as these could not be endured, and
+reluctantly the commander gave his consent. They would go out and
+fight. The fort and its enclosures were soon filled with the sounds of
+preparation, and the little army was formed rapidly.
+
+"We will fight by your side, of course," said Henry, "but we wish to
+serve on the flank as an independent band. We can be of more service in
+that manner."
+
+The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+
+"Act as you think best," he said.
+
+The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force formed
+in ranks. Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon going into
+battle. They had seen the strength of that army of Indians, renegades,
+Tories, Canadians, and English advancing under the banner of England,
+and they knew the power and fanaticism of the Indian leaders. They
+believed that the terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had
+continually chanted to them her songs of blood as they came down the
+river. It was now the third of July, and valley and river were beautiful
+in the golden sunlight. The foliage showed vivid and deep green on
+either line of high hills. The summer sun had never shown more kindly
+over the lovely valley.
+
+The time was now three o'clock. The gates of the fort were thrown open,
+and the little army marched out, only three hundred, of whom seventy
+were old men, or boys so young that in our day they would be called
+children. Yet they marched bravely against the picked warriors of the
+Iroquois, trained from infancy to the forest and war, and a formidable
+body of white rovers who wished to destroy the little colony of
+"rebels," as they called them.
+
+Small though it might be, it was a gallant army. Young and old held
+their heads high. A banner was flying, and a boy beat a steady insistent
+roll upon a drum. Henry and his comrades were on the left flank, the
+river was on the right. The great gates had closed behind them, shutting
+in the women and the children. The sun blazed down, throwing everything
+into relief with its intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces
+of the borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes. Colonel
+Butler and two or three of his officers were on horseback, leading the
+van. Now that the decision was to fight, the older officers, who had
+opposed it, were in the very front. Forward they went, and spread out
+a little, but with the right flank still resting on the river, and the
+left extended on the plain.
+
+The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from the
+others, searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was already so
+near. Their gloom did not decrease. Neither the rolling of the drum nor
+the flaunting of the banner had any effect. Brave though the men might
+be, this was not the way in which they should meet an Indian foe who
+outnumbered them four or five to one.
+
+"I don't like it," muttered Tom Ross.
+
+"Nor do I," said Henry, "but remember that whatever happens we all stand
+together."
+
+"We remember!" said the others.
+
+On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the main
+force some hundred yards. They swung in a little toward the river. The
+banks here were highland off to the left was a large swamp. The five now
+checked speed and moved with great wariness. They saw nothing, and they
+heard nothing, either, until they went forty or fifty yards farther.
+Then a low droning sound came to their ears. It was the voice of one yet
+far away, but they knew it. It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther,
+in this moment the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+continuously for the combat.
+
+The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a little. The
+chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they saw the ominous
+figure approaching. She was much as she had been on that night when they
+first beheld her. She wore the same dress of barbaric colors, she swung
+the same great tomahawk about her head, and sang all the time of fire
+and blood and death.
+
+They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech cloth for
+battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war paint, and bright
+feathers gleaming in their hair. Henry recognized the tall form of
+Timmendiquas, notable by his height, and around him his little band of
+Wyandots, ready to prove themselves mighty warriors to their eastern
+friends the Iroquois. Back of these was a long line of Indians and their
+white allies, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers
+in the center, bearing the flag of England. The warriors, of whom the
+Senecas were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on their
+right flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. Sangerachte and
+Hiokatoo, who had taken two English prisoners at Braddock's defeat, and
+who had afterwards burned them both alive with his own hand, were the
+principal leaders of the Senecas. Henry caught a glimpse of "Indian"
+Butler in the center, with a great blood-red handkerchief tied around
+his head, and, despite the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of
+the heart how far the hostile line extended. It could wrap itself like a
+python around the defense.
+
+"It's a tale that will soon be told," said Paul.
+
+They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy was
+at band. Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing chant of Queen
+Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from a thousand throats,
+swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a wounded beast. The
+farmers, the boys, and the old men, most of whom had never been in
+battle, might well tremble at this ominous sound, so great in volume
+and extending so far into the forest. But they stood firm, drawing
+themselves into a somewhat more compact body, and still advancing with
+their banners flying, and the boy beating out that steady roll on the
+drum.
+
+The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed his
+force in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank of the river
+and his left against the swamp. Forward pressed the motley army of the
+other Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame, and the bulk of his
+force came into view, the sun shining down on the green uniforms of the
+English and the naked brown bodies of the Iroquois.
+
+The American commander gave the order to fire. Eager fingers were
+already on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the entire rank.
+The Royal Greens and Rangers, although replying with their own fire,
+gave back before the storm of bullets, and the Wyoming men, with a shout
+of triumph, sprang forward. It was always a characteristic of the border
+settler, despite many disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and
+cunning, to rush straight at his foe whenever he saw him. His, unless
+a trained forest warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this
+gallant little force asked for nothing but to come to close grips with
+the enemy.
+
+The men in the center with "Indian" Butler gave back still more. With
+cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing rapidly, and
+continuing to drive the mongrel white force. The rifles were cracking
+rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. The wind caught wisps of it
+and carried them off down the river.
+
+"It goes better than I thought," said Paul as he reloaded his rifle.
+
+"Not yet," said Henry, "we are fighting the white men only. Where are
+all the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than two to one?"
+
+"Here they come," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of the
+swamp, which was supposed to protect the left flank of the Wyoming
+force.
+
+The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of dark
+figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth, armed with
+rifle and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the unprotected side of their
+foe. The swamp had been but little obstacle to them.
+
+Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once. As many as possible were
+called off immediately from the main body, but they were not numerous
+enough to have any effect. The Indians came through the swamp in
+hundreds and hundreds, and, as they uttered their triumphant yell,
+poured a terrible fire into the Wyoming left flank. The defenders were
+forced to give ground, and the English and Tories came on again.
+
+The fire was now deadly and of great volume. The air was filled with
+the flashing of the rifles. The cloud of smoke grew heavier, and faces,
+either from heat or excitement, showed red through it. The air was
+filled with bullets, and the Wyoming force was being cut down fast, as
+the fire of more than a thousand rifles converged upon it.
+
+The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as they
+could at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping closer and
+closer, and that the hail of bullets it sent in was cutting away
+the whole left flank of the defenders. They saw the tall figure of
+Timmendiquas, a very god of war, leading on the Indians, with his
+fearless Wyandots in a close cluster around him. Colonel John Durkee,
+gathering up a force of fifty or sixty, charged straight at the
+warriors, but he was killed by a withering volley, which drove his men
+back.
+
+Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which often
+decide the fate of a battle. The company of Captain Whittlesey, on the
+extreme left, which was suffering most severely, was ordered to fall
+back. The entire little army, which was being pressed hard now, seeing
+the movement of Whittlesey, began to retreat. Even without the mistake
+it is likely they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+
+The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and renegades,
+uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward. Colonel Zebulon Butler,
+seeing the crisis, rode up and down in front of his men, shouting:
+"Don't leave me, my children! the victory is ours!" Bravely his officers
+strove to stop the retreat. Every captain who led a company into action
+was killed. Some of these captains were but boys. The men were falling
+by dozens.
+
+All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading force,
+were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their unloaded rifles,
+threw themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the defense. Not more than two
+hundred of the Wyoming men were left standing, and the impact of seven
+or eight hundred savage warriors was so great that they were hurled back
+in confusion. A wail of grief and terror came from the other side of
+the river, where a great body of women and children were watching the
+fighting.
+
+"The battle's lost," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Beyond hope of saving it," said Henry, "but, boys, we five are alive
+yet, and we'll do our best to help the others protect the retreat."
+
+They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such a
+terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more than one
+soldier ere the tomahawk fell. Shif'less Sol took a shot at "Indian"
+Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet missed him.
+
+"I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,"
+exclaimed the shiftless one.
+
+But the invading force came in between and he did not get another shot.
+There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the crashing fire
+of hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians, and the cries of the
+wounded. Over them all hovered smoke and dust, and the air was heavy,
+too, with the odor of burnt gunpowder. The division of old men and very
+young boys stood next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand,
+but in the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy
+of the best of soldiers. Three fourths of them died that day, before
+they were driven back on the fort.
+
+The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp, which had
+been some protection to the left, and they were now assailed from all
+sides except that of the river. "Indian" Butler raged at the head of his
+men, who had been driven back at first, and who had been saved by the
+Indians. Timmendiquas, in the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon
+this field, became by valor and power of intellect the leader of all the
+Indians for this moment. The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them, unconsciously
+obeyed him. Nor did the fierce woman, Queen Esther, shirk the battle.
+Waving her great tomahawk, she was continually among the warriors,
+singing her song of war and death.
+
+They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little band
+crumbled away beneath the deadly fire. Soon none would be left unless
+they ran for their lives. The five drew away toward the forest. They
+saw that the fort itself could not hold out against such a numerous and
+victorious foe, and they had no mind to be trapped. But their retreat
+was slow, and as they went they sent bullet after bullet into the Indian
+flank. Only a small percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now
+broke. Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached
+the fort. Some of the men jumped into the river, swam to the other shore
+and escaped. Some swam to a little island called Monocacy, and hid, but
+the Tories and Indians hunted them out and slew them. One Tory found his
+brother there, and killed him with his own hand, a deed of unspeakable
+horror that is yet mentioned by the people of that region. A few fled
+into the forest and entered the fort at night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE BLOODY ROCK
+
+
+Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the woods.
+They were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite the tan. They
+had never before looked upon so terrible a scene. The Indians, wild with
+the excitement of a great triumph and thirsting for blood, were running
+over the field scalping the dead, killing some of the wounded, and
+saving others for the worst of tortures. Nor were their white allies one
+whit behind them. They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+conquered. Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to show
+nobility. Several of the wounded he saved from immediate death, and he
+tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws who rushed forward
+and began to practice cruelties at which even the most veteran warrior
+might shudder. But Queen Esther urged them on, and "Indian" Butler
+himself and the chiefs were afraid of her.
+
+Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from
+the lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The
+sun was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the
+field as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors
+rushed about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous
+trophies about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping
+to the far bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the
+fugitives in their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+
+The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending
+in a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
+seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then
+a massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they
+had known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be
+full of the scalps of white men.
+
+All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
+impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
+but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
+good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he
+saw the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror
+of those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss
+from his mind as long as he lived.
+
+"Look!" he exclaimed, "look at that!"
+
+A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
+might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought
+in the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when
+everything else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the
+friendly shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of
+Iroquois, four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians
+were gaining fast.
+
+"I reckon we ought to save them," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"No doubt of it," said Henry. "Paul, you and Sol move off to the right
+a little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
+four."
+
+The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol
+having the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four
+Indians at closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and,
+turning at an angle, they ran forward to intercept the three Indians. It
+would have seemed to anyone who was not aware of the presence of friends
+in the forest that the old man and the boy would surely be overtaken and
+be tomahawked, but three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage. Two
+of the warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell
+of pain. Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group of
+three. One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but Paul only
+grazed his man. Nevertheless, the whole pursuit stopped, and the boy
+and the old man escaped to the forest, and subsequently to safety at the
+Moravian towns.
+
+Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say something
+to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon him, and he was
+thrown to the ground. His comrade was served in the same way, but the
+shiftless one was uncommonly strong and agile. He managed to writhe half
+way to his knees, and he shouted in a tremendous voice:
+
+"Run, Henry, run! You can't do anything for us now!"
+
+Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth. The blood came,
+but the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked curiously at the
+renegade.
+
+"I've often wondered about you, Braxton," he said calmly. "I used to
+think that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in him, but I
+reckon you ain't got none."
+
+Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the others.
+But Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished. A powerful party
+of warriors had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and Paul, while they were
+absorbed in the chase of the old man and the boy, and now they were
+prisoners, bound securely. Braxton Wyatt came back from the fruitless
+search for the three, but his face was full of savage joy as he looked
+down at the captured two.
+
+"We could have killed you just as easily," he said, "but we didn't
+want to do that. Our friends here are going to have their fun with you
+first."
+
+Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but
+Shif'less Sol faced them boldly. Several white men in uniform had come
+up, and among them was an elderly one, short and squat, and with a great
+flame colored handkerchief tied around his bead.
+
+"You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to us,
+all under the English flag," said Shif'less Sol, "but I'm thinkin' that
+a lot o' people in England will be ashamed uv it when they hear the
+news."
+
+"Indian" Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving
+Shif'less Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the Iroquois.
+The two prisoners were jerked to their feet and told to march.
+
+
+"Come on, Paul," said Shif'less Sol. "'Tain't wuth while fur us to
+resist. But don't you quit hopin', Paul. We've escaped from many a tight
+corner, an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in."
+
+"Shut up!" said Braxton Wyatt savagely. "If you say another word I'll
+gag you in a way that will make you squirm."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye. Solomon Hyde, who was not
+shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not afraid now in the
+face of death preceded by long torture.
+
+"I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt," he said, "an' I reckon he wuz the
+meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived. He liked to live on dirt, the
+dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather steal his food
+than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he wuz afeard o' a
+rabbit, but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd nip you in the ankle.
+But bad ez that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a gentleman 'longside o' you."
+
+Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it. He snatched
+a pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with the butt of it,
+but a tall figure suddenly appeared before him, and made a commanding
+gesture. The gesture said plainly: "Do not strike; put that pistol
+back!" Braxton Wyatt, whose soul was afraid within him, did not strike,
+and he put the pistol back.
+
+It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots, who
+with his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the Wyandot
+warriors were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks, the Keepers of
+the Western Gate. He was bare to the waist. One shoulder was streaked
+with blood from a slight wound, but his countenance was not on fire with
+passion for torture and slaughter like those of the others.
+
+"There is no need to strike prisoners," he said in English. "Their fate
+will be decided later."
+
+Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the great
+Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+
+"I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you didn't
+capture me yourself. I'm glad to say that you're a great warrior."
+
+Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak out,
+although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and casual ally,
+and had little authority in that army. Yet he was overawed, and so were
+the Indians with him.
+
+"We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler," he said. "That
+is all."
+
+Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell. But he and the
+Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas looked after them
+until they were out of sight.
+
+"I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured," whispered
+Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I think so, too," Paul whispered back.
+
+They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven rapidly
+now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to the fort,
+and here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy company, fellow
+captives, all bound tightly, and many wounded. No help, no treatment of
+any kind was offered for hurts. The Indians and renegades stood about
+and yelled with delight when the agony of some man's wound wrung from
+him a groan. The scene was hideous in every respect. The setting sun
+shone blood red over forest, field, and river. Far off burning houses
+still smoked like torches. But the mountain wall in the east, was
+growing dusky with the coming twilight. From the island, where they were
+massacring the fugitives in their vain hiding places, came the sound
+of shots and cries, but elsewhere the firing had ceased. All who could
+escape had done so already, and of the others, those who were dead were
+fortunate.
+
+The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness swept
+down over the earth. Fires began to blaze up here and there, some for
+terrible purpose. The victorious Iroquois; stripped to the waist and
+painted in glaring colors, joined in a savage dance that would remain
+forever photographed on the eye of Paul Cotter. As they jumped to and
+fro, hundreds of them, waving aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both
+of which dripped red, they sang their wild chant of war and triumph.
+White men, too, as savage as they, joined them. Paul shuddered again
+and again from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of
+mankind escapes, even in dreams.
+
+The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder. It was like a carnival
+of demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch. A singular
+figure, one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the
+midst of the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose
+above all the others. The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some
+monstrous creature out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with
+blood, her eyes bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders. Paul would
+have covered his eyes had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his
+head away. He could not bear to see more. But the horrible chant came to
+his ears, nevertheless, and it was reinforced presently by other sounds
+still more terrible. Fires sprang up in the forest, and cries came from
+these fires. The victorious army of "Indian" Butler was beginning to
+burn the prisoners alive. But at this point we must stop. The details
+of what happened around those fires that night are not for the ordinary
+reader. It suffices to say that the darkest deed ever done on the soil
+of what is now the United States was being enacted.
+
+Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken. He could not
+close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came from the fires, but
+he shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. Nevertheless, he opened
+them again in a moment. The horrible fascination was too great. He saw
+Queen Esther still shaking her tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly
+darted through the circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and
+disappeared in the darkness. The scalp dance went on, but it had lost
+some of its fire and vigor.
+
+Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+
+"She's gone," he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his
+eyes. The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors,
+was becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.
+
+Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there
+on the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt
+thrust a violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:
+
+"Get up! You're wanted!"
+
+A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of
+resistance. The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton
+Wyatt led. The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them,
+tomahawks in their hands. Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the
+impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure
+that they were marching to their fate. Death he did not fear so greatly,
+although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one
+of the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.
+Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that
+he might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.
+Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder
+gently against Paul's.
+
+"Paul," he whispered, "I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways,
+I still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but
+oncet."
+
+"I'll remember, Sol," Paul whispered back.
+
+"Silence, there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt. But the two had said all they
+wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled. They
+had passed through so much that they were like those who are under the
+influence of opiates. The path was now dark, although both torches and
+fires burned in the distance. Presently they heard that chant with which
+they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and
+they knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose
+they could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one.
+As they approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of
+frenzy, and Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.
+
+"Get up there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both
+a push. Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space
+seized them and threw them forward with much violence. When they
+struggled into a sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a
+broad flat rock and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something
+Oriental. She still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be
+in her hand. Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red
+dress gleamed in the dusk. Surely no more terrible image ever appeared
+in the American wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were
+twenty bound Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a
+sprinkling of their white allies.
+
+What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor
+Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois,
+and so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came
+the refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+
+"Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six
+Nations, greatest of men."
+
+"What under the sun is she about?" whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+"It is a fearful face," was Paul's only reply.
+
+Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to
+the warriors. Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners,
+dragged him to his feet, and held him up before her. She uttered a
+shout, whirled the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering
+in the moonlight, and struck with all her might. The skull of the
+prisoner was cleft to the chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of
+the woman who had killed him. Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it
+was lost in the joyful yells of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the
+woman, offered a second victim. Again the tomahawk descended, and again
+a man fell dead without a sound.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move
+them. Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud. It was strange to see how fast one
+with a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before
+him. Now he was as cruel as the Indians themselves. Wilder and shriller
+grew the chant of the savage queen. She was intoxicated with blood. She
+saw it everywhere. Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth,
+a sixth, a seventh, and eighth. As fast as they fell the warriors at her
+command brought up new victims for her weapon. Paul shut his eyes, but
+he knew by the sounds what was passing. Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+
+"Hold, woman! Enough of this! Will your tomahawk never be satisfied?"
+
+Paul understood it, the meaning, but not the words. He opened his eyes
+and saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding forward, his hand
+upraised in protest.
+
+The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. "Timmendiquas,"
+she said, "we are the Iroquois, and we are the masters. You are far from
+your own land, a guest in our lodges, and you cannot tell those who have
+won the victory how they shall use it. Stand back!"
+
+A loud laugh came from the Iroquois. The fierce old chiefs, Hiokatoo and
+Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves before Timmendiquas.
+The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred throats pealed out with her
+the chorus:
+
+Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six Nations,
+greatest of men.
+
+She gave the signal anew. The ninth victim stood before her, and then
+fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
+twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
+the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
+minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
+straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken
+them, and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
+impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
+Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two,
+Joseph Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men,
+feeling that life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful
+as that scene at "The Bloody Rock."
+
+A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the
+Indians pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for
+the fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would
+come under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did
+not see a form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended
+once, then twice, and the bands of both fell free.
+
+"Run! run!" exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. "I
+would save you from this!"
+
+Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not
+seen by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look
+of gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a
+course that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying
+fugitives.
+
+At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being
+noticed, had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were
+first in cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing
+fingers of the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At
+the same time several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the
+fugitives.
+
+"I hate to hit a woman," breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, "but I'm goin'
+to do it now."
+
+A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
+hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although
+she clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side.
+Shots were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a
+look backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit,
+silent and deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly,
+were only a few hundred yards away. They carried rifle, tomahawk, and
+knife, and Paul and Shif'less Sol were unarmed. Moreover, they were
+coming fast, spreading out slightly, and the shiftless one, able even
+at such a time to weigh the case coolly, saw that the odds were against
+them. Yet he would not despair. Anything might happen. It was night.
+There was little organization in the army of the Indians and of their
+white allies, which was giving itself up to the enjoyment of scalps and
+torture. Moreover, he and Paul were, animated by the love of life, which
+is always stronger than the desire to give death.
+
+Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. Only once
+did the pursuers give tongue. Paul tripped over a root, and a triumphant
+yell came from the Mohawks. But it merely gave him new life. He
+recovered himself in an instant and ran faster. But it was terribly hard
+work. He could hear Shif'less Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he
+was sure that his own must have the same sound for his comrade.
+
+"At any rate one uv 'em is beat," gasped Shif'less Sol. "Only four are
+ban-in' on now."
+
+The ground rose a little and became rougher. The lights from the Indian
+fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a dense thicket lay
+before them. Something stirred in the thicket, and the eyes of Shif'less
+Sol caught a glimpse of a human shoulder. His heart sank like a plummet
+in a pool. The Indians were ahead of them. They would be caught, and
+would be carried back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+
+The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a rifle was
+projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+
+But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell. They heard a cry
+behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance backward he saw
+one of the Mohawks fall. The three who were left hesitated and stopped.
+When a second shot was fired from the bushes and another Mohawk went
+down, the remaining two fled.
+
+Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes, dragging
+Paul after him. Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to receive them.
+
+"So you wuz watchin' over us!" exclaimed the shiftless one joyously. "It
+wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we didn't even notice the
+shot."
+
+"Thank God, you were here!" exclaimed Paul. "You don't know what Sol and
+I have seen!"
+
+Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+
+
+Paul revived in a few minutes. They were still lying in the bushes,
+and when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an angle several
+hundred yards before they stopped. One pistol was thrust into Paul's
+hand and another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Keep those until we can get rifles for you," said Henry. "You may need
+'em to-night."
+
+They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the Indian
+camp. The warriors whom they had repulsed were not returning with help,
+and, for the moment, they seemed to have no enemy to fear, yet they
+could still see through the woods the faint lights of the Indian camps,
+and to Paul, at least, came the echoes of distant cries that told of
+things not to be written.
+
+"We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry," said Henry.
+"There was nothing to do but run. Then we hid and waited a chance for
+rescue."
+
+"It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas," said
+Paul.
+
+"Timmendiquas!" exclaimed Henry.
+
+"Yes, Timmendiquas," said Paul, and then he told the story of "The
+Bloody Rock," and how, in the turmoil and excitement attending the
+flight of the last four, Timmendiquas had cut the bonds of Shif'less Sol
+and himself.
+
+"I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is," said Shif'less
+Sol, "jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter an' torture o'
+prisoners."
+
+"I'm sure you're right," said Henry.
+
+"'Pears strange to me," said Long Jim Hart, "that Timmendiquas was made
+an Injun. He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be white, an' he'd be
+pow'ful useful, too. I don't jest eggzactly understan' it."
+
+"He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us," said Henry.
+"I hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full."
+
+"But he's the only one," said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that he had
+seen that night. "The Iroquois an' the white men that's allied with 'em
+won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em happen to come under
+my thumb. I don't think the like o' this day an' night wuz ever done on
+this continent afore. I'm for revenge, I am, like that place where the
+Bible says, 'an eye for an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin'
+to stay in this part o' the country till we git it!"
+
+It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and energy.
+
+"We're all going to stay with you, Sol," said Henry. "We're needed here.
+I think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in if we can, and fight
+with the defense."
+
+"Yes, we'll do that," said Shif'less Sol, "but the Wyoming fort can't
+ever hold out. Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to fight, an'
+thar are more than than a thousand howlin' devils outside ready to
+attack it. Thar may be worse to come than anything we've yet seen."
+
+"Still, we'll go in an' help," said Henry. "Sol, when you an' Paul have
+rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in the woods, and
+come up to the fort on the other side."
+
+They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where they
+lay completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy, they
+undertook to reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the palisades.
+Paul was still weak from shock, but Shif'less Sol had fully recovered.
+Neither bad weapons, but they were sure that the want could be supplied
+soon. They curved around toward the west, intending to approach the fort
+from the other side, but they did not wholly lose sight of the fires,
+and they heard now and then the triumphant war whoop. The victors were
+still engaged in the pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death.
+Little did the five, seeing and feeling only their part of it there in
+the dark woods, dream that the deeds of this day and night would soon
+shock the whole civilized world, and remain, for generations, a crowning
+act of infamy. But they certainly felt it deeply enough, and in each
+heart burned a fierce desire for revenge upon the Iroquois.
+
+It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort, which
+was filled with grief and wailing. That afternoon more than one hundred
+and fifty women within those walls had been made widows, and six hundred
+children had been made orphans. But few men fit to bear arms were left
+for its defense, and it was certain that the allied British and Indian
+army would easily take it on the morrow. A demand for its surrender
+in the name of King George III of England had already been made, and,
+sitting at a little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the
+room lighted only by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel
+Dennison were writing an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next
+day, with what it should contain. But Colonel Butler put his wife on a
+horse and escaped with her over the mountains.
+
+Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in, only
+to be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in a stream,
+seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest, preferring any
+dangers that might be found there to the mercies of the victors.
+
+When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, he said:
+
+"It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to beg 'em
+to take us back."
+
+"I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are bein'
+surrendered," said Long Jim Hart.
+
+"I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands an' feet
+tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back," said Tom Ross.
+
+"We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul," said Henry.
+"Of course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be captured again.
+Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the women and children that are
+going."
+
+Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort. It was far better to let
+Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. They were
+able to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern, long and
+slender barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and also excellent
+double-barreled pistols. The other three now had double-barreled
+pistols, too. In addition they resupplied themselves with as much
+ammunition as scouts and hunters could conveniently carry, and toward
+morning left the fort.
+
+Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the flank
+of a frightened crowd of fugitives. It was composed of one hundred women
+and children and a single man, James Carpenter, who was doing his best
+to guide and protect them. They were intending to flee through the
+wilderness to the Delaware and Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn,
+built by Jacob Stroud, where Stroudsburg now is.
+
+When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like Indians
+themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and raised his rifle.
+A cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line, a cry so intensely bitter
+that it cut Henry to the very heart. He threw up his hand, and exclaimed
+in a loud voice:
+
+"We are friends, not Indians or Tories! We fought with you yesterday,
+and we are ready to fight for you now!"
+
+Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle. He had fought in the battle,
+too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades who had been
+there with him.
+
+"What do you want of us?" asked he.
+
+"Nothing," replied Henry, "except to help you."
+
+Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+
+"You don't belong here in Wyoming," he said, "and there's nothing to
+make you stick to us. What are you meaning to do?"
+
+"We will go with you wherever you intend to go," replied Henry; "do
+fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which you are
+certain to need."
+
+The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+
+"I thought God had clean deserted us," he said, "but I'm ready to take
+it back. I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with all these
+women and little ones."
+
+It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for this
+very purpose, but he replied simply:
+
+"You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to watch for
+the Indians. Draw into the woods, where we'll be hidden."
+
+Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on toward
+the woods. The long line of women and children followed. Some of the
+women carried in their arms children too small to walk. Yet they were
+more hopeful now when they saw that the five were friends. These lithe,
+active frontiersmen, so quick, so skillful, and so helpful, raised their
+courage. Yet it was a most doleful flight. Most of these women had
+been made widows the day before, some of them had been made widows and
+childless at the same time, and wondered why they should seek to live
+longer. But the very mental stupor of many of them was an aid. They
+ceased to cry out, and some even ceased to be afraid.
+
+Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear. Paul and Long
+Jim were on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward the
+mountains.
+
+"'Pears to me," said Tom, "that the thing fur us to do is to hurry 'em
+up ez much ez possible."
+
+"So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain," said Henry. "We
+couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would merely be a
+massacre. We must persuade them to walk faster."
+
+Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis. He could talk forever in
+his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement, mild sarcasm, and
+anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had known, he soon had them
+moving faster.
+
+Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear. They could see ahead of them
+the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but they could
+also see to right and left towers of smoke rising in the clear morning
+sunlight. These, they knew, came from burning houses, and they knew,
+also, that the valley would be ravaged from end to end and from side
+to side. After the surrender of the fort the Indians would divide into
+small bands, going everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+
+The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if the
+black tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen recognized their
+greatest danger in this brilliant morning. Objects could be seen at a
+great distance, and they could be seen vividly.
+
+Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry, Sol, and
+Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. They caught a
+distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot among some trees, and
+they saw the sunlight glancing off the opposite mountains, but for the
+present they saw nothing that seemed hostile.
+
+They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to grow
+until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have let it grow
+farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay down in the grass.
+
+
+"You see 'em, don't you!" the youth whispered to his comrade.
+
+"Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock," replied Shif'less Sol;
+"two o' em, an' Senecas, I take it."
+
+"They've seen that crowd of women and children," said Henry.
+
+It was obvious that the flying column was discovered. The two Indians
+stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands. It was too far
+away for the three to see their faces, but they knew the joy that would
+be shown there. The two could return with a few warriors and massacre
+them all.
+
+"They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,"
+whispered Henry. "I hate to shoot men from ambush, but it's got to be
+done. Wait, they're coming a little closer."
+
+The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+
+"S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry," said Tom, "an' me an'
+Sol will take the one to the left."
+
+"All right," said Henry. "Fire!"
+
+They wasted no time, but pulled trigger. The one at whom Henry had aimed
+fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded, but evidently
+with plenty of strength left.
+
+"We mustn't let him escape! We mustn't let him carry a warning!" cried
+Henry.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the
+ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran. Under ordinary
+circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for
+his life, but here the necessity was vital. If he lived, carrying the
+tale that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish. Henry
+followed his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed
+behind. The Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others
+were compelled to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and
+bullets in their rifles. But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and
+Silent Tom to hear them exchange a few words.
+
+"How far away is that savage?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Hundred and eighty yards," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body."
+
+Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from
+the muzzles. The Indian fell forward and lay still. They went up to him,
+and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
+
+"We may miss once, but we don't twice," said Tom Ross.
+
+The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three
+felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian. It
+was but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night
+before.
+
+"We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em," said Sol.
+"They may be needed, an' some o' the women in that crowd kin shoot."
+
+They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see
+whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was
+no indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the
+fugitives. Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he
+saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
+
+"They didn't give no alarm, did they?" he asked in a tone so low that
+none of the fugitives could hear.
+
+"They didn't have any chance," replied Henry. "We've brought away all
+their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found
+them in an abandoned house."
+
+The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most
+stalwart of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came.
+Meanwhile the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it
+became. Children became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so
+tired that they could scarcely walk themselves. There was nobody in the
+line who had not lost some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed
+in battle, or tortured to death. As they slowly ascended the green slope
+of the mountain that inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back
+upon ruin and desolation. The whole black tragedy was being consummated.
+They could see the houses in flames, and they knew that the Indian war
+parties were killing and scalping everywhere. They knew, too, that other
+bodies of fugitives, as stricken as their own, were fleeing into the
+mountains, they scarcely knew whither.
+
+As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from
+the weakest of the women and children. Then it became a sad and terrible
+wail, and it was a long time before it ceased. It was an awful sound, so
+compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that
+Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes. But neither the five
+nor Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing. They thought it
+best for them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as
+they could, often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. Paul
+and Long Jim were the best as comforters. The two knew how, each in his
+own way, to soothe and encourage. Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort
+Penn, led doggedly on, scarcely saying a word. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and
+Tom were the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest
+danger and responsibility.
+
+Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July,
+the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the
+foliage was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain. In this
+mass of greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any
+observer in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives
+would be hidden in the same manner. He felt sure that no living human
+being would be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to
+end and then left to desolation, until new people, protected by American
+bayonets, should come in and settle it again.
+
+At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley,
+those emblems of destruction, were hidden. Between them and Fort Penn,
+sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.
+But the five welcomed the forest. A foe might lie there in ambush, but
+they could not see the fugitives at a distance. What the latter needed
+now was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them.
+Carpenter led on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in
+single file now, while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and
+at the rear. Henry and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they
+fully realized the overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as
+small as ten or a dozen warriors, appear. Should the latter scatter,
+it would be impossible to protect all the women and children from their
+tomahawks.
+
+The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.
+Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end
+of the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness. The
+shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+
+"No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods."
+
+His words came true all too soon. Before the afternoon closed, two
+women, ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were
+buried in shallow graves under the trees. Before dark a halt was made at
+the suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in
+a close, drooping group. Many of the children cried, though the women
+had all ceased to weep. They had some food with them, taken in the
+hurried flight, and now the men asked them to eat. Few could do it, and
+others insisted on saving what little they had for the children. Long
+Jim found a spring near by, and all drank at it.
+
+The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it would be
+best to remain there until the morning. Evidently the fugitives were in
+no condition, either mental or physical, to go farther that day, and the
+rest was worth more than the risk.
+
+When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took it
+apathetically. Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was to be had;
+otherwise, on leaves and branches. Again Henry thanked God that it was
+summer, and that these were people of the frontier, who could sleep in
+the open. No fire was needed, and, outside of human enemies, only rain
+was to be dreaded.
+
+And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate than
+some of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley. It had now to
+protect it six men Henry and Paul, though boys in years, were men in
+strength and ability--five of whom were the equals of any frontiersmen
+on the whole border. Another crowd of women was escorted by a single man
+throughout its entire flight.
+
+Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about the
+group. At times they helped gather whortleberries as food for the
+others, but they looked for Indians or game, intending to shoot in
+either case. When Paul and Henry were together they once heard a light
+sound in a thicket, which at first they were afraid was made by an
+Indian scout, but it was a deer, and it bounded away too soon for either
+to get a shot. They could not find other game of any kind, and they came
+back toward the camp-if a mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any
+kind, could be called a camp.
+
+The sun was now setting, blood red. It tinged the forest with a fiery
+mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had seen. But the
+mist was gone in a few moments, and then the blackness of night came
+with a weird moaning wind that told of desolation. Most of the children,
+having passed through every phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen
+asleep. Some of the women slept, also, and others wept. But the terrible
+wailing note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no
+longer.
+
+The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to them.
+
+"Men," he said simply, "don't know much about you, though I know you
+fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what you're doin' now
+nobody can ever repay you. I knew that I never could get across the
+mountains with all these weak ones."
+
+The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at such a
+time. Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle about the
+camp.
+
+Some women did not sleep at all that night. It is not easy to conceive
+what the frontier women of America endured so many thousands of times.
+They had seen their husbands, brothers, and sons killed in the battle,
+and they knew that the worst of torture had been practiced in the Indian
+camp. Many of them really did not want to live any longer. They merely
+struggled automatically for life. The darkness settled down thicker and
+thicker; the blackness in the forest was intense, and they could see the
+faces of one another only at a little distance. The desolate moan of the
+wind came through the leaves, and, although it was July, the night grew
+cold. The women crept closer together, trying to cover up and protect
+the children. The wind, with its inexpressibly mournful note, was
+exactly fitted to their feelings. Many of them wondered why a Supreme
+Being had permitted such things. But they ceased to talk. No sound at
+all came from the group, and any one fifty yards away, not forewarned,
+could not have told that they were there.
+
+Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a
+little hillock. Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on the most
+dangerous of frontiers, but they had never been stirred as they were
+tonight. Even Paul, the mildest of the five, felt something burning
+within him, a fire that only one thing could quench.
+
+"Henry," said he, "we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn, and
+we may get some of them there, but I don't think our work will be ended
+them. I don't think I could ever be happy again if we went straight from
+Fort Penn to Kentucky."
+
+Henry understood him perfectly.
+
+"No, Paul," he said, "I don't want to go, either, and I know the others
+don't. Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to stay, but it is
+vengeance. I know it's Christian to forgive your enemies, but I can't
+see what I have seen, and hear what I have heard, and do it."
+
+"When the news of these things spreads," said Paul, "they'll send an
+army from the east. Sooner or later they'll just have to do it to punish
+the Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got to be here to join
+that army."
+
+"I feel that way, too, Paul," said Henry.
+
+They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little while,
+and they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+
+Then they began their circles about the camp again, always looking and
+always listening. About two o'clock in the morning they heard a scream,
+but it was only the cry of a panther. Before day there were clouds, a
+low rumble of distant thunder, and faint far flashes of lightning. Henry
+was in dread of rain, but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the
+clouds went away. Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three
+rose from the earth. The three-one woman and two children-had died in
+silence in the night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow
+graves in the woods. But there was little weeping or external mourning
+over them. All were now heavy and apathetic, capable of but little more
+emotion.
+
+Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which now
+moved slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted with
+vines and bushes and without a path. The march was now so painful
+and difficult that they did not make more than two miles an hour. The
+stronger of them helped the men to gather more whortleberries, as it was
+easy to see that the food they had with them would never last until they
+reached Fort Penn, should they ever reach it.
+
+The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily grew
+worse. They were well into the mountains, a region exceedingly wild and
+rough, but little known to the settlers, who had gone around it to build
+homes in the fertile and beautiful valley of Wyoming. The heavy forest
+was made all the more difficult by the presence everywhere of almost
+impassable undergrowth. Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes,
+and in two cases they died there because the power to live was no longer
+in them. They grew weaker and weaker. The food that they had brought
+from the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the wild whortleberries
+were far from sustaining. Fortunately there was plenty of water
+flowing tinder the dark woods and along the mountainside. But they were
+compelled to stop at intervals of an hour or two to rest, and the more
+timid continually expected Indian ambush.
+
+The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+situation. They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian
+pursuit, which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. Anybody
+could follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but the Iroquois,
+busy with destruction in the valley, might not follow, even if they
+saw it. No one could tell. The danger of starvation or of death from
+exhaustion was more imminent, more pressing, and the five resolved to
+let scouting alone for the rest of the day and seek game.
+
+"There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods," said Shif'less Sol,
+"though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd, but we ought
+to find it."
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and Long
+Jim in another. But with all their hunting they succeeded in finding
+only one little deer, which fell to the rifle of Silent Tom. It made
+small enough portions for the supper and breakfast of nearly a hundred
+people, but it helped wonderfully, and so did the fires which Henry and
+his comrades would now have built, even had they not been needed for the
+cooking. They saw that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing
+coals, would alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+
+They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and the next
+morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible memory, the Great
+Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to this day, as "The Shades
+of Death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE SHADES OF DEATH
+
+
+"The Shades of Death" is a marsh on a mountain top, the great, wet, and
+soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains. When the fugitives from
+Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense growth of pines, growing
+mostly out of dark, murky water, which in its turn was thick with a
+growth of moss and aquatic plants. Snakes and all kinds of creeping
+things swarmed in the ooze. Bear and panther were numerous.
+
+Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and they
+were compelled to enter it. Henry was again devoutly thankful that
+it was summer. In such a situation with winter on top of it only the
+hardiest of men could survive.
+
+But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still leading.
+Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd. One could not scout in
+such a morass, and it proved to be worse than they had feared. The day
+turned gray, and it was dark among the trees. The whole place was filled
+with gloomy shadows. It was often impossible to judge whether fairly
+solid soil or oozy murk lay before them. Often they went down to their
+waists. Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the
+stronger. Now and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the women
+killed them with sticks. Other serpents slipped away in the slime.
+Everybody was plastered with mud, and they became mere images of human
+beings.
+
+In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible swamp,
+and there they buried two more of their number who had perished from
+exhaustion. The rest, save a few, lay upon the ground as if dead. On all
+sides of them stretched the pines and the soft black earth. It looked to
+the fugitives like a region into which no human beings had ever come,
+or ever would come again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from
+which no human being would ever emerge.
+
+Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the morass,
+and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within him. They were
+hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they seemed practically
+lifeless now. Everything was dull, heavy, and dead. The note of the wind
+among the leaves was somber. A long black snake slipped from the marshy
+grass near his feet and disappeared soundlessly in the water. He was
+sick, sick to death at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire
+for vengeance, slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst,
+grew within him. A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+
+"Did you hear?" asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+
+"Hear what?" asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+
+"The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under the
+horizon, but thar all the same. Listen, thar she goes ag'in!"
+
+Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note, and
+then it came a third time.
+
+He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white--but not for
+himself.
+
+"Yes," said Shif'less Sol. He understood the look. "We are pursued. Them
+wolves howlin' are the Iroquois. What do you reckon we're goin' to do,
+Henry?"
+
+"Fight!" replied the youth, with fierce energy. "Beat 'em off!"
+
+"How?"
+
+Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his plan
+came.
+
+"You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing," he said, "you,
+Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you will be Paul
+Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old friends of yours.
+Carpenter will at once lead the women and children on ahead, and perhaps
+they will not hear the battle that is going to be fought here."
+
+A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over the
+face of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the shiftless
+one. "It seems to me," he said, "that I've heard o' them four fellers
+you're talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all over this planet an' them
+other planets that Paul tells of, I couldn't find four other fellers
+that I'd ez soon have with me."
+
+"We've got to stand here to the death," said Henry.
+
+"You're shorely right," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+
+The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met with
+their full approval. Then the news was carried to Carpenter, who quickly
+agreed that their course was the wisest. He urged all the fugitives to
+their feet, telling them that they must reach another dry place
+before night, but they were past asking questions now, and, heavy and
+apathetic, they passed on into the swamp.
+
+Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes and
+weeds, and turned back to his friends on the oasis. The five lay down
+behind a big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last look. They
+had never been armed better. Their rifles were good, and the fine
+double-barreled pistols, formidable weapons, would be a great aid,
+especially at close quarters.
+
+"I take it," said Tom Ross, "that the Iroquois can't get through at all
+unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef we wuz settin'
+on solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come sloshin' up to us."
+
+"That's exactly it," said Henry. "We've a natural defense which we can
+hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold 'em off, the
+nearer our people will be to Fort Penn."
+
+"I never felt more like fightin' in my life," said Tom Ross.
+
+It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among them
+was bloodthirsty.
+
+"Can any of you hear anything?" asked Henry. "Nothin'," replied
+Shif'less Sol, after a little wait, "nothin' from the women goin', an'
+nothin' from the Iroquois comin'."
+
+"We'll just lie close," said Henry. "This hard spot of ground isn't more
+than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get on it without our
+knowing it."
+
+The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides, with
+their shoulders raised a little, in order that they might take instant
+aim when the time came. Some rays of the sun penetrated the canopy of
+pines, and fell across the brown, determined faces and the lean brown
+hands that grasped the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another
+snake slipped from the ground into the black water and swam away. Some
+water animal made a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of
+these strange intruders. Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a
+foot drawn from mud, and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching,
+savages in war, whatever they might be otherwise, and expecting an easy
+prey. Five brown thumbs cocked their rifles, and five brown forefingers
+rested upon the triggers. The eyes of woodsmen who seldom missed looked
+down the sights.
+
+The sound of feet in the mud came many times. The enemy was evidently
+drawing near.
+
+"How many do you think are out thar?" whispered Shif'less Sol to Henry.
+
+"Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds." "I s'pose the best
+thing for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see."
+
+"Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man."
+
+It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen, and he
+agreed to do so. Shif'less Sol was to fire first. The sounds now ceased.
+The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or instinct that they were
+approaching an enemy who was to be feared, not weak and unarmed women
+and children.
+
+The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger. The American
+wilderness had heroes without number. It was Horatius Cocles five times
+over, ready to defend the bridge with life. Over the marsh rose the
+weird cry of an owl, and some water birds called in lonely fashion.
+
+Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile away,
+out of the sound of rifle shot. He had urged Carpenter to marshal them
+on as far as he could. But the silence endured yet a while longer. In
+the dull gray light of the somber day and the waning afternoon the marsh
+was increasingly dreary and mournful. It seemed that it must always be
+the abode of dead or dying things.
+
+The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the boughs
+appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted brow, the
+savage black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. Only Henry saw
+it, but with fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming leaped up before him-he
+fired at the painted brow. The Mohawk uttered his death cry and fell
+back with a splash into the mud and water of the swamp. A half dozen
+bullets were instantly fired at the base of the smoke that came from
+Henry's rifle, but the youth and his comrades lay close and were
+unharmed. Shif'less Sol and Tom were quick enough to catch glimpses of
+brown forms, at which they fired, and the cries coming back told that
+they had hit.
+
+"That's something," said Henry. "One or two Iroquois at least will not
+wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts."
+
+"Wish they'd try to rush us," said Shif'less Sol. "I never felt so full
+of fight in my life before."
+
+"They may try it," said Henry. "I understand that at the big battle of
+the Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois would wait until a
+white man behind a tree would fire, then they would rush up and tomahawk
+him before he could reload."
+
+"They don't know how fast we kin reload," said Long Jim, "an' they don't
+know that we've got these double-barreled pistols, either."
+
+"No, they don't," said Henry, "and it's a great thing for us to have
+them. Suppose we spread out a little. So long as we keep them
+from getting a lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a great
+disadvantage."
+
+Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the others
+toward the left. They still had good cover, as fallen timber was
+scattered all over the oasis, and they were quite sure that another
+attack would be made soon. It came in about fifteen minutes. The
+Iroquois suddenly fired a volley at the logs and brush, and when the
+five returned the fire, but with more deadly effect, they leaped forward
+in the mud and attempted to rush the oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+
+But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a second
+volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch foot on solid
+earth. Then the double barreled pistols came into play. The bullets
+sent from short range drove back the savages, who were amazed at such
+a deadly and continued fire. Henry caught sight of a white face among
+these assailants, and he knew it to be that of Braxton Wyatt. Singularly
+enough he was not amazed to see it there. Wyatt, sinking deeper and
+deeper into savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois
+in such a pursuit. He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the infamous
+son of the Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself worse than the
+worst of the savages, as Thayendanegea himself has written.
+
+Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now about
+shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger Wyatt darted
+behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the bullet. He also saw
+the renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not able to secure a shot at him,
+either. Nevertheless, the Iroquois attack was beaten back. It was a
+foregone conclusion that the result would be so, unless the force was
+in great numbers. It is likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had
+thought only a single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the
+five had joined them later.
+
+Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but
+their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for
+their lives, could not carry them off. Paul, with a kind of fascinated
+horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper. Then one was
+entirely gone. The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too,
+was gone. But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading
+the fugitives on toward Fort Penn. They had not only held it, but they
+believed that they could continue to hold it against anything, and their
+hearts became exultant. Something, too, to balance against the long
+score, lay out there in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over
+Wyoming, were sorry that Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+
+The stillness came again. The sun did not break through the heavy gray
+sky, and the somber shadows brooded over "The Shades of Death." They
+heard again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on
+the murky surface. Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry
+of wolf replying.
+
+"More Iroquois coming," said Shif'less Sol. "Well, we gave them a pretty
+warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm
+thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in."
+
+"We can, except in one case," said Henry, "if the new party brings their
+numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround
+us in the darkness. Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when
+twilight comes. Carpenter and the train have a long lead now."
+
+"Yes," said Shif'less Sol, "Now, what in tarnation is that?"
+
+"A white flag," said Paul. A piece of cloth that had once been white had
+been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
+
+"They want a talk with us," said Henry.
+
+"If it's Braxton Wyatt," said Long Jim, "I'd like to take a shot at him,
+talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another."
+
+"We'll see what they have to say," said Henry, and he called aloud:
+"What do you want with us?"
+
+"To talk with you," replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton
+Wyatt.
+
+"Very well," replied Henry, "show yourself and we will not fire upon
+you."
+
+A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were
+held aloft in sign of peace. It was a splendid figure, at least six feet
+four inches in height. At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke
+through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant
+scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face
+with the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red
+bronze. It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the
+mighty Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+
+"Ware," he said, "I would speak with you. Let us talk as one chief to
+another."
+
+The five were amazed. Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he
+had come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far
+more formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe.
+But his demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
+
+"Are you going to answer him?" said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Of course," replied Henry.
+
+"The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot."
+
+"Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare."
+
+Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height. The same ruddy
+sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another
+splendid figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height
+of man, his hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed
+in buckskin, and his whole attitude that of one without fear. The two,
+the white and the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across
+the marsh.
+
+"What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?" asked Henry. In the presence
+of the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held
+his heart vanished. He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk
+under the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for
+White Lightning. He himself had owed him his life on another and more
+distant occasion, and he was not ungrateful. So there was warmth in his
+tone when he spoke.
+
+"Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground," said Timmendiquas, "I
+have things to say that are important and that you will be glad to
+hear."
+
+Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the
+young chief, coming forward, met him. Henry held out his hand in white
+fashion, and the young chief took it. There was no sound either from the
+swamp or from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of
+the eyes of those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
+
+"I wish to tell you, Ware," said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity
+becoming a great chief, "that it was not I who led the pursuit of the
+white men's women and children. I, and the Wyandots who came with me,
+fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies
+when I can. We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in
+battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose
+in its birch-bark cradle."
+
+The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which
+impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was
+usually a mask.
+
+"I believe that you tell the truth," said Henry gravely.
+
+"I and my Wyandots," continued the chief, "followed a trail through
+the woods. We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and
+Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up
+there had just been a battle. The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven
+back. It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little
+children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect
+them."
+
+"You speak true words, Timmendiquas," said Henry.
+
+"The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill squaws
+and papooses," continued Timmendiquas. "So I say to you, go on with
+those who flee across the mountains. Our warriors shall not pursue you
+any longer. We will turn back to the valley from which we come, and
+those of your race, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, shall go with us."
+
+The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone that
+told that every word was meant. Henry felt a glow of admiration. The
+true greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+
+"And the Iroquois?" he said, "will they go back with you?"
+
+"They will. They have killed too much. Today all the white people in the
+valley are killed or driven away. Many scalps have been taken, those
+of women and children, too, and men have died at the stake. I have
+felt shame for their deeds, Ware, and it will bring punishment upon my
+brethren, the Iroquois. It will make so great a noise in the world that
+many soldiers will come, and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to
+be."
+
+"I think it is so, Timmendiquas," said Henry. "But you will be far away
+then in your own land."
+
+The chief drew himself up a little.
+
+"I shall remain with the Iroquois," he said. "I have promised to help
+them, and I must do so."
+
+"I can't blame you for that," said Henry, "but I am glad that you do
+not seek the scalps of women and children. We are at once enemies and
+friends, Timmendiquas."
+
+White Lightning bowed gravely. He and Henry touched hands again, and
+each withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked back toward
+his comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy were near.
+
+The four rose up to greet him. They had heard part of what was said, and
+Henry quickly told them the rest.
+
+"He's shorely a great chief," said Shif'less Sol. "He'll keep his word,
+too. Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear from pursuit."
+
+"He's a statesman, too," said Henry. "He sees what damage the deeds of
+Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them. He thinks our people
+will now send a great army against the Iroquois, and I think so, too."
+
+"No nation can stand a thing like that," said Paul, "and I didn't dream
+it could happen."
+
+They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by the
+fugitives. All of them had confidence in the word of Timmendiquas. There
+was a remote chance that some other band had entered the swamp at a
+different point, but it was remote, indeed, and it did not trouble them
+much.
+
+Night was now over the great swamp. The sun no longer came through the
+gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes of flame made by
+fireflies. Had not the trail been so broad and deep it could easily have
+been lost, but, being what it was, the skilled eyes of the frontiersmen
+followed it without trouble.
+
+"Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired," said Tom Ross, looking at
+the tracks in the mud. Then he suddenly added: "Here's whar one's quit
+forever."
+
+A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some bushes,
+and its length indicated that a woman lay there. They passed it by
+in silence. Henry now appreciated more fully than ever the mercy of
+Timmendiquas. The five and Carpenter could not possibly have protected
+the miserable fugitives against the great chief, with fifty Wyandots and
+Iroquois at his back. Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none
+of the Indians or white allies around him would have done.
+
+In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but watchful,
+and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm. It was Carpenter, a man
+whose task was not less than that of the five. They were in the thick
+of it and could see what was done, but he had to lead on and wait. He
+counted the dusk figures as they approached him, one, two, three, four,
+five, and perhaps no man ever felt greater relief. He advanced toward
+them and said huskily:
+
+"There was no fight! They did not attack!"
+
+"There was a fight," said Henry, "and we beat them back; then a second
+and a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of Wyandots, led
+by their great chief, Timmendiquas. He came forward and said that they
+would not pursue women and children, and that we could go in safety."
+
+Carpenter looked incredulous.
+
+"It is true," said Henry, "every word of it."
+
+"It is more than Brant would have done," said Carpenter, "and it saves
+us, with your help."
+
+"You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter," said
+Henry sincerely.
+
+They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the oasis,
+but they spread the news that there would be no more pursuit, and many
+drooping spirits revived. They spent another day in the Great Dismal
+Swamp, where more lives were lost. On the day after their emergence
+from the marsh, Henry and his comrades killed two deer, which furnished
+greatly needed food, and on the day after that, excepting those who had
+died by the way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into
+shelter and safety.
+
+The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois began the
+celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great victory and the
+many scalps taken at Wyoming. They could not recall another time when
+they had secured so many of these hideous trophies, and they were drunk
+with the joy of victory. Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes,
+and some painted and dressed like Indians, took part in it.
+
+According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand council
+to prepare for it. All the leading chiefs were present, Sangerachte,
+Hiokatoo, and the others. Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe, and other white
+men were admitted. After their deliberations a great fire was built in
+the center of the camp, the squaws who had followed the army feeding
+it with brushwood until it leaped and roared and formed a great red
+pyramid. Then the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance,
+and waited.
+
+Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the farthest
+point of the camp emerged a long line of warriors, hundreds and hundreds
+of them, all painted in red and black with horrible designs. They were
+naked except the breechcloth and moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a
+tomahawk as he sang.
+
+Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the
+red light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced and
+wheeled about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid light upon
+faces hideous with paint or the intoxication of triumph. The glare of
+their black eyes was like those of Eastern eaters of hasheesh or opium,
+and they bounded to and fro as if their muscles were springs of steel.
+They sang:
+
+  We have met the Bostonians [*] in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+     [* Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by
+     the Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+
+The monotonous chant with the refrain, "Ever-victorious is the League of
+the Ho-de-no-sau-nee," went on for many verses. Meanwhile the old squaws
+never ceased to feed the bonfire, and the flames roared, casting a
+deeper and more vivid light over the distorted faces of the dancers and
+those of the chiefs, who sat gravely beyond.
+
+Higher and higher leaped the warriors. They seemed unconscious of
+fatigue, and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. Their whole
+souls were possessed by the orgy. Beads of sweat, not of exhaustion, but
+of emotional excitement, appeared upon their faces and naked bodies, and
+the red and black paint streaked together horribly.
+
+For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased suddenly to
+sing, although they continued their dance. A moment later a cry which
+thrilled every nerve came from a far point in the dark background.
+It was the scalp yell, the most terrible of all Indian cries, long,
+high-pitched, and quavering, having in it something of the barking howl
+of the wolf and the fiendish shriek of a murderous maniac. The warriors
+instantly took it up, and gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+
+A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight. It was that
+of a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the waist, her body
+covered with red and black paint, her long black hair hanging in a loose
+cloud down her back. She held a fresh scalp, taken from a white head,
+aloft in either band. It was Catharine Montour, and it was she who had
+first emitted the scalp yell. After her came more warriors, all bearing
+scalps. The scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken,
+and, as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+hours, penetrating every part of the forest. All the time Catharine
+Montour led the dance. None bounded higher than she. None grimaced more
+horribly.
+
+While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and black
+caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around amid hoots
+and yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. They were the
+surviving prisoners, and the black caps meant that they were to be
+killed and scalped on the morrow. Stupefied by all through which they
+had gone, they were scarcely conscious now.
+
+Midnight came. The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm stars
+looked down upon the savage and awful scene. Now the dancers began to
+weary. Many dropped unconscious, and the others danced about them where
+they lay. After a while all ceased. Then the chiefs brought forth a
+white dog, which Hiokatoo killed and threw on the embers of the fire.
+When it was thoroughly roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it.
+Thus closed the Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A FOREST PAGE
+
+
+When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five had
+helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food and rest
+they needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt themselves
+relieved of a great responsibility. They were also aware how much they
+owed to Timmendiquas, because few of the Indians and renegades would
+have been so forbearing. Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to
+the great Wyandot. Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the
+prisoners and the slaughter of women and children, he did not do it.
+The five could never forget these things in after life, when Brant was
+glorified as a great warrior and leader. Their minds always turned to
+Timmendiquas as the highest and finest of Indian types.
+
+While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful state
+of exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death on the way.
+Other groups reached the Moravian towns, where they were received with
+all kindness by the German settlers. The five were able to give some
+help to several of these parties, but the beautiful Wyoming Valley lay
+utterly in ruins. The ruthless fury of the savages and of many of the
+Tories, Canadians, and Englishmen, can scarcely be told. Everything was
+slaughtered or burned. As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. An
+entire population was either annihilated or driven out, and finally
+Butler's army, finding that nothing more was left to be destroyed,
+gathered in its war parties and marched northward with a vast store
+of spoils, in which scalps were conspicuous. When they repassed Tioga
+Point, Timmendiquas and his Wyandots were still with them. Thayendanegea
+was also with them here, and so was Walter Butler, who was destined
+shortly to make a reputation equaling that of his father, "Indian"
+Butler. Nor had the terrible Queen Esther ever left them. She marched
+at the head of the army, singing, horrid chants of victory, and swinging
+the great war tomahawk, which did not often leave her hand.
+
+The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was still
+full of the impulse of savage triumph. Wild Indian songs floated along
+the stream or through the meadows, which were quiet now. They advanced
+at their ease, knowing that there was nobody to attack them, but they
+were watched by five woodsmen, two of whom were boys. Meanwhile the
+story of Wyoming, to an extent that neither Indians nor woodsmen
+themselves suspected, was spreading from town to town in the East, to
+invade thence the whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation
+and horror that would make the name Wyoming long memorable. Wyoming
+had been a victory for the flag under which the invaders fought, but it
+sadly tarnished the cause of that flag, and the consequences were to be
+seen soon.
+
+Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were thinking
+little of distant consequences, but they were eager for the present
+punishment of these men who had committed so much cruelty. From the
+bushes they could easily follow the canoes, and could recognize some of
+their occupants. In one of the rear boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young
+man whom they knew to be Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by
+the most savage ferocity against the patriots. He and Wyatt seemed to
+be on the best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the
+five who were watching among the bushes on the river bank. Certainly
+Braxton Wyatt and he were a pair well met.
+
+"Henry," said Shif'less Sol longingly, "I think I could jest about reach
+Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here. I ain't over fond o' shootin'
+from ambush, but I done got over all scruples so fur ez he's concerned.
+Jest one bullet, one little bullet, Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur
+a second chance."
+
+"No, Sol, it won't do," said Henry. "They'd get off to hunt us. The
+whole fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as fast as
+possible."
+
+"I s'pose you're right, Henry," said the shiftless one sadly, "but
+I'd jest like to try it once. I'd give a month's good huntin' for that
+single trial."
+
+After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river, they
+turned back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses near it. Here
+everything had been destroyed. It was about dusk when they approached
+the battlefield, and they heard a dreadful howling, chiefly that of
+wolves.
+
+"I think we'd better turn away," said Henry. "We couldn't do anything
+with so many."
+
+They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up the
+Susquehanna. A light rain fell that night, but they slept under a little
+shed, once attached to a house which had been destroyed by fire. In some
+way the shed had escaped the flames, and it now came into timely use.
+The five, cunning in forest practice, drew up brush on the sides, and
+half-burned timber also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which
+had not long been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain,
+although they did not sleep for a long time.
+
+It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night had come
+on cool, and the rain made it cooler. The five, profiting by experience,
+often carried with them two light blankets instead of one heavy one.
+With one blanket beneath the body they could keep warmer in case the
+weather was cold.
+
+Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old outhouse,
+protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. They had eaten
+of a deer that they had shot in the morning, and they had a sense
+of comfort and rest that none of them had known before in many days.
+Henry's feelings were much like those that he had experienced when he
+lay in the bushes in the little canoe, wrapped up from the storm and
+hidden from the Iroquois. But here there was an important increase
+of pleasure, the pattering of the rain on the board roof, a pleasant,
+soothing sound to which millions of boys, many of them afterwards great
+men, have listened in America.
+
+It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost musical
+in its rhythm, kept up. Not much wind was blowing, and it, too, was
+melodious. Henry lay with his head on a little heap of ashes, which
+was covered by his under blanket, and, for the first time since he had
+brought the warning to Wyoming, he was free from all feeling of danger.
+The picture itself of the battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture,
+and of the savage Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was
+at times as vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then
+in its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth, hope,
+and strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+
+Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower. Physical comfort and the
+presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that permeated his
+whole being. The light wind mingled pleasantly with the soft summer
+rain. The sound of the two grew strangely melodious, almost piercingly
+sweet, and then it seemed to be human. They sang together, the wind and
+rain, among the leaves, and the note that reached his heart, rather than
+his ear, thrilled him with courage and hope. Once more the invisible
+voice that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told him,
+even here in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was lost would be
+regained. The chords ended, and the echoes, amazingly clear, floated far
+away in the darkness and rain. Henry roused himself, and came from the
+imaginative borderland. He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice
+to Shif'less Sol:
+
+"Did you hear anything, Sol?"
+
+"Nothin' but the wind an' the rain."
+
+Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+
+"I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry," continued the
+shiftless one, "'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near sleep
+ez a feller could be without bein' ackshooally so."
+
+"I was drifting away," said Henry.
+
+He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather gift.
+Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything in brilliant
+colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air, but Henry's gift
+went deeper. It was the power to evoke the actual living picture of
+the event that bad not yet occurred, something akin in its nature
+to prophecy, based perhaps upon the wonderful power of observation,
+inherited doubtless, from countless primitive ancestors. The finest
+product of the wilderness, he saw in that wilderness many things that
+others did not see, and unconsciously he drew his conclusions from
+superior knowledge.
+
+The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another note, a
+howl almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full of ferocity.
+All knew it at once. They had heard the cry of wolves too often in their
+lives, but this had an uncommon note like the yell of the Indian in
+victory. Again the cry arose, nearer, haunting, and powerful. The five,
+used to the darkness, could see one another's faces, and the look that
+all gave was the same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+
+"It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley," whispered Paul,
+"and striking our trail they think they are going to find what they have
+been finding in such plenty before."
+
+"Yes," nodded Henry, "but do you remember that time when in the house
+we took the place of the man, his wife and children, just before the
+Indians came?"
+
+"Yes," said Paul.
+
+"We'll treat them wolves the same way," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I'm glad of the chance," said Long Jim.
+
+"Me, too," said Tom Ross.
+
+The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and
+everyone held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle, with the
+muzzle pointing toward the forest. All accomplished marksmen, it would
+only be a matter of a moment for the stock to leap to the shoulder, the
+eye to glance down the barrel, the finger to pull the trigger, and the
+unerring bullet to leap forth.
+
+"Henry, you give the word as usual," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet, and
+they saw many gleaming eyes draw near. There must have been at least
+thirty of the wolves, and the five figures that they saw reclining,
+silent and motionless, against the unburned portion of the house might
+well have been those of the dead and scalped, whom they had found in
+such numbers everywhere. They drew near in a semicircular group, its
+concave front extended toward the fire, the greatest wolves at the
+center. Despite many feastings, the wolves were hungry again. Nothing
+had opposed them before, but caution was instinctive. The big gray
+leaders did not mind the night or the wind or the rain, which they
+had known all their lives, and which they counted as nothing, but they
+always had involuntary suspicion of human figures, whether living or
+not, and they approached slowly, wrinkling back their noses and sniffing
+the wind which blew from them instead of the five figures. But their
+confidence increased as they advanced. They had found many such burned
+houses as this, but they had found nothing among the ruins except what
+they wished.
+
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the human
+figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves curling
+back farther from the strong white teeth. The outer ends of the concave
+semicircle also drew in. The whole pack was about to spring upon its
+unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true that many a wolfish pulse
+beat a little higher in anticipation. With a suddenness as startling
+ figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a gush
+of flame shot from five muzzles. Five of the wolves-and they were the
+biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon the ashes of the
+charred timbers, and the others, howling their terror to the dark,
+skies, fled deep into the forest.
+
+Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with his foot.
+
+"I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting those
+wolves," he said, "but I for one am glad we did it."
+
+"So am I," said Paul.
+
+"Me, too," said the other three together.
+
+They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one fell
+asleep. No more wolves howled that night anywhere near them.
+
+When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and a
+splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold. Jim Hart built a fire
+among the blackened logs, and cooked venison. They had also brought from
+Fort Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim carried with a small coffee
+pot in his camp kit, and everyone had a small tin cup. He made coffee
+for them, an uncommon wilderness luxury, in which they could rarely
+indulge, and they were heartened and strengthened by it.
+
+Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with its
+silver river in the center, and its green mountain walls on either side.
+But the beauty was for the eye only. It did not reach the hearts of
+those who had seen it before. All of the five loved the wilderness, but
+they felt now how tragic silence and desolation could be where human
+life and all the daily ways of human life had been.
+
+It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its own.
+The game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into the valley.
+Deer ate what had grown in the fields and gardens, and the wolves were
+everywhere. The whole black tragedy was written for miles. They were
+never out of sight of some trace of it, and their anger grew again as
+they advanced in the blackened path of the victorious Indians.
+
+It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts and
+skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign against
+the Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted sooner or later.
+Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering news of the Indian
+plans, and, when that army of which they dreamed should finally march,
+they could help it most of all by warning it of ambush, the Indian's
+deadliest weapon.
+
+Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was manifest in
+all wars with the Indians along the whole border from North to South,
+as it steadily shifted farther West. The practical hunter and scout was
+always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw
+levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were
+invariably at a great disadvantage. They were likely to be caught in
+ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened
+at Wyoming. The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his
+comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it. An army needed
+eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs. So they went
+swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of
+the Iroquois. They had a plan of approaching the upper Mohawk village
+of Canajoharie, where one account says that Thayendanegea was born,
+although another credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+
+They turned now from the valley to the deep woods. The trail showed
+that the great Indian force, after disembarking again, split into large
+parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound for its home village. The
+five noted several of the trails, but one of them consumed the whole
+attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+
+He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about eight
+Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he took to be
+those of a white woman and of several children, captives, as even a
+tyro would infer. The soul of Tom, the good, honest, and inarticulate
+frontiersman, stirred within him. A white woman and her children being
+carried off to savagery, to be lost forevermore to their kind! Tom,
+still inarticulate, felt his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that
+the tracks in the soft mud told so plainly. But despair was not the only
+emotion in his heart. The silent and brave man meant to act.
+
+"Henry," he said, "see these tracks here in the soft spot by the creek."
+
+The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly the same
+tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+
+"About a day old, I think," he said.
+
+"Just about," said Tom; "an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in my
+mind."
+
+"I think I do," said Henry, "and we ought to overtake them by to-morrow
+night. You tell the others, Tom."
+
+Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words, receiving
+from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed fast on the
+trail. They knew that the Indians could not go very fast, as their speed
+must be that of the slowest, namely, that of the children, and it seemed
+likely that Henry's prediction of overtaking them on the following night
+would come true.
+
+It was an easy trail. Here and there were tiny fragments of cloth,
+caught by a bush from the dress of a captive. In one place they saw a
+fragment of a child's shoe that had been dropped off and abandoned. Paul
+picked up the worn piece of leather and examined it.
+
+"I think it was worn by a girl," he said, "and, judging from its size,
+she could not have been more than eight years old. Think of a child like
+that being made to walk five or six hundred miles through these woods!"
+
+"Younger ones still have had to do it," said Shif'less Sol gravely, "an'
+them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk."
+
+The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they had no
+doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more numerous than
+any others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming battle. They came that
+afternoon to a camp fire beside which the warriors and captives had
+slept the night before.
+
+"They ate bar meat an' wild turkey," said Long Jim, looking at some
+bones on the ground.
+
+"An' here," said Tom Ross, "on this pile uv bushes is whar the women an'
+children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is whar the warriors
+lay anywhars. You can still see how the bodies uv some uv 'cm crushed
+down the grass an' little bushes."
+
+"An' I'm thinkin'," said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail that
+led away from the camp fire, "that some o' them little ones wuz gittin'
+pow'ful tired. Look how these here little trails are wobblin' about."
+
+"Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar tomahawks,"
+said Tom Ross.
+
+The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance of Tom's
+remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+
+"It's the greatest danger to be feared," he said, "and we must overtake
+them in the night when they are not suspecting. If we attack by day they
+will tomahawk the captives the very first thing."
+
+"Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+
+"Then," said Henry, "we don't need to hurry. We'll go on until about
+midnight, and then sleep until sunrise."
+
+They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far less
+skillful than they could have followed. But a silent dread was in the
+heart of every one of them. As they saw the path of the small feet
+staggering more and more they feared to behold some terrible object
+beside the path.
+
+"The trail of the littlest child is gone," suddenly announced Paul.
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "but the mother has picked it up and is carrying it.
+See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven."
+
+"Poor woman," said Paul. "Henry, we're just bound to overtake that
+band."
+
+"We'll do it," said Henry.
+
+At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes that they
+could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. Then they resumed
+the trail, haunted always by that fear of finding something terrible
+beside it. But it was a trail that continually grew slower. The Indians
+themselves were tired, or, feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of
+hurry. By and by the trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+
+"It feels a lot better now," said Tom Ross. "So do I."
+
+They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet cold.
+Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians had taken
+time for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+
+"They can't be more than two or three hours ahead," said Henry, "and
+we'll have to go on now very cautiously."
+
+They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests, a
+region suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on their own
+account; but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now advanced slowly.
+The afternoon was long and warm, but an hour before sunset they looked
+over a hill into a glade, and saw the warriors making camp for the
+night.
+
+The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. The
+Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were cooking
+venison upon it. Others were lying on the grass, apparently resting,
+but a little to one side sat a woman, still young and of large, strong
+figure, though now apparently in the last stages of exhaustion, with her
+feet showing through the fragments of shoes that she wore. Her head was
+bare, and her dress was in strips. Four children lay beside her' the
+youngest two with their heads in her lap. The other two, who might be
+eleven and thirteen each, had pillowed their heads on their arms, and
+lay in the dull apathy that comes from the finish of both strength
+and hope. The woman's face was pitiful. She had more to fear than the
+children, and she knew it. She was so worn that the skin hung loosely on
+her face, and her eyes showed despair only. The sad spectacle was almost
+more than Paul could stand.
+
+"I don't like to shoot from ambush," he said, "but we could cut down
+half of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the rest."
+
+"And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk the
+woman and children in an instant," replied Henry. "We agreed, you know,
+that it would be sure to happen. We can't do anything until night comes,
+and then we've got to be mighty cautious."
+
+Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew
+carefully to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the undergrowth,
+watching the Indians complete their fire and their preparations for the
+night. It was evident to Henry that they considered themselves perfectly
+safe. Certainly they had every reason for thinking so. It was not likely
+that white enemies were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it
+could only be a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce
+band of Senecas who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they'
+had suffered the year before at the Oriskany.
+
+They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just enough
+for broiling deer meat which they carried. They drank at a little spring
+which ran from under a ledge near them, and gave portions of the meat to
+the woman and children. After the woman had eaten, they bound her hands,
+and she lay back on the grass, about twenty feet from the camp fire. Two
+children lay on either side of her, and they were soon sound asleep. The
+warriors, as Indians will do when they are free from danger and care,
+talked a good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them
+a luxurious time. They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and looked
+at some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at their belts.
+The woman could not keep from seeing these, too, but her face did not
+change from its stony aspect of despair. Then the light of the fire went
+out, the sun sank behind the mountains, and the five could no longer see
+the little group of captives and captors.
+
+They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging at the
+hearts of every one of them. But they must give the Indians time to
+fall asleep if they would secure rescue, and not merely revenge. They
+remained in the bushes, saying but little and eating of venison that
+they carried in their knapsacks.
+
+They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark, but
+with a faint moon showing. Then they descended slowly into the valley,
+approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they knew the Indian camp
+lay. This work required at least three quarters of an hour, and they
+reached a point where they could see the embers of the fire and the dark
+figures lying about it. The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put
+out no sentinels, and all were asleep. But the five knew that, at the
+first shot, they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and
+as formidable as tigers. Their problem seemed as great as ever. So they
+lay in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+
+"It's this," said Henry. "We want to save the woman and the children
+from the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of range of the
+blade before the battle begins." "How?" said Tom Ross.
+
+"I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run for
+the woods with the children, and then you four must do the most of the
+rest."
+
+"Do you think you can do it, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I can, as I will soon show you. I'm going to steal forward to the woman,
+but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your rifles and pistols.
+You can come a little nearer without being heard."
+
+All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in the
+last fringe of bushes except Henry. He lay almost flat upon the ground,
+carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his right hand. He
+was undertaking one of the severest and most dangerous tests known to
+a frontiersman. He meant to crawl into the very midst of a camp of the
+Iroquois, composed of the most alert woodsmen in the world, men who
+would spring up at the slightest crackle in the brush. Woodmen who,
+warned by some sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange
+presence.
+
+The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their hearts
+from beating louder and faster. They knew the tremendous risk undertaken
+by their comrade, but there was not one of them who would have shirked
+it, had not all yielded it to the one whom they knew to be the best
+fitted for the task.
+
+Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years of skill
+that he had acquired in his life in the wilds. His body was like that
+of a serpent, going forward, coil by coil. He was near enough now to see
+the embers of the fire not yet quite dead, the dark figures scattered
+about it, sleeping upon the grass with the long ease of custom, and then
+the outline of the woman apart from the others with the children about
+her. Henry now lay entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those
+of a serpent. It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body
+that he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+
+The object of his advance was the woman. He saw by the faint light of
+the moon that she was not yet asleep. Her face, worn and weather beaten,
+was upturned to the skies, and the stony look of despair seemed to have
+settled there forever. She lay upon some pine boughs, and her hands were
+tied behind her for the night with deerskin.
+
+Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like a great
+snake. Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with war paint, and
+came closer to the woman. She was not paying attention to anything about
+her, but was merely looking up at the pale, cold stars, as if everything
+in the world had ceased for her.
+
+Henry crept a little nearer. He made a slight noise, as of a lizard
+running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. He crept
+closer, and there he lay flat upon the grass within six feet of her,
+his figure merely a slightly darker blur against the dark blur of the
+earth. Then, trusting to the woman's courage and strength of mind, he
+emitted a hiss very soft and low, like the warning of a serpent, half in
+fear and half in anger.
+
+The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which the
+sound had come. It might have been the formidable hiss of a coiling
+rattlesnake that she heard, but she felt no fear. She was too much
+stunned, too near exhaustion to be alarmed by anything, and she did
+not look a second time. She merely settled back on the pine boughs, and
+again looked dully up at the pale, cold stars that cared so little for
+her or hers.
+
+Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low noise,
+sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the border, knew
+to be made by a human being. She raised herself a little, although it
+was difficult with her bound hands to sit upright, and saw a dark shadow
+approaching her. That dark shadow she knew to be the figure of a man. An
+Indian would not be approaching in such a manner, and she looked again,
+startled into a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the
+incredible, the impossible, was about to happen. A voice came from the
+figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+
+"Do not move," said that incredible voice out of the unknown. "I have
+come for your rescue, and others who have come for the same purpose are
+near. Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds that hold your arms."
+
+The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary Newton.
+A sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her four children
+awoke within her just when hope had gone the call to life came. She
+had never heard before a voice so full of cheer and encouragement. It
+penetrated her whole being. Exhaustion and despair fled away.
+
+"Turn a little on your side," said the voice.
+
+She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel as it
+swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them together. Her
+arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein of her being.
+
+"We shall attack in a few moments," said the voice, "but at the first
+shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your children. Hold out
+your hands."
+
+She held out both hands obediently. The handle of a tomahawk was pressed
+into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into the other.
+Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+
+"If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how," said
+the voice. Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+
+
+The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far days
+of Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom the unknown
+figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. It had seemed to
+her that God himself had deserted her, but at the last moment he had
+sent some one. She did not doubt, she could not doubt, because the bonds
+had been severed, and there she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand.
+The friendly stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come,
+but she was not helpless now. Like many another frontier woman, she
+was naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope, all her
+strength had returned for the present.
+
+Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape superstition,
+and Mary Newton began to believe that some supernatural creature had
+intervened in her behalf. She raised herself just a little on one elbow
+and surveyed the surrounding thicket. She saw only the dead embers of
+the fire, and the dark forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground.
+Had it not been for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have
+believed that the voice was only a dream.
+
+There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose quickly
+to his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands. The woman's fingers
+clutched the knife and pistol more tightly, and her whole gaunt figure
+trembled. The Seneca listened only a moment. Then he gave a sharp cry,
+and all the other warriors sprang up. But three of them rose only
+to fall again, as the rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others
+staggered from wounds.
+
+The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket, and then
+they rushed upon the camp. Quick as a flash two of the Senecas started
+toward the woman and children with their tomahawks, but Mary Newton was
+ready. Her heart had leaped at the shots when the Senecas fell, and
+she kept her courage. Now she sprang to her full height, and, with the
+children screaming at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly
+into the face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same
+way with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. Then,
+tomahawk in hand, she rushed forward. In judging Mary Newton, one must
+consider time and place.
+
+But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk. As the five
+rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled pistols, while
+Henry swung his clubbed rifle with terrible effect. It was too much
+for the Senecas. The apparition of the armed woman, whom they had left
+bound, and the deadly fire from the five figures that sprang upon them,
+was like a blow from the hand of Aieroski. The unhurt and wounded fled
+deep into the forest, leaving their dead behind. Mary Newton, her great
+deed done, collapsed from emotion and weakness. The screams of the
+children sank in a few moments to frightened whimpers. But the oldest,
+when they saw the white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+
+Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was
+revived; Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three were in
+the thickets, watching lest the surviving Senecas return for attack.
+
+"I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must have
+sent you to our rescue," said Mary Newton reverently.
+
+"We don't know," said Paul, "but we are doing the best we can. Do you
+think you can walk now?"
+
+"Away from the savages? Yes!" she said passionately. She looked down at
+the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a single trace of
+pity for them. Again it is necessary to consider time and place.
+
+"Some of my strength came back while I was lying here," she said, "and
+much more of it when you drove away the Indians."
+
+"Very well," said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire with
+his comrades, "we must start on the back trail at once. The surviving
+Senecas, joined by other Iroquois, will certainly pursue, and we need
+all the start that we can get."
+
+Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him over
+his shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the older two
+scorned help. They were full of admiration for the great woodsmen,
+mighty heroes who had suddenly appeared out of the air, as it were,
+and who had swept like a tornado over the Seneca band. It did not seem
+possible now that they, could be retaken.
+
+But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also recovered her
+forethought.
+
+"Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail," she said. "One
+of the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles farther on was a
+river flowing into the Susquehanna, and that they would cross this river
+on a boat now concealed among bushes on the bank. The crossing was at a
+sudden drop between high banks. Might not we go on, find the boat, and
+come back in it down the river and into the Susquehanna?"
+
+"That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me," said Shif'less Sol.
+"Besides, it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the Iroquois off
+our track. They'll think, o' course, that we've gone straight back, an'
+we'll pass 'em ez we're going forward."
+
+"It's certainly the best plan," said Henry, "and it's worth our while
+to try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois. Do you know the general
+direction?"
+
+"Almost due north."
+
+"Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any Iroquois
+who may be returning to this camp, and push for it."
+
+Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others followed in a
+silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the two smallest children,
+who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. Henry did not believe that the
+returning Iroquois could follow their trail on such a dark night, and
+the others agreed with him.
+
+After a while they saw the gleam of water. Henry knew that it must be
+very near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such a dark night.
+
+"I think, Mrs. Newton," he said, "that this is the river of which you
+spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they would."
+
+The woman smiled.
+
+"Yes," she said, "you've done well with my poor guess, and the boat must
+be hidden somewhere near here."
+
+Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two older children, unable
+to walk farther, sank down beside her. But the two who slept soundly on
+the shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not awaken. Henry motioned
+to Jim and Tom to remain there, and Shif'less Sol bent upon them a
+quizzical and approving look.
+
+"Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed galoot," he
+said, "carryin' a baby that tender. Knew Jim could sling a little black
+bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think you'd take to nussin' so
+easy."
+
+"I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+condescension, "that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. In face
+uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but with the little
+an' the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez human bein's are ever
+made to be."
+
+"You're right, old hoss," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Well," said the shiftless one, "I can't argify with you now, ez the
+general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his major, which is
+Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o' them barges o' Clepatry
+that Paul tells about, all solid silver, with red silk sails an' gold
+oars, an' we're meanin' to do it."
+
+Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they discovered, deep
+among bushes growing in the shallow water, a large, well-made boat with
+two pairs of oars and with small supplies of parched corn and venison
+hidden in it.
+
+"Good luck an' bad luck come mixed," said the shift-less one, "an' this
+is shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck. The woman an' the children
+are clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we could never hev got
+them back. Now it's jest a question o' rowin' an' fightin'."
+
+"Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water," said
+Henry, "while you can go back and tell the others, Sol."
+
+"That just suits a lazy man," said Sol, and he walked away jauntily.
+Under his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at the find, which he
+knew to be of such vast importance. He approached the dusky group, and
+his really tender heart was stirred with pity for the rescued captives.
+Long Jim and Silent Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but
+the older ones and the woman, also, had fallen asleep. Sol, in order to
+conceal his emotion, strode up rather roughly. Mary Newton awoke.
+
+"Did you find anything?" she asked.
+
+"Find anything?" repeated Shif'less Sol. "Well, Long Jim an' Tom
+here might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me, three
+eddicated men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally bound to find
+it whether it wuz thar or not. Yes, we've unearthed what Paul would call
+an argosy, the grandest craft that ever floated on this here creek,
+that I never saw before, an' that I don't know the name uv. She's bein'
+floated out now, an' I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to
+tell the princes and princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the
+other gran' an' mighty passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice
+is in the stream, an' the Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin', settin'
+on the Pup to welcome ye."
+
+"Sol," said Long Jim, "you do talk a power uv foolishness, with your
+Dogs an' Pups."
+
+"It ain't foolishness," rejoined the shiftless one. "I heard Paul read
+it out o' a book oncet, plain ez day. They've been ruled by Dogs at
+Venice for more than a thousand years, an' on big 'casions the Dog comes
+down a canal in a golden barge, settin' on the Pup. I'll admit it 'pears
+strange to me, too, but who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the
+ways of foreign countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the
+sea?"
+
+"They've found the boat," said Tom Ross, "an' that's enough!"
+
+"Is it really true?" asked Mrs. Newton.
+
+"It is," replied Shif'less Sol, "an' Henry an' Paul are in it, waitin'
+fur us. We're thinkin', Mrs. Newton, that the roughest part of your trip
+is over."
+
+In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really fine
+one, and they were delighted. Mary Newton for the first time broke down
+and wept, and no one disturbed her. The five spread the blankets on the
+bottom of the boat, where the children soon went to sleep once more, and
+Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol took the oars.
+
+"Back in a boat ag'in," said the shiftless one exultantly. "Makes me
+feel like old times. My fav'rite mode o' travelin' when Jim Hart, 'stead
+o' me, is at the oars."
+
+"Which is most o' the time," said Long Jim.
+
+It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the wilderness.
+They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful arms, with scarcely an
+effort, propelled the boat along the stream. The woman herself lay down
+on the blankets and fell asleep with the children. Henry at the prow,
+Tom Ross at the stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with
+their rifles across their knees. They knew that the danger was far from
+over. Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown to them, as
+a highway, and those who survived of their original captors could pick
+up their trail by daylight. And the Senecas, being mad for revenge,
+would surely get help and follow. Henry believed that the theory of
+returning toward the Wyoming Valley was sound. That region had been so
+thoroughly ravaged now that all the Indians would be going northward.
+If they could float down a day or so without molestation, they would
+probably be safe. The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened,
+flowing with a smooth, fairly swift current. The forest on either side
+was dense with oak, hickory, maple, and other splendid trees, often
+with a growth of underbrush. The three riflemen never ceased to watch
+intently. Henry always looked ahead. It would have been difficult for
+any ambushed marksman to have escaped his notice. But nothing occurred
+to disturb them. Once a deer came down to drink, and fled away at sight
+of the phantom boat gliding almost without noise on the still waters.
+Once the far scream of a panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton
+and her children, sleeping soundly, did not hear it. The five themselves
+knew the nature of the sound, and paid no attention. The boat went
+steadily on, the three riflemen never changing their position, and soon
+the day began to come. Little arrows of golden light pierced through the
+foliage of the trees, and sparkled on the surface of the water. In the
+cast the red sun was coming from his nightly trip. Henry looked down at
+the sleepers. They were overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake
+of their own accord for a long time.
+
+Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+
+"Why not let 'em sleep on?" he said.
+
+Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom Ross
+resumed their rifles. The day was coming fast, and the whole forest was
+soon transfused with light.
+
+No one of the five had slept during the night. They did not feel the
+need of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great exaltation. They
+had saved the prisoners thus far from a horrible fate, and they were
+firmly resolved to reach, with them, some strong settlement and safety.
+They felt, too, a sense of exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo,
+the Butlers, the Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed
+such terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+
+The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver to
+gold, and the woman and the children still slept. The five chewed some
+strips of venison, and looked rather lugubriously at the pieces they
+were saving for Mary Newton and the children.
+
+"We ought to hev more'n that," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef the worst comes to
+the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer."
+
+"But not yet," said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the sleepers. "I
+think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon, and its width will be
+a good thing for us. I wish we were there now. I don't like this narrow
+stream. Its narrowness affords too good an ambush."
+
+"Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast," said the shiftless one,
+"an' that is a good sign. What's that you see ahead, Henry--ain't it a
+river?"
+
+"It surely is," replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad expanse of
+water, "and it's the Susquehanna. Pull hard, Sol! In five more minutes
+we'll be in the river."
+
+It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout behind
+them, and saw at least a dozen canoes following. The canoes were filled
+with Indians and Tories, and they had spied the fugitives.
+
+"Keep the women and the children down, Paul," cried Henry.
+
+All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and, without
+a word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled watermen, swung
+heavily on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less Sol sat in the rear with
+their rifles ready. Mary Newton awoke with a cry at the sound of the
+shots, and started to rise, but Paul pushed her down.
+
+"We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton," he said, "and we are
+pursued. The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't be afraid.
+The two who are watching there are the best shots in the world."
+
+He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in the
+stern of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past, kings of
+the forest whom no one could overcome, and her courage came back. The
+children, too, had awakened with frightened cries, but she and Paul
+quickly soothed them, and, obedient to commands, the four, and Mary
+Newton with them, lay flat upon the bottom of the boat, which was now
+being sent forward rapidly by Jim Hart and Tom. Paul took up his rifle
+and sat in a waiting attitude, either to relieve one of the men at the
+oars or to shoot if necessary.
+
+The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light. The Indians,
+after their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful were Long Jim
+and Tom that they were gaining but little, although some of the boats
+contained six or eight rowers.
+
+As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces in the
+first boat. One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other, he was quite
+sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler. Hot anger swept through
+all his veins, and the little pulses in his temples began to beat like
+trip hammers. Now the picture of Wyoming, the battle, the massacre,
+the torture, and Queen Esther wielding her great tomahawk on the bound
+captives, grew astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his
+brain. The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+
+"Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?" he called clearly across the intervening
+water. "Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women and children,
+champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of the savages. And
+it is you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of a wicked father. Come a
+little closer, won't you? We've messengers here for both of you!"
+
+He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of Shif'less Sol,
+and repeated his request that they come a little closer.
+
+They understood his words, and they understood, also, the significant
+gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles. The hearts of both
+Butler and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and their boat dropped back
+to third place. Henry laughed aloud when he saw. The Viking rage was
+still upon him. This was the primeval wilderness, and these were no
+common foes.
+
+"I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers," he cried.
+"Why have you dropped back to third place in the line, Braxton Wyatt and
+Walter Butler, when you were first only a moment ago? Are you cowards as
+well as murderers of women and children?"
+
+"That's pow'ful good talk," said Shif'less Sol admiringly. "Henry,
+you're a real orator. Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get a chance at one
+o' them renegades."
+
+It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of the
+renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain first place.
+Thus the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+
+The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called Henry's
+attention to it.
+
+"Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in the
+first boat?" he said to Henry. "Wyatt an' Butler are a leetle too fur
+away."
+
+"I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!" said Henry. "Take that
+fellow on the right who is pulling so hard."
+
+The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over his aim,
+and pulled the trigger. The rower whom Henry had pointed out fell back
+in the boat, his hands slipping from the handles of his oars. The boat
+was thrown into confusion, and dropped back in the race. Scattering
+shots were fired in return, but all fell short, the water spurting up in
+little jets where they struck.
+
+Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long stay
+among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+
+"That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!"
+he shouted. "And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler, murderers of women and children! Why don't you keep your proper
+places in the front?"
+
+"That's the way to talk to 'em," whispered Shif'less Sol, as he
+reloaded. "Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton Wyatt
+hisself. Since Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a chance."
+
+"Nor I, either," said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful tones: "The
+place of a leader is in front, isn't it? Then why don't you come up?"
+
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up. They were not lacking
+in courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the fugitive boat
+contained, and he had also told Butler. So they still hung back,
+although they raged at Henry Ware's taunts, and permitted the Mohawks
+and Senecas to take the lead in the chase.
+
+"They're not going to give us a chance," said Henry. "I'm satisfied
+of that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets, though just now
+I'd rather it were the two white ones. What do you think, Sol, of that
+leading boat? Shouldn't we give another hint?"
+
+"I agree with you, Henry," said the shiftless one. "They're comin'
+much too close fur people that ain't properly interduced to us. This
+promiskus way o' meetin' up with strangers an' lettin' 'em talk to you
+jest ez ef they'd knowed you all their lives hez got to be stopped. It's
+your time, Henry, to give 'em a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you
+take the big fellow in the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk."
+
+Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. Again
+confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a decline of
+enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and swore, but, as
+they showed no great zeal for the lead themselves, the Iroquois did not
+gain on the fugitive boat. They, too, were fast learning that the two
+who crouched there with their rifles ready were among the deadliest
+marksmen in existence. They fired a dozen shots, perhaps, but their
+rifles did not have the long range of the Kentucky weapons, and again
+the bullets fell short, causing little jets of water to spring up.
+
+"They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present," said Henry,
+"but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for some chance to
+help them."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and announced
+that he could see no danger. There was probably no Indian fleet farther
+down the river than the one now pursuing them, and the danger was behind
+them, not before.
+
+Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not said a
+word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that would have carried
+oarsmen of our day to many a victory. Moreover, they had the inducement
+not merely of a prize, but of life itself, to row and to row hard. They
+had rolled up their sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of
+woven steel rose and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver
+current of the Susquehanna.
+
+Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat. The children had cried
+out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing, but she and
+Paul bad soothed them and kept them down. Somehow Mary Newton had become
+possessed of a great faith. She noticed the skill, speed, and success
+with which the five always worked, and, so long given up to despair,
+she now went to the other extreme. With such friends as these coming
+suddenly out of the void, everything must succeed. She had no doubt of
+it, but lay peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed
+by the sound of the shots.
+
+Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. The
+Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were driven
+back by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. Shif'less
+Sol, while he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose place he had
+taken, nevertheless was not silent.
+
+"I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller Butler,"
+he said. "Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see us here, almost
+where they could stretch out their hands an' put 'em on us. Like reachn'
+fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git it by half a finger's length."
+
+"They are certainly not pleased," said Henry, "but this must end some
+way or other, you know."
+
+"I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin'," rejoined the shiftless one,
+"but when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. Ez I've said
+more'n once before, floatin' down a river with somebody else pullin' at
+the oars is the life jest suited to me."
+
+Henry looked up. "A summer thunderstorm is coming," he said, "and from
+the look of things it's going to be pretty black. Then's when we must
+dodge 'em."
+
+He was a good weather prophet. In a half hour the sky began to darken
+rapidly. There was a great deal of thunder and lightning, but when
+the rain came the air was almost as dark as night. Mary Newton and her
+children were covered as much as possible with the blankets, and then
+they swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern shore. They had already
+lost sight of their pursuers in the darkness, and as they coasted along
+the shore they found a large creek flowing into the river from the east.
+
+They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when the
+rain ceased. Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly drying
+everything.
+
+They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too shallow
+for them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to the land.
+Two days later they arrived at a strong fort and settlement, where Mary
+Newton and her four children, safe and well, were welcomed by relatives
+who had mourned them as dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. "THE ALCOVE"
+
+
+They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as food
+was served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually slept
+soundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry and
+his comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a single
+room inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newton
+had already spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside their
+hunting shirts and leggins, prepared for rest.
+
+"Jim," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flat
+and broad, in one corner of the room, "that's a bed. Mebbe you don't
+think it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar."
+
+Long Jim grinned.
+
+"Mebbe you're right, Sol," he said. "I hev seen sech things ez that, an'
+mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tells
+us about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess the
+ground wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong,
+an' all the rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man
+myself I'll jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender,
+Sol Hyde, an' not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed
+yourself, an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in
+a silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffled
+red silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jest
+comin' to the knee, where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' out
+uv purple satin slippers, an' then he'll clap on your head a big wig
+uv snow-white hair, fallin' all about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a
+silver sword to your side, an' he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez long
+been known ez Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in reality
+is the King o' France, is now before you. Down on your knees an' say
+your prayers!'"
+
+Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+
+"You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sun
+is a wally?"
+
+"I heard all about 'em from Paul," replied Long Jim in a tone of intense
+satisfaction. "A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to do
+fur yourself."
+
+"Then I want one," said Shif'less Sol emphatically. "He'd jest suit a
+lazy man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbe
+you're more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all the
+instincts uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'm
+hungry, I like to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired,
+an' I like to sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed at
+birth by fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France,
+after all, an' my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal
+ancestors."
+
+"Mebbe it's so," rejoined Long Jim. "I've heard that thar hev been a
+pow'ful lot uv foolish kings."
+
+With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them,
+and was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him to
+slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than two
+minutes behind Sol.
+
+Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted in
+his ear: "Henry Ware, by all that's glorious," and a hand pressed his
+fingers together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figure
+and smiling brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made that
+adventurous journey up the Mississippi and Ohio.
+
+"And the others?" was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+
+"They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, but
+we're as sound as ever."
+
+"That's always a safe prediction to make," said Adam Colfax, smiling. "I
+never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out
+of danger."
+
+"We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live."
+
+The face of the New Englander darkened.
+
+"Wyoming!" he exclaimed. "I cannot hear of it without every vein growing
+hot within me."
+
+"We saw things done there," said Henry gravely, "the telling of which few
+men can bear to hear."
+
+"I know! I know!" exclaimed Adam Colfax. "The news of it has spread
+everywhere!"
+
+"What we want," said Henry, "is revenge. It is a case in which we must
+strike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a white
+life will be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to the
+Mississippi."
+
+"It is true," said Adam Colfax, "and we would send an army now against
+the Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at
+their lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That
+is the reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which
+has suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will
+strike in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make
+more than half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you
+know this."
+
+He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
+here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us
+so fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
+Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
+means to help Thayendanegea to the end."
+
+Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+
+"That is bad," he said. "Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader,
+but there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will
+relieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry,
+that we got through safely with our supplies to the Continental army,
+and they could not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in
+time."
+
+The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
+Adam Colfax.
+
+"It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax," said
+Shif'less Sol, "an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on
+the Mississippi an' the Ohio'--an' now that you're here, they're goin'
+to win again."
+
+"I think we are going to win here and everywhere," said Adam Colfax,
+"but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because
+our people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just."
+
+The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
+east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot
+cause, and the five, on the day after that, received a message written
+on a piece of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts
+of the settlement. It was addressed to "Henry Ware and Those with Him,"
+and it read:
+
+
+     "You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     "I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     "I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     "I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT."
+
+Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+
+"A renegade catches something of the Indian nature," he said, "and
+always likes to threaten and boast."
+
+But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+
+"Sometimes I think," he said, "that the invention o' writin' wuz a
+mistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mighty
+big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' up
+to him face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing a
+pow'ful sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then."
+
+"I think I'll keep this letter," said Henry, "an' we five will give an
+answer to it later on."
+
+He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravely
+tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significant
+action. Nothing more was needed.
+
+The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton and
+her children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chiefly
+ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. It
+was their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois,
+until some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations,
+was assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined borderers
+could achieve something.
+
+It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of the
+great heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was now
+at its highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed with
+victory, and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything.
+Only the strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. The
+colonists here were so much reduced, and so little help could be
+sent them from the East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into
+innumerable small parties and rake the country as with a fine tooth
+comb. They never missed a lone farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive
+in the woods able to evade them. And they were constantly fed from the
+North with arms, ammunition, rewards for scalps, bounties, and great
+promises.
+
+But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silent
+and invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struck
+hard. There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a single
+Iroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, and
+the warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommon
+size and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, and
+they carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served to
+them at the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided by
+the evil spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably.
+No one could find where they slept, unless it was those who never came
+back again.
+
+The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and Braxton
+Wyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,
+also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their red
+allies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of the
+raiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,
+but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. While
+their acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+manifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They were
+heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, on
+the Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and as
+far north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplished
+more for a defense than did those five in the waning months of the
+summer. Late in September the most significant of all these events
+occurred. A party of eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part in
+the Wyoming affair, was attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such
+deadly fierceness that only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John
+Johnson. Brant sent out six war parties, composed of not less than
+twenty warriors apiece, to seek revenge, but they found nothing.
+
+Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one of
+the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at that
+point was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At the
+entrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or,
+rather, cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ample
+shelter from the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was about
+halfway between the top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of
+approach both from below and above. Unless completely surprised-a very
+unlikely thing with them-the five could hold it against any force as
+long as their provisions lasted. They also built a boat large enough for
+five, which they hid among the bushes at the lake's edge. They were thus
+provided with a possible means of escape across the water in case of the
+last emergency.
+
+Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great
+delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called "The
+Alcove." The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of
+other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk
+over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with
+skins of deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls
+furnished many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They
+also, with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long
+Jim was to use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones
+so near the mouth of "The Alcove" that the smoke would pass out and be
+lost in the thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing
+toward the inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on
+them all, but Jim would not be cooking then.
+
+Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied "The Alcove"
+plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no
+way in which they could store water, and for that they had to take
+their chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting
+caution, was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a
+few miles of "The Alcove," but the pursuers invariably went astray on
+the hard, rocky ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution
+to swim down the creek before climbing up to "The Alcove." Nobody could
+follow a trail in the face of such difficulties.
+
+It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, but
+they easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half
+waded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to "The Alcove," where
+the others were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water.
+When they had eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth
+of "The Alcove," where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage
+that hid the entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happy
+mood.
+
+"It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin'," he said, "to set up in a nice safe
+place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,
+seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap
+in knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that
+old town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind
+that it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but
+'cause old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a
+plain. That wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on
+a mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been
+enough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable
+weepins they used in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the
+walls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin'
+killed by A-killus, fur which I've always been sorry."
+
+"It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them
+ancient times that Paul tells about," said Long Jim. "Now, thar wuz
+'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin'
+his ship on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants,
+one-eyed women, an' sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the
+woods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed?
+Then thar wuz the keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that
+river so no arrow could enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an'
+keepin' it out o' the water, which caused his death the very first time
+Paris shot it off with his little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev
+sense enough to let the heel go under, too. She could hev dragged it out
+in two seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'
+on the part of A-killus."
+
+"I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story," said
+Tom Ross. "I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an'
+I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I
+know now that's whar the French come from."
+
+"But Paris was the name of a man," persisted Paul. "Maybe the French
+named their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars."
+
+"Then they showed mighty poor jedgment," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef I'd
+named my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector."
+
+"You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills," said
+Henry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. "Come here, you
+fellows, and see what's passing down the lake."
+
+They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being
+rowed slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each
+canoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them
+contained two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter
+Butler.
+
+"Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Quite likely," said Henry, "and at the same time they may be engaged in
+some general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the base
+of the cliff."
+
+The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage,
+and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six
+long war canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and
+flooded all the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was
+not mistaken, and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in
+the first boat. From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off
+either with a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he
+knew that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might not
+escape, and which at least would check their activities and plans for a
+long time. Similar impulses flitted through the minds of the other four,
+but all kept still, although fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle
+stocks until they touched triggers.
+
+The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming
+of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of
+moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's
+finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to
+let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
+
+The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close
+together. They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and
+smaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+
+"I'm thinkin'," said Shif'less Sol, "that thar's some kind uv a movement
+on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that
+they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something
+three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois
+town of Oghwaga."
+
+"It's most likely true," said Henry, "and it seems to me that it's our
+business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?"
+
+"Just as you do," they replied with unanimity.
+
+"Then we leave this place and start in the morning," said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW
+
+
+Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues, and
+Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains, but the
+five avoided them all. On one or two occasions they would have been
+willing to stop and fight, but they had bigger work on hand. They had
+received from others confirmation of the report that Long Jim had heard
+from the hunters, and they were quite sure that a strong force was
+advancing to strike the first blow in revenge for Wyoming. Curiously
+enough, this body was commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William
+Butler, and according to report it was large and its leaders capable.
+
+When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the Delaware,
+it was joined by the five. They were introduced to the colonel by the
+celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom they had met several
+times in the woods, and they were received warmly.
+
+"I've heard of you," said Colonel Butler with much warmth, "both from
+hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax. Two of you were to have
+been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming."
+
+Henry indicated the two.
+
+"What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal against the
+Indians and their white allies," continued Colonel Butler.
+
+"Anyone who was there," said Henry, "would feel all his life, the desire
+to punish those who did it."
+
+"I think so, too, from all that I have heard," continued Colonel Butler.
+"It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of our column and
+warn us of what lies before us. I believe you have volunteered for that
+duty."
+
+The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered only
+two hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and brave, and it
+was the best force that could yet be sent to the harassed border.
+It might, after all, strike a blow for Wyoming if it marched into no
+ambush, and Henry and his comrades were resolved to guard it from that
+greatest of all dangers.
+
+When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the five
+were far ahead, passing through the woods, up the Susquehanna, toward
+the Indian villages that lay on its banks, though a great distance above
+Wyoming. The chief of these was Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the
+destination of the little army, they were resolved to visit it, or at
+least come so near it that they could see what manner of place it was.
+
+"If it's a big village," said Colonel Butler, "it will be too strong
+to attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are absent on
+expeditions."
+
+They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of the
+approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October evening
+they knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of the Iroquois
+supplies. They considered it very risky and unwise to approach in the
+daytime, and accordingly they lay in the woods until the dark should
+come.
+
+The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly in the three
+months since Wyoming. All the green was now gone, and it was tinted
+red and yellow and brown. The skies were a mellow blue, and there was a
+slight haze over the forest, but the air had the wonderful crispness and
+freshness of the American autumn. It inspired every one of the five with
+fresh zeal and energy, because they believed the first blow was about to
+be struck.
+
+About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the reports
+of its importance were confirmed. They had not before seen an Indian
+village with so many signs of permanence. They passed two or three
+orchards of apple and peach trees, and they saw other indications of
+cultivation like that of the white farmer.
+
+"It ain't a bad-lookin' town," said Long Jim Hart. "But it'll look
+wuss," said Shif'less Sol, "onless they've laid an ambush somewhar.
+I don't like to see houses an' sech like go up in fire an' smoke, but
+after what wuz done at Wyomin' an' all through that valley, burnin' is a
+light thing."
+
+"We're bound to strike back with all our might," said Paul, who had the
+softest heart of them all.
+
+"Now, I wonder who's in this here town," said Tom Ross. "Mebbe
+Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades."
+
+"It may be so," said Henry. "This is their base and store of supplies.
+Oh, if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men, what a rush we
+could make!"
+
+So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the village,
+passing among some thick clusters of grapevines. Henry was in the lead,
+and he heard a sudden snarl. A large cur of the kind that infest Indian
+villages leaped straight at him.
+
+The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades from the
+consequences of an alarm. He dropped his rifle instinctively, and seized
+the dog by the throat with both hands. A bark following the snarl had
+risen to the animal's throat, but it was cut short there. The hands of
+the great youth pressed tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from
+the earth. The four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no
+alarm would be made now.
+
+The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. Henry
+cast the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all five of them
+sank softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. About fifteen yards
+away an Indian warrior was walking cautiously along and looking among
+the vines. Evidently he had heard the snarl of the dog, and was seeking
+the cause. But it had been only a single sound, and he would not look
+far. Yet the hearts of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among
+the vines, and their nerves were tense for action should the need for it
+come.
+
+The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did not see
+the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with the dark
+growth, and presently, satisfied that the sound he had heard was of no
+importance, he walked in another direction, and passed out of sight.
+
+The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept to the
+very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon an open space,
+beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but their attention was
+centered upon a figure that stood in the open.
+
+Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to disclose
+the features, every one of the scouts recognized the figure. It could be
+none other than that of Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the
+Wyandots. He was pacing back and forth, somewhat in the fashion of the
+white man, and his manner implied thought.
+
+"I could bring him down from here with a bullet," said Shif'less Sol,
+"but I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry."
+
+"No," said Henry, "nor will I. But look, there's another."
+
+A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first. It was also
+that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall as Timmendiquas.
+It was Thayendanegea. Then three white figures appeared. One was that of
+Braxton Wyatt, and the others they took to be those of "Indian" Butler
+and his son, Walter Butler. After a talk of a minute or two they entered
+one of the wooden houses.
+
+"It's to be a conference of some kind," whispered Henry. "I wish I could
+look in on it."
+
+"And I," said the others together.
+
+"Well, we know this much," continued Henry. "No great force of the
+Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up quickly, we can
+take the town."
+
+"It's a chance not to be lost," said Paul.
+
+They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they reached
+the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs of two or three
+of the Indian houses.
+
+"I've a feeling in me," said Paul, "that the place is doomed. We'll
+strike the first blow for Wyoming."
+
+They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their trail with
+the utmost speed toward the marching American force, going in Indian
+file through the wilderness. Henry, as usual, led; Shif'less Sol
+followed, then came Paul, and then Long Jim, while Silent Tom was the
+rear guard. They traveled at great speed, and, some time after daylight,
+met the advance of the colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+
+William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a little
+when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared. But he uttered an
+exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader, Henry.
+
+"What have you found?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"We've been to Oghwaga," replied the youth, "and we went all about the
+town. They do not suspect our coming. At least, they did not know when
+we left. We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the Butlers, and Wyatt enter the
+house for a conference."
+
+"And now is our chance," said eager young William Gray. "What if we
+should take the town, and with it these men, at one blow."
+
+"We can scarcely hope for as much as that," said Henry, who knew
+that men like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to allow
+themselves to be seized by so small a force, "but we can hope for a good
+victory."
+
+The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the news, and,
+led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with all possible haste.
+William Gray was still sanguine of a surprise, but the young riflemen
+did not expect it. Indian sentinels were sure to be in the forest
+between them and Oghwaga. Yet they said nothing to dash this hope. Henry
+had already seen enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and
+the little army full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came.
+Besides the young captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant named
+Taylor, who had been in the battle at Wyoming, but who had escaped the
+massacre. The five had not met him there, but the common share in so
+great a tragedy proved a tie between them. Taylor's name was Robert,
+but all the other officers, and some of the men for that matter, who
+had known him in childhood called him Bob. He was but little older than
+Henry, and his earlier youth, before removal to Wyoming, had been passed
+in Connecticut, a country that was to the colonials thickly populated
+and containing great towns, such as Hartford and New Haven.
+
+A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any other
+that they had ever seen. His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. Holland was
+his birthplace, but America was his nation. He was short and extremely
+fat, but he had an agility that amazed the five when they first saw it
+displayed. He talked much, and his words sounded like grumbles, but
+the unctuous tone and the smile that accompanied them indicated to the
+contrary. He formed for Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining
+study in character.
+
+
+"I ain't quite seen his like afore," said the shiftless one to Paul.
+"First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble down among the
+first bushes he met. 'Stead o' that, he sailed right through 'em, makin'
+never a trip an' no noise at all, same ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into
+a juicy venison steak."
+
+"I've heard tell," said Long Jim, who also contemplated the prodigy,
+"that big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes ez spry ez you.
+They say that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the giraffe across the sands
+uv Afriky, an' I know from pussonal experience that the bigger an'
+clumsier a b'ar is the faster he kin make you scoot fur your life. But
+he's the real Dutch, ain't he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the
+Spanish under the Duke uv Alivy an' Belisarry?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to
+correct Long Jim's history, "and I'm willing to predict to you, Jim
+Hart, that Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight that we may
+have."
+
+Heemskerk rolled up to them. He seemed to have a sort of circular
+motion like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace with the others,
+nevertheless, and he showed no signs of exertion.
+
+"Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am here?"
+he said to Paul.
+
+"Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?" replied Paul politely. "Because I am a
+Dutchman. I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a baby. I,
+Cornelius Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle country of Holland
+in a goot leetle house, by the side of a goot leetle canal, painting
+beautiful blue china, dishes, plates, cups, saucers, all most beautiful,
+and here I am running through the woods of this vast America, carrying
+on my shoulder a rifle that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian
+and hunted by him. Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?"
+
+"I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr. Heemskerk,"
+replied Paul, "and wish to see punishment inflicted upon those who have
+committed great crimes."
+
+"Not so! Not so!" replied the Dutchman with energy. "It is because I am
+one big fool. I am not really a big enough man to be as big a fool as I
+am, but so it is! so it is!" Shif'less Sol regarded him critically, and
+then spoke gravely and with deliberation: "It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk,
+an' Paul ain't told quite all the truth, either. I've heard that the
+Dutch was the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe;
+that all you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden
+shoe, an' all the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump right
+on top o' you all at once. Lookin' you up an' lookin' you down, an'
+sizin' you up, an' sizin you down, all purty careful, an' examinin' the
+corners O' your eyes oncommon close, an' also lookin' at the way you set
+your feet when you walk, I'm concludin' that you just natcherally love a
+fight, an' that you are lookin' fur one."
+
+But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+
+"It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me brave
+when I am not," he said. "I only say once more that I ought to be in
+Holland painting blue plates, and not here in the great woods holding on
+to my scalp, first with one hand and then with the other."
+
+He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men, only
+laughed.
+
+Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a little
+rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night before, caught
+a few winks. But in less than an hour they were up and away again. The
+five riflemen were once more well in advance, and with them were Taylor
+and Heemskerk, the Dutchman, grumbling over their speed, but revolving
+along, nevertheless, with astonishing ease and without any sign of
+fatigue. They discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and
+as the village now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his
+belief that the Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would not
+stay to give battle. If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were prepared
+for a strong resistance, the bullets of the skirmishers would already be
+whistling through the woods.
+
+The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn leaves
+fell fast before the rising wind. The promise of the night was dark,
+which was not bad for their design, and once more the five-now the seven
+approached Oghwaga. From the crest of the very same hill they looked
+down once more upon the Indian houses.
+
+"It is a great base for the Iroquois," said Henry to Heemskerk, "and
+whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel Butler must
+attack."
+
+"Ah," said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little higher
+point for a better view, "now I feel in all its fullness the truth that
+I should be back in Holland, painting blue plates."
+
+Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of the
+Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of the time,
+and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell him the way was
+open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of them. There were also many
+serious thoughts in the back of his head.
+
+At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile of
+Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the Iroquois
+knew of their advance. Henry and his comrades, well in front, looked
+down upon the town, but saw nothing. No light came from an Indian
+chimney, nor did any dog howl. Just behind them were the troops in loose
+order, Colonel Butler impatiently striking his booted leg with a switch,
+and William Gray seeking to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good
+example to the men.
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Ware?" asked Colonel Butler.
+
+"I think we ought to rush the town at once."
+
+"It is so!" exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting blue
+plates.
+
+"The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then we'll
+charge."
+
+William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a long,
+thrilling note. Before its last echo was ended, the little army rushed
+upon the town. Three or four shots came from the houses, and the
+soldiers fired a few at random in return, but that was all. Indian
+scouts had brought warning of the white advance, and the great chiefs,
+gathering up all the people who were in the village, had fled. A
+retreating warrior or two had fired the shots, but when the white men
+entered this important Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single
+human being. Timmendiquas, the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was
+gone; Thayendanegea, the real head of the Six Nations, had slipped away;
+and with them had vanished the renegades. But they had gone in haste.
+All around them were the evidences. The houses, built of wood, were
+scores in number, and many of them contained furniture such as a
+prosperous white man of the border would buy for himself. There were
+gardens and shade trees about these, and back of them, barns, many of
+them filled with Indian corn. Farther on were clusters of bark lodges,
+which had been inhabited by the less progressive of the Iroquois.
+
+Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses misty
+in the moonlight. The army had not yet made much noise, but he was
+beginning to hear behind him the ominous word, "Wyoming," repeated more
+than once. Cornelius Heemskerk had stopped revolving, and, standing
+beside Henry, wiped his perspiring, red face.
+
+"Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland,
+Mr. Ware," he said. "It is a dark and sanguinary time. The men whose
+brethren were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not now spare the
+town of those who did it. In this wilderness they give blow for blow, or
+perish."
+
+Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness. His heart
+had been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never forget Wyoming or
+its horrors; but in the destruction of an ancient town the long labor
+of man perished, and it seemed waste. Doubtless a dozen generations of
+Iroquois children had played here on the grass. He walked toward the
+northern end of the village, and saw fields there from which recent corn
+had been taken, but behind him the cry, "Wyoming!" was repeated louder
+and oftener now. Then he saw men running here and there with torches,
+and presently smoke and flame burst from the houses. He examined the
+fields and forest for a little distance to see if any ambushed foe might
+still lie among them, but all the while the flame and smoke behind him
+were rising higher.
+
+Henry turned back and joined his comrades. Oghwaga was perishing. The
+flames leaped from house to house, and then from lodge to lodge. There
+was no need to use torches any more. The whole village was wrapped in
+a mass of fire that grew and swelled until the flames rose above the
+forest, and were visible in the clear night miles away.
+
+So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and scouts
+were compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest. The wind rose and
+the flames soared. Sparks flew in myriads, and ashes fell dustily on the
+dry leaves of the trees. Bob Taylor, with his hands clenched tightly,
+muttered under his breath, "Wyoming! Wyoming!"
+
+"It is the Iroquois who suffer now," said Heemskerk, as he revolved
+slowly away from a heated point.
+
+Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks would
+leap higher and the flames roar louder. The barns, too, were falling
+down, and the grain was destroyed. The grapevines were trampled under
+foot, and the gardens were ruined. Oghwaga, a great central base of the
+Six Nations, was vanishing forever. For four hundred years, ever since
+the days of Hiawatha, the Iroquois had waxed in power. They had ruled
+over lands larger than great empires. They had built up political and
+social systems that are the wonder of students. They were invincible in
+war, because every man had been trained from birth to be a warrior, and
+now they were receiving their first great blow.
+
+From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, "Indian" Butler, Walter Butler, Braxton Wyatt,
+a low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman, with whom Wyatt had become very
+friendly, and about sixty Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a
+tower of light to the south that had just appeared above the trees. It
+was of an intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band
+knew that it was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that was
+burning, and that the men who were doing it were the white frontiersmen,
+who, his red-coated allies had told him, would soon be swept forever
+from these woods. And they were forced to stand and see it, not daring
+to attack so strong and alert a force.
+
+They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the column
+of fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. Timmendiquas
+never said a word. In his heart, Indian though he was, he felt that
+the Iroquois had gone too far. In him was the spirit of the farseeing
+Hiawatha. He could perceive that great cruelty always brought
+retaliation; but it was not for him, almost an alien, to say these
+things to Thayendanegea, the mighty war chief of the Mohawks and the
+living spirit of the Iroquois nation.
+
+Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter storms.
+His arms were folded across his breast, and he looked steadily toward
+that red threatening light off there in the south. Some such idea as
+that in the mind of Timmendiquas may have been passing in his own. He
+was an uncommon Indian, and he had had uncommon advantages. He had not
+believed that the colonists could make head against so great a kingdom
+as England, aided by the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large
+body of Tories among their own people. But he saw with his own eyes the
+famous Oghwaga of the Iroquois going down under their torch.
+
+"Tell me, Colonel John Butler," he said bitterly, "where is your great
+king now? Is his arm long enough to reach from London to save our town
+of Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his great city of London
+is to him?"
+
+The thickset figure of "Indian" Butler moved, and his swart face flushed
+as much as it could.
+
+"You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant," he replied. "We
+are fighting here for your country as well as his, and you cannot say
+that Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the British and Canadians
+have not done their part."
+
+"It is true," said Thayendanegea, "but it is true, also, that one must
+fight with wisdom. Perhaps there was too much burning of living men at
+Wyoming. The pain of the wounded bear makes him fight the harder, and
+it, is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga yonder burns. Say, is it not so,
+Colonel John Butler?"
+
+"Indian" Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering. The Tory,
+Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was the only one
+who spoke aloud.
+
+"Thayendanegea," he said, "I, and the Wyandots who are with me, have
+come far. We expected to return long ago to the lands on the Ohio, but
+we were with you in your village, and now, when Manitou has turned his
+face from you for the time, we will not leave you. We stay and fight by
+your side."
+
+Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+
+"You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots," he said, "and
+you and I are brothers. I shall be proud and happy to have such a mighty
+leader fighting with me. We will have vengeance for this. The power of
+the Iroquois is as great as ever."
+
+He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and the
+flames of hate and resolve burned in his eyes. Old Hiokatoo, the most
+savage of all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a murmur passed
+through the group of Indians.
+
+Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend, Coleman,
+the Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and savage Walter
+Butler, whom he somewhat feared. Wyatt was perhaps the least troubled
+of all those present. Caring for himself only, the burning of Oghwaga
+caused him no grief. He suffered neither from the misfortune of friend
+nor foe. He was able to contemplate the glowing tower of light with
+curiosity only. Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies
+would attempt revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for
+himself in such adventures. His horizon had broadened somewhat of late.
+The renegade, Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon Girty, but he
+had found a new friend in Coleman. He was coming now more into touch
+with the larger forces in the East, nearer to the seat of the great war,
+and he hoped to profit by it.
+
+"This is a terrible blow to Brant," Coleman whispered to him. "The
+Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while the rebels,
+occupied with the king's troops, have not been able to send help to
+their own. But they have managed to strike at last, as you see."
+
+"I do see," said Wyatt, "and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not sorry.
+Perhaps these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll soon realize
+that they need likely chaps such as you and me, eh, Coleman."
+
+"You're not far from the truth," said Coleman, laughing a little, and
+pleased at the penetration of his new friend. They did not talk further,
+although the agreement between them was well established. Neither did
+the Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders say any more. They watched the
+tower of fire a long time, past midnight, until it reached its zenith
+and then began to sink. They saw its crest go down behind the trees,
+and they saw the luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely,
+leaving there only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+
+Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched northward. It
+was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay down for the rest that
+they needed badly. They spread their blankets at the edge of the open,
+but well back from the burned area, which was now one great mass of
+coals and charred timbers, sending up little flame but much smoke. Many
+of the troops were already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged
+William Gray to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from
+ambush. He knew that the rashness and confidence of the borderers,
+especially when drawn together in masses, had often caused them great
+losses, and he was resolved to prevent a recurrence at the present
+time if he could. He had made these urgent requests of Gray, instead of
+Colonel Butler, because of the latter's youth and willingness to take
+advice.
+
+"I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town," he said.
+"We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap."
+
+Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row almost
+at the edge of the forest. The heat from the fire was still great, but
+it would die down after a while, and the October air was nipping. Henry
+usually fell asleep in a very few minutes, but this time, despite his
+long exertions and lack of rest, he remained awake when his comrades
+were sound asleep. Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which he saw
+the fire rising in great black coils that united far above. It seemed to
+Henry, half dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit
+was passing in the smoke.
+
+When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four hours
+he was up again, as the little army intended to march at once upon
+another Indian town. The hours while he slept had passed in silence, and
+no Indians had come near. William Gray had seen to that, and his best
+scout had been one Cornelius Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch
+birth.
+
+"It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry," said Heemskerk,
+as he revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry was eating his
+breakfast, "and I am now very tired. It was like walking four or five
+times around Holland, which is such a fine little country, with the
+canals and the flowers along them, and no great, dark woods filled with
+the fierce Iroquois."
+
+"Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be here, and
+perhaps before the day is over you will get some fighting hot enough to
+please even you."
+
+Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour later
+he was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of overtaking some
+large band of retreating Iroquois.
+
+Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at Wyoming,
+Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly that very morning
+up the river against another Indian town, Cunahunta. Fortunately for
+him, a band of riflemen and scouts unsurpassed in skill led the way, and
+saw to it that the road was safe. In this band were the five, of course,
+and after them Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+
+"If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta before
+night," said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+
+"It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their towns," said
+Henry. "Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us strike so great a
+blow without a fight."
+
+"Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry," said Heemskerk,
+"or they would certainly give us a big battle. We've been lucky in the
+time of our advance. As it is, I think we'll have something to do."
+
+It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the North,
+the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the hills, the
+leaves falling softly from the trees as the wind blew, but bringing with
+them no hint of decay. None of the vanguard felt fatigue, but when they
+crossed a low range of hills and saw before them a creek flowing down
+to the Susquehanna, Henry, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and
+dropped down in the grass. The others, knowing without question the
+significance of the action, also sank down.
+
+"What is it, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. Look
+a little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the feathers in the
+headdress of an Iroquois. Farther on I think I can catch a glimpse of
+a green coat, and if I am right that coat is worn by one of Johnson's
+Royal Greens. It's an ambush, Sol, an ambush meant for us."
+
+"But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer Henry,"
+said Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with the desire for
+action. "I, too, see the feather of the Iroquois."
+
+"As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear this force
+out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come up, is it not?"
+asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the Dutchman.
+
+"What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!" exclaimed Heemskerk. "Of
+course we will fight, and fight now!"
+
+"How about them blue plates?" said Shif'less Sol softly. But Heemskerk
+did not hear him.
+
+They swiftly developed their plan of action. There could be no earthly
+doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were ambushed on
+the far side of the creek. Possibly Thayendanegea himself, stung by the
+burning of Oghwaga and the advance on Cunahunta, was there. But they
+were sure that it was not a large band.
+
+The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one was a
+veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of the woods.
+They had supreme confidence in their ability to beat the best of the
+Iroquois, man for man, and they carried the very finest arms known to
+the time.
+
+It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. The
+others, including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make a circuit,
+cross the creek a full mile above, and come down on the flank of the
+ambushing party. Theirs would be the main attack, but it would be
+preceded by sharpshooting from the four, intended to absorb the
+attention of the Iroquois. The chosen ten slipped back down the hill,
+and as soon as they were sheltered from any possible glimpse by the
+warriors, they rose and ran rapidly westward. Before they had gone far
+they heard the crack of a rifle shot, then another, then several from
+another point, as if in reply.
+
+"It's our sharpshooters," said Henry. "They've begun to disturb the
+Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy."
+
+"Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier," exclaimed
+Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his face blazing red.
+
+It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that they
+intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the water breast
+high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. Then they turned and
+rapidly descended the stream on its northern bank. In a few minutes they
+heard the sound of a rifle shot, and then of another as if replying.
+
+"The Iroquois have been fooled," exclaimed Heemskerk. "Our four good
+riflemen have made them think that a great force is there, and they have
+not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an attack."
+
+In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the forest, they
+saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the faint flash of rifles.
+They were coming somewhere near to the Iroquois band, and they practiced
+exceeding caution. Presently they caught sight of Indian faces, and now
+and then one of Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers. They stopped and
+held a council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute. They all
+agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in the
+Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+
+Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on the
+other side of the creek, fell. Heemskerk quickly followed with a shot as
+good, and the surprised Iroquois turned to face this new foe. But they
+and the Tories were a strong band, and they retreated only a little.
+Then they stood firm, and the forest battle began. The Indians numbered
+not less than thirty, and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them,
+but the value of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one
+that attacked. The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of
+the forest, and marksmen such as the Indians were never able to become,
+continually pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree to tree. Once or
+twice the warriors started a rush, but they were quickly driven back by
+sharpshooting such as they had never faced before. They soon realized
+that this was no band of border farmers, armed hastily for an emergency,
+but a foe who knew everything that they knew, and more.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois, and Wyatt
+in particular was hot with rage. He suspected that the five who had
+defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and there might be a
+chance now to destroy them all. He crept to the side of the fierce old
+Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that a part of their band slip
+around and enfold the enemy.
+
+Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying
+aspect. He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered
+with scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready
+in his hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good
+friend, the king. The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly
+at the Battle of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout
+these years of border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois. In this
+respect Hiokatoo led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he
+was to savage scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was
+the most terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld. He was old, but
+age in him seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity. The path
+of a deep cut, healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide,
+lay across his forehead. Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek,
+his chin, and his neck. He was crouched much like a panther, with his
+rifle in his hands and the ready tomahawk at his belt. But it was the
+extraordinary expression of his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder. He
+read there no mercy for anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt,
+if he should stand in the way, and it was this last fact that brought
+the shudder.
+
+Hiokatoo thought it a good plan. Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and
+Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward
+the right. Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been
+joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed
+his little force to meet it. Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught
+sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew
+back a little. While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting
+in the front, he waited for the attack. It came in half an hour, the
+flanking force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white
+riflemen was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again. But
+they had come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor.
+The Tory, like Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of
+the most ruthless on that terrible day. When they were less than a dozen
+feet apart they recognized each other. Henry saw the look that passed
+between them, and, although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some
+reason he did not use it. The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the
+bullet missed, and the Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded
+rifle and brought the stock down with all his force upon the head of his
+enemy. The man, uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and
+Taylor stood over him, still trembling with rage. In an instant Henry
+seized him and dragged him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where
+he had been.
+
+"He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!" exclaimed young Taylor,
+still trembling all over with passion.
+
+"He'll never massacre anybody else. You've seen to that," said Henry,
+and in a minute or two Taylor was quiet. The sharpshooting continued,
+but here as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it. Despite their
+numbers, they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who
+lay behind trees almost in security, and who never missed. Another Tory
+and a chief, also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted. Nor did
+he feel any better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+
+"We have failed here," he said. "They shoot too well for us to rush
+them. We have lost good men." Hiokatoo frowned, and the scars on his
+face stood out in livid red lines.
+
+"It is so," he said. "These who fight us now are of their best, and
+while we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. Come, we
+will go."
+
+The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone from their
+front. They scouted some distance, and, finding no enemy, hurried back
+to Colonel Butler. The troops were pushed forward, and before night they
+reached Cunahunta, which they burned also. Some farther advance was
+made into the Indian country, and more destruction was done, but now the
+winter was approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home
+to protect their families. Others were to rejoin the main Revolutionary
+army, and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the time. The first blow
+had been struck, and it was a hard one, but the second blow and third
+and fourth and more, which the five knew were so badly needed, must
+wait.
+
+Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed. They had hoped to go
+far into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the Six Nations, to
+hunt down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant himself, but they could
+not wholly blame their commander. The rear guard, or, rather, the forest
+guard of the Revolution, was a slender and small force indeed.
+
+Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much
+personal regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom were
+Morgan's riflemen from Virginia. The farewells to William Gray, Bob
+Taylor, and Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+
+"I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns," said Gray.
+
+"We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more," said Taylor,
+"and we'll strike another blow for Wyoming."
+
+"I foresee," said Cornelius Heemskerk, "that I, a peaceful man, who
+ought to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn into danger
+in the great, dark wilderness again, and that you will be there with
+me, Mynheer Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the Wise Solomon, Mynheer the
+Silent Tom, and Mynheer the Very Long James. I see it clearly. I, a man
+of peace, am always being pushed in to war."
+
+"We hope it will come true," said the five together.
+
+"Do you go back to Kentucky?" asked William Gray.
+
+"No," replied Henry, speaking for them all, "we have entered upon this
+task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is finished."
+
+"It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world," said
+Heemskerk. "I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by your
+side in some great battle to come, but the first thing I shall do when
+I see you again, my friends, is to look around at you, one, two, three,
+four, five, and see if you have upon your heads the hair which is now so
+rich, thick, and flowing."
+
+"Never fear, my friend," said Henry, "we have fought with the warriors
+all the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not one of us has
+lost a single lock of hair."
+
+"It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so," said Heemskerk,
+and then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his face express
+emotion.
+
+The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from Colonel
+Butler, and then they parted in the forest. Many of the soldiers looked
+back and saw the five tall figures in a line, leaning upon the muzzles
+of their long-barreled Kentucky rifles, and regarding them in silence.
+It seemed to the soldiers that they had left behind them the true sons
+of the wilderness, who, in spite of all dangers, would be there to
+welcome them when they returned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE DESERTED CABIN
+
+
+When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry turned to
+the others. "Well, boys," he asked, "what are you thinking about?"
+
+"I?" asked Paul. "I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a sort of
+alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake."
+
+"An' me?" said Shif'less Sol. "I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove runs
+back, an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm fur the
+winter."
+
+"Me?" said Tom Ross. "I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove would
+be when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in front of you."
+
+"An' ez fur me," said Long Jim Hart, "I wuz thinkin' I could run a sort
+uv flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the front an' let
+the smoke pass out. I could cook all right. It wouldn't be ez good a
+place fur cookin' ez the one we hed that time we spent the winter on the
+island in the lake, but 'twould serve."
+
+"It's strange," said Henry, "but I've been thinking of all the things
+that all four of you have been thinking about, and, since we are agreed,
+we are bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and pass the winter there."
+
+Without another word he led the way, and the others followed. It was
+apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base, because
+the cold had increased greatly in the last few days. The last leaves
+had fallen from the trees, and a searching wind howled among the bare
+branches. Better shelter than blankets would soon be needed.
+
+On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins, among which
+wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now afforded, although
+Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+
+It was a long journey to "The Alcove," but they did not hurry, seeing no
+need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of their decision by
+the fact that the cold was increasing. The country in which the lake was
+situated lay high, and, as all of them were quite sure that the cold
+was going to be great there, they thought it wise to make preparations
+against it, which they discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion
+through the woods. They spoke, also, of greater things. All felt that
+they had been drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had
+swam before. They fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution
+of this great rearguard struggle, and at present they did not have the
+remotest idea of returning to Kentucky under any circumstances.
+
+"We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois," said
+Henry. "I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of Tories of his
+own, and that he is likely to be as dangerous as either of the Butlers."
+
+"Some day we'll end him for good an' all," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and now all
+the forest was bare and apparently lifeless. They came down the creek,
+and found their boat unharmed and untouched still among the foliage at
+the base of the cliff.
+
+"That's one thing safe," said Long Jim, "an' I guess we'll find 'The
+Alcove' all right, too."
+
+"Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there," said Paul.
+
+"'Tain't likely," replied Long Jim. "We've left the human smell thar,
+an' even after all this time it's likely to drive away any prowlin' bear
+or panther that pokes his nose in."
+
+Long Jim was quite right. Their snug nest, like that of a squirrel in
+the side of a tree, had not been disturbed. The skins which they
+had rolled up tightly and placed on the higher shelves of stone were
+untouched, and several days' hunting increased the supply. The hunting
+was singularly easy, and, although the five did not know it, the
+quantity of game was much greater in that region than it had been
+for years. It had been swept of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory
+hordes, and deer, bear, and panther seemed to know instinctively that
+the woods were once more safe for them.
+
+In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and more
+than once they saw something among the coals that caused them to turn
+away with a shudder. At every place where man had made a little opening
+the wilderness was quickly reclaiming its own again. Next year the grass
+and the foliage would cover up the coals and the hideous relics that lay
+among them.
+
+They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff side,
+and stored it in "The Alcove." They also cured some bear meat, and,
+having added a further lining of skins, they felt prepared for winter.
+They had also added to the comfort of the place. They had taken the
+precaution of bringing with them two axes, and with the heads of these
+they smoothed out more of the rough places on the floor and sides of
+"The Alcove." They thought it likely, too, that they would need the axes
+in other ways later on.
+
+Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of Indians,
+and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least ten miles from
+"The Alcove." They seemed to be traveling north, and the five made no
+investigations. Somewhat later they met a white runner in the forest,
+and he told them of the terrible massacre of Cherry Valley. Walter
+Butler, emulating his father's exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a
+mixed horde of Iroquois, Tories, British, and Canadians. He had not
+been wholly successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and
+children, and was now returning northward with prisoners. Some said,
+according to the runner, that Thayendanegea had led the Indians on this
+occasion, but, as the five learned later, he had not come up until the
+massacre was over. The runner added another piece of information that
+interested them deeply. Butler had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by
+a young Tory or renegade named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by
+cunning and cruelty. It was said that Wyatt had built up for himself a
+semi-independent command, and was becoming a great scourge.
+
+"That's our Braxton," said Henry. "He is rising to his opportunities. He
+is likely to become fully the equal of Walter Butler."
+
+But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went
+somewhat sadly back to "The Alcove." They had learned also from the
+runner that Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and this fact
+increased their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to operate on a large
+scale.
+
+"We may get a chance at him anyhow," said Henry. "He and his band may go
+too far away from the main body of the Indians and Tories, and in that
+case we can strike a blow if we are watchful."
+
+Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt. He had grown up
+with them. Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with his becoming a
+renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands or exile for taking
+part in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry Valley, but, long since an
+ally of the Indians, he was now at the head of a Tory band that murdered
+and burned from sheer pleasure.
+
+"Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets," said
+Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+
+But for the present they "holed up," and now their foresight was
+justified. To such as they, used to the hardships of forest life, "The
+Alcove" was a cheery nest. From its door they watched the wild fowl
+streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others outlined against the dark,
+wintry skies. So numerous were these flocks that there was scarcely a
+time when they did not see one passing toward the warm South.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of wild
+geese, arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. A few
+faint honks came to them, and then the geese grew misty on the horizon.
+Shif'less Sol followed them with serious eyes.
+
+"Do you ever think, Paul," he said, "that we human bein's ain't so
+mighty pow'ful ez we think we are. We kin walk on the groun', an' by
+hard learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the water a little.
+But jest look at them geese flyin' a mile high, right over everything,
+rivers, forests any mountains, makin' a hundred miles an hour, almost
+without flappin' a wing. Then they kin come down on the water an' float
+fur hours without bein' tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun',
+too. Did you ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments? Why,
+Paul, s'pose you an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through the
+air a mile a minute fur a month an' never git tired."
+
+"We'd certainly see some great sights," said Paul, "but do you know,
+Sol, what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift of tireless
+wings?"
+
+"Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about."
+
+"No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out all the
+camps of the Indians and Tories. I'd pick out the Butlers and Braxton
+Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they were planning. Then I'd
+fly away to the East and look down at all the armies, ours in buff and
+blue, and the British redcoats. I'd look into the face of our great
+commander-in-chief. Then I'd fly away back into the West and South, and
+I'd hover over Wareville. I'd see our own people, every last little one
+of them. They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but I'd
+be so high up in the air no bullet could reach me. Then I'd come soaring
+back here to you fellows."
+
+"That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I
+wouldn't mind takin' it in myself. But fur the present we'd better busy
+our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are givin' us, though we're
+well fixed fur a house already. It's cu'rus what good homes a handy man
+kin find in the wilderness."
+
+The predictions of the wild fowl were true. A few days later heavy
+clouds rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched them, knowing
+what they would bring them. They spread to the zenith and then to the
+other horizon, clothing the whole circle of the earth. The great flakes
+began to drop down, slowly at first, then faster. Soon all the trees
+were covered with white, and everything else, too, except the dark
+surface of the lake, which received the flakes into its bosom as they
+fell.
+
+It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about two feet
+on the ground. After that it turned intensely cold, the surface of the
+snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered the lake. It was not
+possible to travel under such circumstances without artificial help, and
+now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in the far North, came to their help.
+He showed them how to make snowshoes, and, although all learned to use
+them, Henry, with his great strength and peculiar skill, became by far
+the most expert.
+
+As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks, Henry
+took many long journeys on the snowshoes. Sometimes be hunted, but
+oftener his role was that of scout. He cautioned his friends that he
+might be out-three or four days at a time, and that they need take no
+alarm about him unless his absence became extremely long. The winter
+deepened, the snow melted, and another and greater storm came, freezing
+the surface, again making the snowshoes necessary. Henry decided now to
+take a scout alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since
+grown into the habit of accepting his decisions almost without question,
+he started at once. He was well equipped with his rifle, double barreled
+pistol, hatchet, and knife, and he carried in addition a heavy blanket
+and some jerked venison. He put on his snowshoes at the foot of the
+cliff, waved a farewell to the four heads thrust from "The Alcove"
+above, and struck out on the smooth, icy surface of the creek. From this
+he presently passed into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course
+almost due north.
+
+It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth. In one of his
+journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories and
+Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it was the
+party led by Braxton Wyatt. Now he meant to see.
+
+His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover signs much
+earlier than he had expected. Before the end of the first day he saw the
+traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy snow, and once he came to a
+place where a deer had been slain and dressed. Then he came to another
+where the snow had been hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping
+place for several men. Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again,
+and a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+
+Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications. All the
+primitive instincts leaped up within him. A child of the forest and of
+elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was strong within him. He
+was tired of hunting wild animals, and now there was promise of a' more
+dangerous foe. For the purposes that he had in view he was glad that
+he was alone. The wintry forest, with its two feet of snow covered with
+ice, contained no terrors for him. He moved on his snowshoes almost like
+a skater, and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who
+is practically born on such shoes.
+
+As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his snowshoes,
+he was, indeed, a wonderful figure. The added height and the white glare
+from the ice made him tower like a great giant. He was clad completely
+in soft, warm deerskin, his hands were gloved in the same material,
+and the fur cap was drawn tightly about his head and ears. The
+slender-barreled rifle lay across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer
+meat made a light package on his back. Only his face was uncovered, and
+that was rosy with the sharp but bracing cold. But the resolute blue
+eyes seemed to have grown more resolute in the last six months, and the
+firm jaw was firmer than ever.
+
+It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the earth
+of snow and ice that it inclosed. His eyes traveled the circle of the
+horizon three times, and at the end of the third circle he made out a
+dim, dark thread against that sheet of blue steel. It was the light of a
+camp fire, and that camp fire must belong to an enemy. It was not likely
+that anybody else would be sending forth such a signal in this wintry
+wilderness.
+
+Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently in a
+small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height. He made up his mind
+that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he intended to make a
+thorough scout about it. He advanced until the smoke line became much
+thicker and broader, and then he stopped in the densest clump of bushes
+that he could find. He meant to remain there until darkness came,
+because, with all foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible
+to examine the hostile camp by day. The bushes, despite the lack of
+leaves, were so dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the
+crust of ice, he dug a hole. Then, having taken off his snowshoes and
+wrapped his blanket about his body, he thrust himself into the hole
+exactly like a rabbit in its burrow. He laid his shoes on the crust of
+ice beside him. Of course, if found there by a large party of warriors
+on snowshoes he would have no chance to flee, but he was willing to take
+what seemed to him a small risk. The dark would not be long in coming,
+and it was snug and warm in the hole. As he sat, his head rose just
+above the surrounding ice, but his rifle barrel rose much higher. He ate
+a little venison for supper, and the weariness in the ankles that comes
+from long traveling on snowshoes disappeared.
+
+He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those
+uncommonly keen ears of his. No sound at all came. There was not even
+a wind to rustle the bare boughs. The sun hung a huge red globe in the
+west, and all that side of the earth was tinged with a red glare, wintry
+and cold despite its redness. Then, as the earth turned, the sun was
+lost behind it, and the cold dark came.
+
+Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles were
+soothed, and he grew sleepy. It would have been very pleasant to doze
+there, but he brought himself round with an effort of the will, and
+became as wide awake as ever. He was eager to be off on his expedition,
+but he knew how much depended on waiting, and he waited. One hour, two
+hours, three hours, four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest
+before he roused himself from his covert. Then, warm, strong, and
+tempered like steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and
+advanced toward the point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+
+He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now. He was a
+formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving like
+some spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+
+Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold stars
+twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer visible. But
+Henry did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. He had marked its
+base too clearly in his mind to make any mistake, and he advanced with
+certainty. He came presently into an open space, and he stopped with
+amazement. Around him were the stumps of a clearing made recently, and
+near him were some yards of rough rail fence.
+
+He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the clearing
+the dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys of two of
+which smoke was rising. It was his first thought that he had come upon
+a little settlement still held by daring borderers, but second thought
+told him that it was impossible. Another and more comprehensive look
+showed many signs of ruin. He saw remains of several burned houses, but
+clothing all was the atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells
+when a place is abandoned. The two threads of smoke did not alter this
+impression.
+
+Henry divined it all. The builders of this tiny village in the
+wilderness bad been massacred or driven away. A part of the houses had
+been destroyed, some were left standing, and now there were visitors. He
+advanced without noise, keeping behind the rail fence, and approaching
+one of the houses from the chimneys of which the smoke came. Here be
+crouched a long time, looking and listening attentively; but it seemed
+that the visitors had no fears. Why should they, when there was nothing
+that they need fear in this frozen wilderness?
+
+Henry stole a little nearer. It had been a snug, trim little settlement.
+Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived there, literally hewing
+a home out of the forest. His heart throbbed with a fierce hatred and,
+anger against those who had spoiled all this, and his gloved finger
+crept to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+The night was intensely cold. The mercury was far below zero, and a wind
+that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. Even the wariest of
+Indians in such desolate weather might fail to keep a watch. But Henry
+did not suffer. The fur cap was drawn farther over chin and ears, and
+the buckskin gloves kept his fingers warm and flexible. Besides, his
+blood was uncommonly hot in his veins.
+
+His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings had not
+been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that they could never
+be used again, save as a passing shelter, just as they were being used
+now. He slid cautiously about the desolate place. He crossed a brook,
+frozen almost solidly in its bed, and he saw two or three large mounds
+that had been haystacks, now covered with snow.
+
+Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from which
+the smoke came. It was rather more pretentious than the others, built of
+planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a roof. The remains of a
+small portico formed the approach to the front door. Henry supposed that
+the house had been set on fire and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a
+part of it.
+
+A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. He knew
+that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a window. A faint
+sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved forward slowly to the
+window. It was an oaken shutter originally fastened with a leather
+strap, but the strap was gone, and now some one had tied it, though not
+tightly, with a deer tendon. The crack between shutter and wall was at
+least three inches, and Henry could see within very well.
+
+He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the crevice.
+What he saw within did not still any of those primitive feelings that
+had risen so strongly in his breast.
+
+A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was burning
+somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of least crackling
+and greatest heat. The huge bed of coals threw a mass of varied and
+glowing colors across the floor. Large holes had been burned in the side
+of the room by the original fire, but Indian blankets had been fastened
+tightly over them.
+
+In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword by his
+side. He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face had increased
+much in coarseness and cruelty. It had also increased in satisfaction.
+He was a great man now, as he saw great men, and both face and figure
+radiated gratification and pride as he lolled before the fire. At the
+other corner, sitting upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform,
+was his lieutenant, Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short,
+uncommonly muscular figure. His face was dark and cruel, with small eyes
+set close together. A half dozen other white men and more than a dozen
+Indians were in the room. All these lay upon their blankets on the
+floor, because all the furniture had been destroyed. Yet they had
+eaten, and they lay there content in the soothing glow of the fire, like
+animals that had fed well. Henry was so near that he could hear every
+word anyone spoke.
+
+"It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?" said
+Wyatt.
+
+"I'm glad the fire spared a part of it," said Coleman. "Looks as if it
+was done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter night when
+we come along. I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is watching over us."
+
+Wyatt laughed.
+
+"You're a man that I like, Levi," he said. "You can see to the inside of
+things. It would be a good idea to use this place as a base and shelter,
+and make a raid on some of the settlements east of the hills, eh, Levi?"
+
+"It could be done," said Coleman. "But just listen to that wind, will
+you! On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. Even our
+Iroquois are glad to be under a roof."
+
+Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up by an
+angry fire. So here was more talk of destruction and slaughter! His gaze
+alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner engaged upon a task. Henry
+looked more closely, and saw that he was stretching a blonde-haired
+scalp over a small hoop. A shudder shook his whole frame. Only those who
+lived amid such scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings.
+He felt, too, a bitter sense of injustice. The doers of these deeds were
+here in warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or fugitives.
+He turned away from the window, stepping gently upon the snowshoes. He
+inferred that the remainder of Wyatt's band were quartered in the other
+house from which he had seen the smoke rising. It was about twenty rods
+away, but he did not examine it, because a great idea had been born
+suddenly in his brain. The attempt to fulfill the idea would be
+accompanied by extreme danger, but he did not hesitate a moment. He
+stole gently to one of the half-fallen outhouses and went inside. Here
+he found what he wanted, a large pine shelf that had been sheltered from
+rain and that was perfectly dry. He scraped off a large quantity of the
+dry pine until it formed almost a dust, and he did not cease until he
+had filled his cap with it. Then he cut off large splinters, until
+he had accumulated a great number, and after that he gathered smaller
+pieces of half-burned pine.
+
+He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced far, but
+he never faltered. His head was bare, but he was protected from the
+wind by a fragment of the outhouse wall. Every two or three minutes he
+stopped and listened for the sound of a creaking, sliding footstep on
+the snow, but, never hearing any, he always resumed his work with the
+same concentration. All the while the wind rose and moaned through the
+ruins of the little village. When Henry chanced to raise his head above
+the sheltering wall, it was like the slash of a knife across his cheek.
+
+Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which the
+light had shone. He looked again through the crevice at the window. The
+light had died down much more, and both Wyatt and Coleman were asleep on
+the floor. But several of the Iroquois were awake, although they sat as
+silent and motionless as stones against the wall.
+
+Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside the
+plank wall. There he put the pine dust in a little heap on the snow
+and covered it over with pine splinters, on top of which he put larger
+pieces of pine. Then he went back for the remainder of the pine dust,
+and built a similar pyramid against a sheltered side of the second
+house.
+
+The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good fortune
+only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his heart aflame
+with righteous anger against those inside, still pursued the work. His
+heart throbbed, but hand and eye were steady.
+
+Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. The wind
+rose much higher and roared harder against the house. It would prevent
+the Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were, from hearing a light
+sound without. Then he drew forth his flint and steel and struck them
+together with a hand so strong and swift that sparks quickly leaped
+forth and set fire to the pine tinder. Henry paused only long enough to
+see the flame spread to the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the
+other house, where the task was repeated-he intended that his job should
+be thorough.
+
+Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to the
+first house and looked at his fire. It had already spread to the larger
+pieces of pine, and it could not go out now. The sound made by the
+flames blended exactly with the roaring of the wind, and another minute
+or two might pass before the Iroquois detected it.
+
+Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his anger.
+By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the flames would be
+so high that the wind would reach them. Then no one could put them out.
+
+It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at once,
+but that lingering desire to make his task complete and, also, the wish
+to see the result kept him from doing it. He merely walked across the
+open space and stood behind a tree at the edge of the forest.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very snug, in
+the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals before them.
+They may even have been dreaming peaceful and beautiful dreams, when
+suddenly an Iroquois sprang to his feet and uttered a cry that awoke all
+the rest.
+
+"I smell smoke!" he exclaimed in his tongue, "and there is fire, too! I
+hear it crackle outside!"
+
+Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open. Flame and smoke blew
+in his face. He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at the pistol in his
+belt.
+
+"The whole side of the house is on fire!" he exclaimed. "Whose neglect
+has done this?"
+
+Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+
+"The fire was set on the outside," he said. "It was no carelessness of
+our men. Some enemy has done this!"
+
+"It is true!" exclaimed Wyatt furiously. "Out, everybody! The house
+burns fast!"
+
+There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were falling
+about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by the roaring winds,
+and roared with them. The shell of the house would soon be gone, and
+when Tories and Iroquois were outside they saw the remainder of their
+band pouring forth from the other house, which was also in flames.
+
+No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in a sort
+of stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest heights by the
+wind.
+
+All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments
+nothing whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton Wyatt and
+his band must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could never use this
+place as a basis for attack upon settlements.
+
+"How under the sun could it have happened?" exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+"It didn't happen. It was done," said Coleman. "Somebody set these
+houses on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!"
+
+An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the snow
+where it was not yet melted by the heat. He saw there the track of
+snowshoes, and suddenly, looking toward the forest, whither they led, he
+saw a dark figure flit away among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. HENRY'S SLIDE
+
+
+Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body hidden
+behind one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the scene with
+a fascinated interest that would not let him go. He knew that his work
+there was done already. Everything would be utterly destroyed by the
+flames which, driven by the wind, leaped from one half-ruined building
+to another. Braxton Wyatt and his band would have enough to do
+sheltering themselves from the fierce winter, and the settlements could
+rest for a while at least. Undeniably he felt exultation as he witnessed
+the destructive work of his hand. The border, with its constant struggle
+for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+
+In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to please
+his eye and heart. A new pulse beat triumphantly every time a timber,
+burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a falling roof. He laughed
+inwardly as the flames disclosed the dismay on the faces of the Iroquois
+and Tories, and it gave him deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his
+gaudy little sword at his thigh, stalking about helpless. It was while
+he was looking, absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert
+eye saw him and gave the warning shout.
+
+Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half
+running, half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow.
+After him came warriors and some Tories who had put on their snowshoes
+preparatory to the search through the forest for shelter. Several
+bullets were fired, but he was too far away for a good aim. He heard one
+go zip against a tree, and another cut the surface of the ice near him,
+but none touched him, and he sped easily on his snowshoes through the
+frozen forest. But Henry was fully aware of one thing that constituted
+his greatest danger. Many of these Iroquois had been trained all
+their lives to snowshoes, while he, however powerful and agile, was
+comparatively a beginner. He glanced back again and saw their dusky
+figures running among the trees, but they did not seem to be gaining. If
+one should draw too near, there was his rifle, and no man, white or red,
+in the northern or southern forests, could use it better. But for the
+present it was not needed. He pressed it closely, almost lovingly, to
+his side, this best friend of the scout and frontiersman.
+
+He had chosen his course at the first leap. It was southward, toward
+the lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging from his line,
+knowing that some part of the wide half circle of his pursuers would
+profit by it.
+
+Henry felt a great upward surge. He had been the victor in what he
+meant to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape. The cold wind,
+whistling by, whipped his blood and added new strength to his great
+muscles. His ankles were not chafed or sore, and he sped forward on the
+snowshoes, straight and true. Whenever he came to a hill the pursuers
+would gain as he went up it, but when he went down the other side it
+was he who gained. He passed brooks, creeks, and once a small river,
+but they were frozen over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them.
+Again it was a lake a mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely
+increased his speed. Always he kept a wary look ahead for thickets
+through which he could not pass easily, and once he sent back a shout of
+defiance, which the Iroquois answered with a yell of anger.
+
+He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove fatal,
+the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking of a runner
+would end his flight, and in a long chase such an accident might happen.
+It might happen, too, to one or more of the Iroquois, but plenty of them
+would be left. Yet Henry had supreme confidence in his snowshoes. He had
+made them himself, he had seen that every part was good, and every thong
+had been fastened with care.
+
+The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire sank
+to nothing. The leafless trees stood up, the branches unmoving. The
+forest was bare and deserted. All the animals, big and little, had gone
+into their lairs. Nobody witnessed the great pursuit save pursuers and
+pursued. Henry kept his direction clear in his mind, and allowed the
+Iroquois to take no advantage of a curve save once. Then he came to a
+thicket so large that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to
+pass it. He turned to the right, hence the Indians on the right gained,
+and they sent up a yell of delight. He replied defiantly and increased
+his speed.
+
+But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously near-near
+enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the fugitive much.
+It aroused Henry's anger. He took it as an indignity rather than a
+danger, and he resolved to avenge it. So far as firing was concerned, he
+was at a disadvantage. He must stop and turn around for his shot, while
+the Iroquois, without even checking speed, could fire straight at the
+flying target, ahead.
+
+Nevertheless, he took the chance. He turned deftly on the snowshoes,
+fired as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw him fall, then
+Whirled and resumed his flight. He had lost ground, but he had inspired
+respect. A single man could not afford to come too near to a marksman so
+deadly, and the three or four who led dropped back with the main body.
+
+Now Henry made his greatest effort. He wished to leave the foe far
+behind, to shake off his pursuit entirely. He bounded over the ice
+and snow with great leaps, and began to gain. Yet he felt at last the
+effects of so strenuous a flight. His breath became shorter; despite
+the intense cold, perspiration stood upon his face, and the straps that
+fastened the snowshoes were chafing his ankles. An end must come even to
+such strength as his. Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was
+sinking into the darkness. If he could only increase his speed again, he
+might leave the Iroquois now. He made a new call upon the will, and
+the body responded. For a few minutes his speed became greater. A
+disappointed shout arose behind him, and several shots were fired. But
+the bullets fell a hundred yards short, and then, as he passed over a
+little hill and into a wood beyond, he was hidden from the sight of his
+pursuers.
+
+Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but they
+could not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at an angle.
+Pausing a second or two for fresh breath, he continued on his new
+course, although not so fast as before. He knew that the Iroquois would
+rush straight ahead, and would not discover for two or three minutes
+that they were off the trail. It would take them another two or three
+minutes to recover, and he would make a gain of at least five minutes.
+Five minutes had saved the life of many a man on the border.
+
+How precious those five minutes were! He would take them all. He ran
+forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick, and then
+enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute. He had felt that he
+was pumping the very lifeblood from his heart. His breath had come
+painfully, and the thongs of the snowshoes were chafing his ankles
+terribly. But those minutes were worth a year. Fresh air poured into his
+lungs, and the muscles became elastic once more. In so brief a space he
+had recreated himself.
+
+Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do his
+utmost unless the enemy came in sight. About ten minutes later he heard
+a cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a signal from some Indian
+to the others that the trail was found again. But with so much advantage
+he felt sure that he was now quite safe. He ran, although at decreased
+speed, for about two hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust
+root of a great oak. Here he depended most upon his ears. The forest was
+so silent that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but there
+was none. Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would remain there a long
+time for a thorough rest. He even dared to take off his snowshoes that
+he might rub his sore ankles, but he wrapped his heavy blanket about his
+body, lest he take deep cold in cooling off in such a temperature after
+so long a flight.
+
+He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and then he
+saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something that told him
+he must be on the alert again. It was a single ring of smoke, like that
+from a cigar, only far greater. It rose steadily, untroubled by wind
+until it was dissipated. It meant "attention!" and presently it was
+followed by a column of such rings, one following another beautifully.
+The column said: "The foe is near." Henry read the Indian signs
+perfectly. The rings were made by covering a little fire with a blanket
+for a moment and then allowing the smoke to ascend. On clear days such
+signals could be seen a distance of thirty miles or more, and he knew
+that they were full of significance.
+
+Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. One had
+found his trail, and was signaling to the other. The party sending up
+the smoke might be a half mile away, but the others, although his trail
+was yet hidden from them, might be nearer. It was again time for flight.
+
+He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace, folded the
+blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly root, started
+once more. He ran forward at moderate speed for perhaps a mile, when he
+suddenly heard triumphant yells on both right and left. A strong party
+of Iroquois were coming up on either side, and luck had enabled them to
+catch him in a trap.
+
+They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked his
+glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might again stave
+them off. He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling into determined
+silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest here was of large trees,
+with no undergrowth, and he noticed that the two parties did not join,
+but kept on as they had come, one on the right and the other on the
+left. This fact must have some significance, but he could not fathom
+it. Neither could he guess whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but
+apparently they made no effort to come within range of his rifle.
+
+Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out, and
+then both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the kind that
+savages utter only when they see their triumph complete.
+
+Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He had
+come to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high like a
+mountain, and steep like a wall. The surface of the lake was so far down
+that it was misty white like a cloud. Now he understood the policy of
+the Indian bands in not uniting. They knew that they would soon reach
+the lofty cliffs of the lake, and if he turned to either right or left
+there was a band ready to seize him.
+
+Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in his
+life. It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a trap, and
+Braxton Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. That was perhaps
+the bitterest thing of all, to be taken and tortured by Braxton Wyatt.
+He was there. He could hear his voice in one of the bands, and then the
+courage that never failed him burst into fire again.
+
+The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from retreat
+to either right or left, but not yet closing in because of his deadly
+rifle. He gave them a single look, put forth his voice in one great cry
+of defiance, and, rushing toward the edge of the mighty cliff, sprang
+boldly over.
+
+As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of amazement and
+chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats, and, taking a single
+glance backward, he caught a glimpse of dusky faces stamped with awe.
+But the bold youth had not made a leap to destruction. In the passage
+of a second he had calculated rapidly and well. While the cliff at
+first glance seemed perpendicular, it could not be so. There was a slope
+coated with two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels of
+his snowshoes, he shot downward like one taking a tremendous slide on
+a toboggan. Faster and faster he went, but deeper and deeper he dug his
+shoes into the snow, until he lay back almost flat against its surface.
+This checked his speed somewhat, but it was still very great, and,
+preserving his self-control perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly
+Providence to save him from some great boulder or abrupt drop.
+
+The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him as he
+descended. Yet he drew himself compactly together, and held his rifle
+parallel with his body. Once or twice, as he went over a little ridge,
+he shot clear of the snow, but he held his body rigid, and the snow
+beyond saved him from a severe bruise. Then his speed was increased
+again, and all the time the white surface of the lake below, seen dimly
+through the night and his flight, seemed miles away.
+
+He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was sure.
+None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. Braxton Wyatt could
+have no triumph over him. He was alone in his great flight. Once a
+projection caused him to turn a little to one side. He was in momentary
+danger of turning entirely, and then of rolling head over heels like
+a huge snowball, but with a mighty effort he righted himself, and
+continued the descent on the runners, with the heels plowing into the
+ice and the snow.
+
+Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles nearer.
+Presently he would be there. The impossible had become possible, the
+unattainable was about to be attained. He gave another mighty dig with
+his shoes, the last reach of the slope passed behind him, and he shot
+out on the frozen surface of the lake, bruised and breathless, but
+without a single broken bone.
+
+The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay frozen
+snow, which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the cliff. There he
+lost his balance at last, and fell on his side, where he lay for a few
+moments, weak, panting, but triumphant.
+
+When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered
+nothing save some bruises, that would heal in their own good time. His
+deerskin clothing was much torn, particularly on the back, where he had
+leaned upon the ice and snow, but the folded blanket had saved him to a
+considerable extent. One of his shoes was pulled loose, and presently he
+discovered that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate.
+But he did not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of
+victory. He looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him
+fifteen hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit.
+The wall ran away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any
+easier path. He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at
+him, but it was too far away, and he saw only a black line.
+
+He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
+away from "The Alcove," and he did not intend to go there, lest the
+Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge.
+But as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and
+the Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side,
+he felt perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the
+time of an increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly
+swollen, and he did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low
+bills. Here, under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he
+found a partial shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with
+infinite patience he built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead
+boughs, hung his blanket in front of it on two sticks that the flame
+might not be seen, took off his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared
+his ankles. Both were swollen, but the left much more badly than the
+other. He doubted whether he would be able to walk on the following day,
+but he rubbed them a long time, both with the palms of his hands and
+with snow, until they felt better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned
+back against the faithful snowshoes which had saved his life, however
+much they had hurt his ankles, and gave himself up to the warmth of the
+fire.
+
+It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
+terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one
+which, if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff
+and painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and
+legs many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he
+had venison, ate several strips.
+
+He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
+bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
+coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket,
+wrapped himself in it, and was soon asleep before the fire. He slept
+long and deeply, and although, when he awoke, the day had fully come,
+the coals were not yet out entirely. He arose, but such a violent pain
+from his left ankle shot through him that he abruptly sat down again. As
+he bad feared, it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not
+walk.
+
+In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no striving against
+unchangeable circumstance. He drew up more wood, which he had stacked
+against the cliff, and put it on the coals. He hung up the blanket once
+more in order that it might hide the fire, stretched out his lame leg,
+and calmly made a breakfast off the last of his venison. He knew he was
+in a plight that might appall the bravest, but he kept himself in
+hand. It was likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a
+shapeless mass by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet, and he
+had little fear of them, but to be unable to walk and alone in an icy
+wilderness without food was sufficient in itself. He calculated that
+it was at least a dozen miles to "The Alcove," and the chances were a
+hundred to one against any of his comrades wandering his way. He looked
+once more at his swollen left ankle, and he made a close calculation.
+It would be three days, more likely four, before he could walk upon it.
+Could he endure hunger that long? He could. He would! Crouched in his
+nest with his back to the cliff, he had defense against any enemy in
+his rifle and pistol. By faithful watching he might catch sight of some
+wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food for his stomach.
+His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was nothing to do but sit
+quiet and wait.
+
+He scarcely moved for hours. As long as he was still his ankle troubled
+him but little. The sun came out, silver bright, but it had no warmth.
+The surface of the lake was shown only by the smoothness of its expanse;
+the icy covering was the same everywhere over hills and valleys. Across
+the lake he saw the steep down which he had slid, looming white and
+lofty. In the distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its
+terrors, it had, beyond a doubt, saved his life. He glanced down at his
+swollen ankle, and, despite his helpless situation, he was thankful that
+he had escaped so well.
+
+About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all around
+himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house. Then he let the fire die
+except some coals that gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over
+his head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
+stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was
+warm, and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him.
+He was young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance.
+Now it cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and
+for a few moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon
+came back as strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim
+silence, trying to forget that there was any such thing as food.
+
+The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon,
+but before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
+trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
+could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and,
+in fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
+daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
+pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
+thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature,
+no matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then
+he would feast!
+
+He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
+white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
+the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+
+He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
+hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
+but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The
+new snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail
+from the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to
+a gray, somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not
+feel the pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and
+then they came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in
+the night, and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease
+in the power of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as
+his physical fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same
+confidence that he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little
+more threatening.
+
+His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
+back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
+his left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move
+it with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk.
+Once more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly
+walk and hunt game or make a try for "The Alcove," so far as his ankle
+was concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
+strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+
+Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine
+made upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so
+powerful, so skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness
+and to every manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by
+a bruised ankle to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be
+more than ten miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright
+and stepped out into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could
+scarcely keep from crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank
+back into the shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for
+another full day.
+
+The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
+blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for
+the sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering
+from cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the
+bright flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it
+go out. Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface
+of the snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a
+wandering deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He
+was more than ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of
+his den, the rifle across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the
+cheek bones showed high and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the
+fierce desire for prey, and the long, lean body drawn forward as if it
+were about to leap.
+
+He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole
+in the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
+abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
+edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned
+and dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay
+still for a long time.
+
+That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at
+himself. It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea
+think of him if they knew how he came to his end? They would put him
+with old squaws or little children. And how Braxton Wyatt and his
+lieutenant, the squat Tory, would laugh! That was the bitterest thought
+of all. But the frenzy passed, and he fell into a sleep which was only
+a succession of bad dreams. He was running the gauntlet again among
+the Shawnees. Again, kneeling to drink at the clear pool, he saw in the
+water the shadow of the triumphant warrior holding the tomahawk above
+him. One after another the most critical periods of his life were lived
+over again, and then he sank into a deep torpor, from which he did not
+rouse himself until far into the next day.
+
+Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have
+regained much of his lost will. He looked once more at the fatal left
+ankle. It had improved greatly. He could even stand upon it, but when he
+rose to his feet he felt a singular dizziness. Again, what he had gained
+in one way he had lost in another. The earth wavered. The smooth surface
+of the lake seemed to rise swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly. The far
+slope down which he had shot rose to the height of miles. There was a
+pale tinge, too, over the world. He sank down, not because of his ankle,
+but because he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+
+The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two. He was ashamed
+of such extraordinary weakness. He looked at one of his hands. It was
+thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever, and the blue veins stood
+out on the back of it. He could scarcely believe that the hand was his
+own. But after the first spasm of weakness was over, the precious will
+returned. He could walk. Strength enough to permit him to hobble along
+had returned to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+nervous system, however weakened it might be. He must seek food.
+
+He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the blanket
+tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. He was preparing
+both mind and body for the supreme effort. He knew that everything hung
+now on the surviving remnants of his skill and courage.
+
+Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great reserve
+now except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. It was proof of
+his youthful greatness that it stood the last test. As he lay there,
+the final ounce of will and courage came. Strength which was of the mind
+rather than of the body flowed back into his veins; he felt able to dare
+and to do; the pale aspect of the world went away, and once more he was
+Henry Ware, alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+
+Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his
+shoulders. He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left ankle,
+despite its great improvement, would not stand the strain. He must
+break his way through the snow, which was a full three feet in depth.
+Fortunately the crust had softened somewhat in the last two or three
+days, and he did not have a covering of ice to meet.
+
+He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the cliff, his
+rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might miss no chance at
+game. To an ordinary observer there would have been no such chance at
+all. It was merely a grim white wilderness that might have been without
+anything living from the beginning. But Henry, the forest runner, knew
+better. Somewhere in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had
+left, and in these lairs were wild animals. To any such wild animal,
+whether panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome
+object, with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his thin lips
+opening now and then, and disclosing the two rows of strong white teeth.
+
+Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard, because
+it was desperate work for one in his condition to break his way through
+snow so deep. But his ankle stood the strain well, and his courage
+increased rather than diminished. He was no longer a cripple confined
+to one spot. While he stood resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about
+half a rod to his left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+
+He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched carefully
+among them. The snow was not nearly so thick there, and under the
+thickest clump, where the shelter was best, he saw a small round
+opening. In an instant all his old vigorous life, all the abounding hope
+which was such a strong characteristic of his nature, came back to him.
+Already he had triumphed over Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow,
+ice, crippling, and starvation.
+
+He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right hand. He
+thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit leaped for life
+from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod stretched him dead at the
+feet of the hunter. Henry picked up the rabbit. It was large and yet
+fat. Here was food for two meals. In the race between the ankle and
+starvation, the ankle had won.
+
+He did not give way to any unseemly elation. He even felt a momentary
+sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because all these wild
+things were his kindred now. He returned by the path that he had broken,
+kindled his fire anew, dexterously skinned and cleaned his rabbit,
+then cooked it and ate half, although he ate slowly and with intervals
+between each piece. How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being
+longed to leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was
+still supreme. He knew what was good for himself, and he did it.
+Everything was done in order and with sobriety. Then he put the rest of
+the rabbit carefully in his food pouch, wrapped the blanket about his
+body, leaned back, and stretched his feet to the coals.
+
+What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! He had
+not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty cliffs on the
+farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and hanging with icicles.
+
+The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+
+It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the strength
+returning to his frame. He knew that the blood in his veins had begun
+to sparkle, and that his vitality was rising fast. He could have gone
+to sleep peacefully, but instead he went forth and hunted again. He
+knew that where the rabbit had been, others were likely to be near, and
+before he returned he had secured two more. Both of these he cleaned and
+cooked at once. When this was done night had come, but he ate again,
+and then, securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best sleep
+that he had enjoyed since his flight.
+
+He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started then,
+but he was prudent. There was still a chance of meeting the Iroquois,
+and the ankle might not stand so severe a test. He would rest in his
+nest for another day, and then he would be equal to anything. Few could
+lie a whole day in one place with but little to do and with nothing
+passing before the eyes, but it was a part of Henry's wilderness
+training, and he showed all the patience of the forester. He knew,
+too, as the hours went by, that his strength was rising all the while.
+To-morrow almost the last soreness would be gone from his ankle and
+then he could glide swiftly over the snow, back to his comrades. He
+was content. He had, in fact, a sense of great triumph because he had
+overcome so much, and here was new food in this example for future
+efforts of the mind, for future victories of the will over the body. The
+wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly down the curve, but
+all the time the boy scarcely stirred. Once there was a flight of small
+birds across the heavens, and he watched them vaguely, but apparently he
+took no interest. Toward night he stood up in his recess and flexed and
+tuned his muscles for a long time, driving out any stiffness that might
+come through long lack of motion. Then he ate and lay down, but he did
+not yet sleep.
+
+The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he knew
+"The Alcove" lay. A good moon was now shining, and stars by the score
+were springing out. Suddenly at a point on that far shore a spark of red
+light appeared and twinkled. Most persons would have taken it for some
+low star, but Henry knew better. It was fire put there by human hand for
+a purpose, doubtless a signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared
+by the first, then a third, then a fourth. He uttered a great sigh of
+pleasure. It was his four friends signaling to him somewhere in the vast
+unknown that they were alive and well, and beckoning him to come. The
+lights burned for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then all went out
+together. Henry turned over on his side and fell sound asleep. In the
+morning he put on his snowshoes and started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE SAFE RETURN
+
+
+The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found
+good footing for his shoes. For a while he leaned most on the right
+ankle, but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them
+equally, and sped forward, his spirits rising at every step. The air was
+cold, and there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind
+that whipped his face. The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and
+his eyes no longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild
+animal in search of prey. A fine red color was suffused through the
+brown of his face. He had chosen his course with due precaution. The
+broad surface, smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the
+temptation away. He did not wish to run any chance whatever of another
+Iroquois pursuit, and he kept in the forest that ran down close to the
+water's edge. It was tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
+
+But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious
+freedom. With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in
+his cell, with a ball and chain to his foot. Now he flew along, while
+the cold wind whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely
+to live. He went on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that
+contained "The Alcove." He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the
+last of his rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood
+at the hidden path that led up to their home.
+
+Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. To one
+who had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely
+desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been
+visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes. But Henry had such
+eyes. He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the
+surface of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there. He
+resolved to surprise them.
+
+Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind. As he gradually
+approached "The Alcove" he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as
+he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light
+falling on the snow.
+
+But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.
+Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound. He knew all
+those tones. They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who
+had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band
+who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+
+He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still. Lying almost
+flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into "The
+Alcove." A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed
+about it were the four. Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was
+gazing into the coals. Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long
+Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was
+talking. Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about
+himself.
+
+"Henry will turn up all right," he was saying. "Hasn't he always done it
+afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break
+his rule now. I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories
+between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to
+ketch Henry. I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment."
+
+"What is he doing, Sol?" asked Paul.
+
+"When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him," said the shiftless
+one. "He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin' around an Injun
+village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an' listenin' an' gatherin' talk
+about their plans."
+
+"He ain't doin' any sech thing," broke in Long Jim.
+
+"I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours,
+an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're
+talkin' about."
+
+"What is he doing, Jim?" asked Paul.
+
+"Henry's away off to the south, not to the north," replied the long one,
+"an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned. One house has been
+left standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the
+groun'. A whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin'
+thar fur days, eatin' so much an' hevin' such a good time that the fat's
+hangin' down over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust
+right out uv his huntin' shirt."
+
+Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face
+to the fire. Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
+
+"Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight," he said.
+"Can you have any vision, too, Tom?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tom Ross, "I kin. I shet my eyes, but I don't see like
+either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong. I see Henry, an' I see
+him plain. He's had a pow'ful tough time. He ain't threatenin' to bust
+with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are
+fallin' down over his jaws. It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk
+a mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags
+his left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself. He ain't spyin'
+on no Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer
+hangin' by the side uv him. It's t'other way 'roan'. He's layin' almost
+flat on his face not twenty feet from us, lookin' right in at us, an' I
+wuz the first to see him."
+
+All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise
+sprang to his feet. Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
+
+
+"And so you saw me, Tom," he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand
+after another. "I might have known that, while I could stalk some of
+you, I could not stalk all of you."
+
+"I caught the glimpse uv you," said Silent Tom, "while Sol an' Jim wuz
+talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul
+called on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an'
+worth tellin'."
+
+"You're right," said Henry. "I've not been having any easy time, and for
+a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I
+will tell you all about it."
+
+They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
+food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+
+"I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry," said
+Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+
+"Any one of you would have done it," said Henry, modestly.
+
+"I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons," said Shif'less
+Sol. "One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause
+that scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
+tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt."
+
+"You speak for us all there, Sol," said Paul.
+
+"What have all of you been doing?" asked Henry.
+
+"Not much of anything," replied Shif'less Sol. "We've been scoutin'
+several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
+or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
+up warmer an' storin' away food."
+
+"We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid," said Henry,
+"unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is
+yet on foot against the Iroquois?"
+
+"Tom ran across some scouts from the militia," replied Paul, "and they
+said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army
+would march."
+
+"I hope so," said Henry earnestly.
+
+But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a
+long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for
+two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to
+melt under the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down
+the cliffs, and would have entered "The Alcove" had not the five made
+provision to turn it away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening
+to the gush of the water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one
+another. Yet the time dragged.
+
+"Man wuz never made to be a caged animile," said Shif'less Sol. "The
+longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
+improve, neither, an' I ain't happy."
+
+"Guess it's the same with all uv us," said Tom Ross.
+
+But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still
+cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in every
+direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were
+becoming active. There were more burnings, more slaughters, and more
+scalpings. The whole border was still appalled at the massacres of
+Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the savages were continually spreading
+over a wider area. Braxton Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the
+aid of his Tory lieutenant, Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name
+equal to that of Walter Butler. As for "Indian" Butler and his men, no
+men were hated more thoroughly than they.
+
+The five continued to do the best they could, which was much, carrying
+many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have been victims.
+While they devoted themselves to their strenuous task, great events in
+which they were to take a part were preparing. The rear guard of the
+Revolution was about to become for the time the main guard. A great eye
+had been turned upon the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great
+mind, which could bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint,
+was preparing to send help to those farther away. So mighty a cry of
+distress had risen, that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed. As
+the warm weather came, the soldiers began to march.
+
+Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the Iroquois
+and their allies, the Tories, the English, and the Canadians. There
+was a great stirring among the leaders, Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo,
+Sangerachte, the Johnsons, the Butlers, Claus, and the rest. Haldimand,
+the king's representative in Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all
+the Iroquois to meet the enemy. The Tories were' extremely active.
+Promises were made to the tribes that they should have other victories
+even greater than those of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the
+terrible Queen Esther went among them, swinging her great war tomahawk
+over her head and chanting her song of death. She, more than any other,
+inflamed the Iroquois, and they were eager for the coming contest.
+
+Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter, but,
+faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the last, he
+returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of the Wyandot
+nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not be estimated too
+highly.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the forest,
+and they thrilled at the thought that the crisis was approaching. Then
+they set out for Lake Otsego, where the army was gathering for the great
+campaign. They were equipped thoroughly, and they were now so well known
+in the region that they knew they would be welcome.
+
+They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the last
+night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry, scouting as
+usual to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep in the forest. He
+wheeled instantly to cover behind the body of a great beech tree, and
+the stranger sought to do likewise, only he had no convenient tree
+that was so large. It was about the twelfth hour, but Henry could see a
+portion of a body protruding beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he
+recognized it. As he held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the
+stranger.
+
+"Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and woodsman,
+what are you doing in my wilderness? Stand forth at once and give an
+account of yourself, or I will shoot off the part of your body that
+sticks beyond that oak tree!"
+
+The answer was instantaneous. A round, plump body revolved from the
+partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open, rifle in hand
+and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+
+"Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware," replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud, clear
+tone, "I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that you are. Come
+from behind that beech and let us see which has the stronger grip."
+
+Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so powerful that
+both winced. Then they released hands simultaneously, and Heemskerk
+asked:
+
+"And the other four mynheers? Am I wrong to say that they are near,
+somewhere?"
+
+"You are not wrong," replied Henry. "They are alive, well and hungry,
+not a mile from here. There is one man whom they would be very glad to
+see, and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is roaming in our woods
+without a permit."
+
+The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed. It was obvious that he
+felt as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in seeing him.
+
+"My heart swells," he said. "I feared that you might have been killed or
+scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far land of Kentucky."
+
+"We have wintered well," said Henry, "in a place of which I shall not
+tell you now, and we are here to see the campaign through."
+
+"I come, too, for the same purpose," said Heemskerk. "We shall be
+together. It is goot." "Meanwhile," said Henry, "our camp fire is
+lighted. Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is cooking strips of meat
+over the coals, and, although it is a mile away, the odor of them is
+very pleasant in my nostrils. I wish to go back there, and it will be
+all the more delightful to me, and to those who wait, if I can bring
+with me such a welcome guest."
+
+"Lead on, mynheer," said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+
+He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then they
+ate and talked. Heemskerk was sanguine.
+
+"Something will be done this time," he said. "Word has come from the
+great commander that the Iroquois must be crushed. The thousands who
+have fallen must be avenged, and this great fire along our border must
+be stopped. If it cannot be done, then we perish. We have old tales in
+my own country of the cruel deeds that the Spaniards did long, long ago,
+but they were not worse than have been done here."
+
+The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them traveled
+back to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and the scars and
+traces of many more tragedies.
+
+They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw that
+all they had heard was true. The most formidable force that they had
+ever seen was gathering. There were many companies in the Continental
+buff and blue, epauletted officers, bayonets and cannon. The camp was
+full of life, energy, and hope, and the five at once felt the influence
+of it. They found here old friends whom they had known in the march on
+Oghwaga, William Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very
+welcome. They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge,
+received roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with Heemskerk
+and the two celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and David Elerson,
+they roamed the forest in a great circle about the lake, bringing much
+valuable information about the movements of the enemy, who in their turn
+were gathering in force, while the royal authorities were dispatching
+both Indians and white men from Canada to help them.
+
+These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much impatience. It
+takes a long time for an army to gather and then to equip itself for the
+march, and they were so used to swift motion that it was now a part of
+their nature. At last the army was ready, and it left the lake. Then it
+proceeded in boats down the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an
+artificial dam built with immense labor, to its confluence with the
+larger river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander,
+General James Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then the army,
+late in August, began its march upon the Iroquois.
+
+The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. They knew
+that no important movement of so large a force could escape the notice
+of the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made it their duty to see
+that the Americans marched into no trap.
+
+It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched with
+brown, and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were ripening on
+the vines, and the quantity of game had increased, the wild animals
+returning to the land from which civilized man had disappeared. The
+desolation seemed even more complete than in the autumn before. In the
+winter and spring the Iroquois and Tories had destroyed the few
+remnants of houses that were left. Braxton Wyatt and his band had been
+particularly active in this work, and many tales had come of his cruelty
+and that of his swart Tory lieutenant, Coleman. Henry was sure, too,
+that Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps fifty Indians and Tories, was
+now in front of them.
+
+He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others, twelve
+brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night about ten miles
+ahead of the army. They lighted no fire, and, even had it been cold,
+they would not have done so, as the region was far too dangerous for any
+light. Yet the little band felt no fear. They were only twelve, it is
+true, but such a twelve! No chance would either Indians or Tories have
+to surprise them.
+
+They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to keep
+watch while the others slept. Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Heemskerk were
+the sentinels. It was very late, nearly midnight; the sky was clear, and
+presently they saw smoke rings ascending from high hills to their right,
+to be answered soon by other rings of smoke to their left. The three
+watched them with but little comment, and read every signal in turn.
+They said: "The enemy is still advancing," "He is too strong for
+us...... We must retreat and await our brethren."
+
+"It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least," whispered
+Heemskerk. "Brant is probably ahead of us in command, and he will avoid
+us until he receives the fresh forces from Canada."
+
+"I take it that you're right," Henry whispered back. "Timmendiquas also
+is with him, and the two great chiefs are too cunning to fight until
+they can bring their last man into action."
+
+"An' then," said the shiftless one, "we'll see what happens."
+
+"Yes," said Henry very gravely, "we'll see what happens. The Iroquois
+are a powerful confederacy. They've ruled in these woods for hundreds
+of years. They're led by great chiefs, and they're helped by our white
+enemies. You can't tell what would happen even to an army like ours in
+an ambush."
+
+Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later, when
+they heard footsteps. They awakened the others, and the twelve, crawling
+to the edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat upon their faces, with
+their hands upon the triggers of their rifles.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and Tories in
+about equal numbers, were passing. Wyatt walked at the head. Despite his
+youth, he had acquired an air of command, and he seemed a fit leader
+for such a crew. He wore a faded royal uniform, and, while a small sword
+hung at his side, he also carried a rifle on his shoulder. Close behind
+him was the swart and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and
+Tories together.
+
+The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as many
+belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle fairly
+ached to press it. What an opportunity this would be if the twelve were
+only forty, or even thirty! With the advantage of surprise they might
+hope to annihilate this band which had won such hate for itself on the
+border. But twelve were not enough and twelve such lives could not be
+spared at a time when the army needed them most.
+
+Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+disappointment by a mere physical act if possible. He happened to look
+at Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed together in the
+same manner. It is probable that like feelings swayed every one of the
+twelve, but they were so still in the brushwood that no Iroquois heard
+grass or leaf rustle. Thus the twelve watched the sixty pass, and
+after they were gone, Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for
+several miles. They saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as
+they approached the stream they beheld signs of fortifications. It was
+now nearly daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they turned back.
+But they were convinced that the enemy meant to fight on the Chemung.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+
+
+The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the brushwood
+and saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of men, famous or
+infamous in their day, were gathered around a low camp fire on the crest
+of a small hill. The most distinguished of them all in looks was a young
+Indian chief of great height and magnificent build, with a noble and
+impressive countenance. He wore nothing of civilized attire, the
+nearest approach to it being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung
+gracefully over his right shoulder. It was none other than the great
+Wyandot chief, Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without
+expression to the words of the others.
+
+Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his mixture
+of savage and civilized costume, and about him were other famous Indian
+chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Little
+Beard, a young Seneca renowned for ferocity, and others.
+
+On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir John
+Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his oath of
+neutrality, the condition of his release, and then, fleeing to Canada,
+had returned to wage bloody war on the settlements; his brother-in-law,
+Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy;
+his son, Walter Butler, of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart;
+the Canadian Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark
+Tory, Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former
+land.
+
+Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together, wore the
+handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed many dark deeds
+or permitted them to be done by men under his command, and he had
+secured the opportunity only through his broken oath, but he had lost
+greatly. The vast estates of his father, Sir William Johnson, were being
+torn from him, and perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he
+had done he would lose all and become an exile from the country in which
+he was born.
+
+It was not a cheerful council. There was no exultation as after Wyoming
+and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places. Sir John bit his
+lip uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his hand on his knee,
+stared gloomily at the fire. The two Butlers were silent, and the dark
+face of Thayendanegea was overcast.
+
+A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a mile
+long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner that an enemy
+could attack only in front and on one flank, that flank itself being
+approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge which ran parallel to the
+river. The ground about the camp was covered with pine and scrub oaks.
+Many others had been cut down and added to the breastwork. A deep brook
+ran at the foot of the hill on which the leaders sat. About the slopes
+of this hill and another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian
+warriors, all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white
+allies, conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+Rangers. These men made but little noise now. They were resting and
+waiting.
+
+Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at the
+fire. He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said in his
+excellent English: "The king promised us that if we would take up arms
+for him against the Yankees, he would send a great army, many thousands,
+to help us. We believed him, and we took up the hatchet for him. We
+fought in the dark and the storm with Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many
+of our warriors fell. But we did not sulk in our lodges. We have ravaged
+and driven in the whole American border along a line of hundreds of
+miles. Now the Congress sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we
+have done, and the great forces of the king are not here. I have been
+across the sea; I have seen the mighty city of London and its people as
+numerous as the blades of grass. Why has not the king kept his promise
+and sent men enough to save the Iroquois?"
+
+Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the soul of
+the great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred. His penetrating mind saw the
+uplifted hand about to strike-and the target was his own people. His
+tone became bitterly sarcastic as he spoke, and when he ceased he looked
+directly at the baronet in a manner that showed a reply must be given.
+Sir John moved uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+
+"Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea," he admitted, "but the king
+has many things to do. The war is spread over a vast area, and he must
+keep his largest armies in the East. But the Royal Greens, the Rangers,
+and all others whom we can raise, even in Canada, are here to help you.
+In the coming battle your fortunes are our fortunes."
+
+Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased. His glance fell upon
+the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+
+"There are many in England itself," he said, "who wish us harm, and who
+perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that we ought to
+have. They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of the torture and of
+the slaughter of women and children, and they say that war must not
+be carried on in such a way. But there are some among us who are more
+savage than the savages themselves, as they call us. It was you, John
+Butler, who led at Wyoming, and it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed
+the women and children to be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would
+have been slain there had I not, come up in time."
+
+The dark face of "Indian" Butler grew darker, and the pallid face of
+his son grew more pallid. Both were angry, and at the same time a little
+afraid.
+
+"We won at Wyoming in fair battle," said the elder Butler.
+
+"But afterwards?" said Thayendanegea.
+
+The man was silent.
+
+"It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians against us,"
+continued Thayendanegea. "It is because of them that the commander of
+the Bostonians has sent a great army, and the Long House is threatened
+with destruction."
+
+"My son and I have fought for our common cause," said "Indian" Butler,
+the blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+
+Sir John Johnson interfered.
+
+"We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois," he said, calling
+the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name, "but I and my
+brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain Butler have already lost
+though we may regain. And with this strong position and the aid of
+ambush it is likely that we can defeat the rebels."
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long
+embankment, the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors scattered
+numerously here and there.
+
+"You may be right, Sir John," he said; "yes, I think you are right,
+and by all the gods, red and white, we shall see. I wish to fight here,
+because this is the best place in which to meet the Bostonians. What say
+you, Timmendiquas, sworn brother of mine, great warrior and great chief
+of the Wyandots, the bravest of all the western nations?"
+
+The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was sonorous,
+and his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to hear.
+
+"If we fight--and we must fight--this is the place in which to meet the
+white army," he said. "The Wyandots are here to help the Iroquois, as
+the Iroquois would go to help them. The Manitou of the Wyandots, the
+Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end."
+
+He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he said no
+more. All regarded him with respect and admiration. Even Braxton Wyatt
+felt that it was a noble deed to remain and face destruction for the
+sake of tribes not his own.
+
+Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the while in
+silence.
+
+"You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt," he said. "What further
+information can you give us?"
+
+"We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow," replied Wyatt, "and the
+American army is advancing cautiously. It has out strong flanking
+parties, and it is preceded by the scouts, those Kentuckians whom I know
+and have met often, Murphy, Elerson, Heemskerk, and the others."
+
+"If we could only lead them into an ambush," said Sir John. "Any kind
+of troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before an unseen foe
+pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep woods. Then they magnify
+the enemy tenfold."
+
+"It is so," said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. "When we killed
+Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors stood in the
+moccasins of only one."
+
+Sir John frowned. He did not like this allusion to the time when the
+Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a great
+defeat. But he feared to rebuke the old chief. Hiokatoo and the Senecas
+were too important.
+
+"There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade," he said. "The foliage
+is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is not used to
+forest warfare. What say you to this, Wyatt?"
+
+Wyatt shook his head. He knew the caliber of the five from Kentucky, and
+he had little hope of such good fortune.
+
+"They have learned from many lessons," he replied, "and their scouts are
+the best. Moreover, they will attempt anything."
+
+They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the renegade
+roved about the dark circle of trees and warriors that inclosed them.
+Presently he saw something that caused him to rise and walk a little
+distance from the fire. Although his eye suspected and his mind
+confirmed, Braxton Wyatt could not believe that it was true. It was
+incredible. No one, be he ever so daring, would dare such a thing. But
+the figure down there among the trees, passing about among the warriors,
+many of whom did not know one another, certainly looked familiar,
+despite the Indian paint and garb. Only that of Timmendiquas could rival
+it in height and nobility. These were facts that could not be hidden by
+any disguise.
+
+"What is it, Wyatt?" asked Sir John. "What do you see? Why do you look
+so startled?"
+
+Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+
+"There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not
+seen here before," he replied, "he is as tall and as powerful as
+Timmendiquas, and there is only one such. There is a spy among us, and
+it is Henry Ware."
+
+He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the
+flitting figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and the
+warriors.
+
+"What do you say?" exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, "a spy,
+and you know him to be such!"
+
+"Yes, he is the worst of them all," replied Wyatt. "I know him. I could
+not mistake him. But he has dared too much. He cannot get away."
+
+The great camp was now in an uproar. The tall figure was seen here and
+there, always to vanish quickly. Twenty shots were fired at it. None
+hit. Many more would have been fired, but the camp was too much crowded
+to take such a risk. Every moment the tumult and confusion increased,
+but Thayendanegea quickly posted warriors on the embankment and
+the flanks, to prevent the escape of the fugitive in any of those
+directions.
+
+But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. It was
+next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving to strike with
+a tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great force. The next instant
+the figure leaped far out into the stream. The moonlight glimmered an
+instant on the bare head, while bullets the next moment pattered on the
+water where it had been. Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger
+reclaimed the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods
+with more vain bullets flying about him. But he sent back a shout of
+irony and triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the bank
+bite their lips in anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+
+
+Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a
+trumpet awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henry was
+standing beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's excitement,
+danger, and escape, but his face was flushed and his eyes sparkled.
+
+"Up, Paul! Up!" he cried. "We know the enemy's position, and we will be
+in battle before another sun sets."
+
+Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on his feet,
+rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great attack. He, like all
+the others, had slept on such a night fully dressed. Shif'less Sol, Long
+Jim, Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the rest were by the side of him, and
+all about them rose the sounds of an army going into battle, commands
+sharp and short, the rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of
+bayonets, the clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of
+men talking in half-finished sentences.
+
+It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was the first time
+that they had ever beheld a large and regular army going into action,
+and they were a part of it, a part by no means unimportant. It was
+Henry, with his consummate skill and daring, who had uncovered the
+position of the enemy, and now, without snatching a moment's sleep, he
+was ready to lead where the fray might be thickest.
+
+The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and the
+army began to move through the thick forest. A light wind, crisp with
+the air of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. The sun, swinging
+upward in the east, poured down a flood of brilliant rays that lighted
+up everything, the buff and blue uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the
+bayonets, and the forest, still heavy with foliage.
+
+"Now! now!" thought every one of the five, "we begin the vengeance for
+Wyoming!"
+
+The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the thickets
+for the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so terribly. As Braxton
+Wyatt had truly said, these scouts were the best in the world. Nothing
+could escape the trained eyes of Henry Ware and his comrades, and those
+of Murphy, Ellerson, and the others, while off on either flank of the
+army heavy detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement.
+They saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deep silence in
+front of them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its golden light down
+upon the army in such an intense, vivid flood that rifle barrels and
+bayonets gave back a metallic gleam. All around them the deep woods
+swayed and rustled before the light breeze, and now and then they caught
+glimpses of the river, its surface now gold, then silver, under the
+shining sun.
+
+Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, but he had
+seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he could not keep
+down the desire to see punishment. It is only those in sheltered homes
+who can forgive the tomahawk and the stake. Now he was the very first of
+the scouts, although his comrades and a dozen others were close behind
+him.
+
+The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them by the
+forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and the sound of
+commands.
+
+Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankment ran, and
+he knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by timber. They
+were not far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded very slowly, examining
+every tree and clump of bushes to see whether a lurking enemy was hidden
+there. The silence endured longer than he had thought. Nothing could be
+seen in front save the waving forest.
+
+Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown shoulder's edge
+showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all the scouts sank to the
+ground.
+
+The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle, whistled over
+their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loud at such a time, came
+back from the forest in many echoes, and a light puff of smoke arose.
+Quick as a flash, before the brown shoulder and body exposed to take aim
+could be withdrawn, Tom Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his
+death yell. The Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a
+war whoop, fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and
+before it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in
+tremendous volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout that had
+often appalled the bravest, but the little band of scouts were not
+afraid. When its last echo died they sent forth a fierce, defiant note
+of their own, and, crawling forward, began to send in their bullets.
+
+The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers, who
+replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line through the
+undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of smoke arose and,
+uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed. Twigs and bark fell, and
+now and then a man, as they fought from tree to tree. Henry caught one
+glimpse of a face that was white, that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought
+a shot at the renegade leader, but he could not get it. But the scouts
+pushed on, and the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on
+the flanks they began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of the
+army were in action, but the main body still advanced without firing a
+shot.
+
+The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and rifle
+pits, and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and Tory
+skirmishers leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge with their
+army. Then they turned back and saw the long line of their own army
+steadily advancing, while the sounds of heavy firing still continued on
+both flanks. Henry looked proudly at the unbroken array, the front of
+steel, and the cannon. He felt prouder still when the general turned to
+him and said:
+
+"You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
+lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of
+the rifles shall talk."
+
+The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest
+of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there
+among the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.
+
+Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
+waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
+be thickest.
+
+The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
+and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells,
+new and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
+position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in
+a curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
+followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
+aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+like cry came back.
+
+
+Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.
+
+"That's the medicine!" he cried. "I wonder how you like that, you
+Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your
+scalp-taking crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!"
+
+The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
+the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower
+of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short,
+and the whoop hurt no one.
+
+The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision,
+while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
+engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
+his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
+from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
+bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field.
+They could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork,
+the dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by
+shell and shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the
+great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men,
+and striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
+bullets at close quarters, but more terrifying.
+
+Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian camp,
+creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance to shoot down
+the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watching them.
+
+"Come, boys," exclaimed Henry. "Here's work for us now."
+
+He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the skirmishers,
+who were soon driven in again. The artillery fire had never ceased for a
+moment, the shells and balls passing over their heads. Their work done,
+the sharpshooters fell back again, the gunners worked faster for a
+while, and then at a command they ceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all
+the others knew instinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in
+every bone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+
+"Now!" Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment the order was
+given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke floating away for
+the moment and the sun flashing off the bayonets. The five sprang up
+and rushed on ahead. A sheet of flame burst from the embankment, and the
+rifle pits sprang into fire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past
+them, and the sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never
+ceased to rush straight for the embankment.
+
+It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. There was
+one continuous flash from the earthwork, and a continuous flash replied.
+The rifles were at work now, thousands of them, and they kept up an
+incessant crash, while above them rose the unbroken thunder of the
+cannon. The volume of smoke deepened, and it was shot through with the
+sharp, pungent odor of burned gunpowder.
+
+Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded, and
+fired again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had never
+ceased. It had not been checked even for a moment, and the bayonets of
+one of the regiments glittered in the sun a straight line of steel.
+
+Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was lowest.
+He saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he intended to strike
+if he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulating and shouting to his men to
+stand fast and drive back the charge. He believed even then, and he knew
+later, that Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were showing courage superior
+to that of the Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian
+allies. The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the
+Iroquois did not cease to send a stream of bullets from the earthwork.
+
+Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and closer.
+He saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he snapped his
+empty pistol at it. But it was hidden the next instant behind others,
+and then they were at the embankment. He saw the glowing faces of
+his comrades at his side, the singular figure of Heemskerk revolving
+swiftly, and behind them the line of bayonets closing in with the
+grimness of fate.
+
+Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him point blank, and
+he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then his comrades were by his
+side, and they leaped down into the Indian camp. After them came the
+riflemen, and then the line of bayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and
+the great Wyandot shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+
+Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
+had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
+of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown
+faces before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and
+there, shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that
+the battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal
+Greens and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best
+of the Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they
+fell back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest
+fighter, the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly
+Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who
+were most strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield,
+with its numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.
+They retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of
+bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+
+Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
+face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+
+"The victory is won already!" said he. "Now to drive it home!"
+
+"Come on," cried Henry in return, "and we'll lead!"
+
+A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long
+Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed,
+and they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they
+now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down
+in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their
+bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled
+them to retreat anew.
+
+The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
+the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
+Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of
+their allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and
+white force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives
+from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics
+to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but
+the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
+their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the
+Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
+
+The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but
+the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army
+was driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
+confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
+the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere.
+The victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties
+that had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The
+Iroquois were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might
+be hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford.
+Uttering their cry of despair, "Oonali! Oonali!" a wail for a battle
+lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them throwing away their
+rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the
+Scouts and a body of riflemen were after them.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
+opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
+men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men
+in the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
+pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
+kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering
+fire over their heads.
+
+Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton
+Wyatt again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the
+riflemen, he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders
+were driven back. Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence,
+escaped among the thickets.
+
+The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Little
+groups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away.
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together
+enough men for an ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but
+they were pushed too hard and fast. A rally was always destroyed in the
+beginning, and the chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives. The
+pursuit was continued for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the
+army itself moved forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest
+on the trail of the flying Iroquois.
+
+The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close watch,
+nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then they exchanged shots with
+a band, but the Indians always fled quickly, and at last they stopped
+because they could no longer find any resistance. They had been in
+action or pursuit for many hours, and they were black with smoke, dust,
+and sweat, but they were not yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk
+drew a great red silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his
+glowing face, which was as red as the handkerchief.
+
+"It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a year," he
+said. "The Iroquois have always thought they were invincible, and now
+the spell's been broke. If we only follow it up."
+
+"That's sure to be done," said Henry. "I heard General Sullivan himself
+say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois power."
+
+They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps over
+the path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. They beheld a dead
+warrior at every step, and at intervals were rifles, tomahawks, scalping
+knives, blankets, and an occasional shot pouch or powder horn. Presently
+they reached the main army, which was going into camp for the night.
+Many camp fires were built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory,
+were getting ready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been
+told already that they were to march again in the morning.
+
+Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field of
+battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was now coming, and
+it was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets, and the trees were
+torn by cannon balls. Some tents raised by the Tories lay in ruins, and
+the earth was stained with many dark splotches. But the army had passed
+on, and it was silent and desolate where so many men had fought. The
+twilight drew swiftly on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome
+sounds. The wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done
+so much to turn into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they
+were telling it to one another. By and by, as the night deepened, the
+five saw fiery eyes in the thickets, and the long howls came again.
+
+"It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House," said Paul,
+upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+
+The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush of victory
+in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoice over a fallen
+foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory, and none of them could
+wish any part of it undone. They returned slowly to the camp, and once
+more they heard behind them the howl of the wolves as they invaded the
+battlefield.
+
+They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp fires
+twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many men talking.
+Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+
+"Come, lads," he said. "You must eat-you won't find out until you begin,
+how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we march early
+to-morrow, and we march fast."
+
+The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food since morning;
+they had never thought of it, but now, with the relaxation from battle,
+they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+
+"It's mighty good," said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and ate
+bread and meat and drank coffee, "but I'll say this for you, you old
+ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than the venison an'
+bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a time."
+
+"An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more," said Long Jim
+complacently.
+
+"But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo again,
+Jim," said Henry. "We are going on a long campaign through the Iroquois
+country."
+
+"An' it's shore to be a dangerous one," said Shif'less Sol. "Men like
+warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one fight. They'll
+be hangin' on our flanks like wasps."
+
+"That's true," said Henry, "but in my opinion the Iroquois are
+overthrown forever. One defeat means more to them than a half dozen to
+us."
+
+
+They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the fires.
+They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
+scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could
+not sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He
+watched the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth
+around the camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank
+to sleep. The fires which had formed a great core of light also sank,
+and the shadows crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing
+sentinels, rifle on shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves,
+attuned so long to great effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over
+him, and his eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the
+lowest murmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from the
+battlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirge of the
+Iroquois.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+
+
+The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose,
+refreshed, ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and
+breakfast was cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as
+all had eaten, the army marched, going northward and westward, intending
+to cut through the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come
+from the great commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had
+been so long such a terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be
+annihilated. They must be made strangers in their own country. Women and
+children were not to be molested, but their towns must perish.
+
+As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung,
+the power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the
+border did not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had
+promised them certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the
+promises would come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were
+fugitives in their own country.
+
+The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
+and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for
+a surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still
+lurked in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the
+bullets of ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible.
+Nothing could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory
+chiefs might plan.
+
+They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
+sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little danger of
+the latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at least, bring a
+sufficient force into the field. But after the moon had risen, the five,
+with Heemskerk, went ahead through the forest. The Iroquois town of
+Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the army would reach it on the morrow.
+It was the intention of the scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+
+It was near midnight when the little party drew near to Kanawaholla
+and watched it from the shelter of the forest. Like most other Iroquois
+towns, it contained wooden houses, and cultivated fields were about it.
+No smoke rose from any of the chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts
+saw loaded figures departing through a great field of ripe and waving
+corn. It was the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could
+carry. Two or three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives,
+but the scouts made no attempt to pursue. They could not restrain a
+little feeling of sympathy and pity, although a just retribution was
+coming.
+
+"If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the war, as
+we asked them," said Heemskerk, "how much might have been spared to both
+sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a moment."
+
+The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of the
+corn field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were taking a
+last look at their town, and the feeling of pity and sympathy deepened,
+despite Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the rest. But that feeling
+never extended to the white allies of the Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea
+characterized in word and in writing as "more savage than the savages
+themselves."
+
+The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul was in
+Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken away, but that
+was all. Most of the houses were in disorder, showing the signs of hasty
+flight, but the town lay wholly at the mercy of the advancing army.
+Henry and his comrades withdrew with the news, and the next day, when
+the troops advanced, Kanawaholla was put to the torch. In an hour it was
+smoking ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+
+Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the Iroquois
+power under foot and laying waste the country. One after another
+the Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown, Kendaia,
+Kanadesaga, Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye, Kanaghsawa,
+Gathtsewarohare, and others, forming a long roll, bearing the sounding
+Iroquois names. Villages around Cayuga and other lakes were burned
+by detachments. The smoke of perishing towns arose everywhere in
+the Iroquois country, while the Iroquois themselves fled before the
+advancing army. They sent appeal after appeal for help from those to
+whom they had given so much help, but none came.
+
+It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold. The forests blazed
+with brilliant colors. The winds blew, leaves rustled and fell. The
+winter would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so proud of what they
+had achieved, would have to find what shelter they could in the forests
+or at the British posts on the Canadian frontier. Thayendanegea was
+destined to come again with bands of red men and white and inflict great
+loss, but the power of the Six Nations was overthrown forever, after
+four centuries of victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all
+the time in the thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched
+into the Genesee Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul, as
+they lay on their blankets one night, counted fires in three different
+directions, and every one of the three marked a perishing Indian
+village. It was not a work in which they took any delight; on the
+contrary, it often saddened them, but they felt that it had to be done,
+and they could not shirk the task.
+
+In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of scouts
+and riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in advance of the
+army. It was a democratic little band, everyone saying what he pleased,
+but yielding in the end to the authority of the leader. They were now
+far up the Genesee toward the Great Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of
+advancing ahead of the army on the great Seneca village known variously
+as the Seneca Castle and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full
+match in cruelty for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo. Several causes
+led to this decision. It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas,
+all the Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there. While not
+likely to be true about all, it was probably true about some of them,
+and a bold stroke might effect much.
+
+It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind. The renegade
+was in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he had developed
+great abilities as a partisan, being skillfully seconded by the squat
+Tory, Coleman. His reputation now was equal at least to that of Walter
+Butler, and he had skirmished more than once with the vanguard of the
+army. Growing in Henry's heart was a strong desire to match forces with
+him, and it was quite probable that a swift advance might find him at
+the Seneca Castle.
+
+The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late autumn. The
+night had been clear and cold, with a touch of winter in it, and
+the brilliant colors of the foliage had now turned to a solid brown.
+Whenever the wind blew, the leaves fell in showers. The sky was a fleecy
+blue, but over hills, valley, and forest hung a fine misty veil that is
+the mark of Indian summer. The land was nowhere inhabited. They saw
+the cabin of neither white man nor Indian. A desolation and a silence,
+brought by the great struggle, hung over everything. Many discerning
+eyes among the riflemen noted the beauty and fertility of the country,
+with its noble forests and rich meadows. At times they caught glimpses
+of the river, a clear stream sparkling under the sun.
+
+"Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in Kentucky," said
+Shif'less Sol, "an' it seems to me I like one about ez well ez t'other.
+Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go back home? 'Pears to me that
+we're always goin' farther an' farther away."
+
+Henry laughed.
+
+"It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us away,
+Sol," he replied.
+
+"Then," said the shiftless one with a resigned air, "I hope them same
+circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me gently, but
+strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest fur a lazy an'
+tired man like me."
+
+"I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at least," said
+Henry.
+
+The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were wholly
+irrelevant.
+
+"S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow night?" he
+asked.
+
+"It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely anxious
+for a fight," Henry replied.
+
+"I try to be resigned," said Shif'less Sol. But his eyes were sparkling
+with the light of battle.
+
+They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca Castle
+about ten miles ahead. Henry was quite sure that the Senecas to whom it
+belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with the aid of the other tribes
+might make a stand there. It was more than likely, too, that the Senecas
+had sharpshooters and sentinels well to the south of their town, and
+it behooved the riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a
+hornet's nest. Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind
+that searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their
+blankets.
+
+The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in the
+thickets. Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry. He had observed
+his young leader's face closely that day, and he had a mind of uncommon
+penetration.
+
+"Henry," he whispered, "you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton Wyatt an'
+his band at Little Beard's town?"
+
+"That among other things," replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+
+"That first, and the others afterwards," persisted the shiftless one.
+
+"It may be so," admitted Henry.
+
+"I feel the same way you do," said Shif'less Sol. "You see, we've knowed
+Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that one who started out
+a boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. An' think uv all the cruel
+things that he's done an' helped to do. I ain't hidin' my feelin's. I'm
+jest itchin' to git at him."
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "I'd like for our band to have it out with his."
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that night,
+because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the following
+night, in view of an enterprise that he had in mind. The rosy Dutchman,
+Heemskerk, was in command of the guard, and he revolved continually
+about the camp with amazing ease, and with a footstep so light that it
+made no sound whatever. Now and then he came back in the thicket and
+looked down at the faces of the sleeping five from Kentucky. "Goot
+boys," he murmured to himself. "Brave boys, to stay here and help. May
+they go through all our battles and take no harm. The goot and great God
+often watches over the brave."
+
+Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to the new
+nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout man, despite a
+life of danger and hardship. The people of the woods do not lose faith,
+and he looked up at the dark skies as if he found encouragement there.
+Then he resumed his circle about the camp. He heard various noises-the
+hoot of an owl, the long whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of
+deer going down to the river to drink. But the sounds were all natural,
+made by the animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it.
+Once or twice he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to
+indicate the presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and beat up
+the woods, the night passed, eventless, away.
+
+They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw sure
+indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois evidently were
+not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. Henry had learned that
+this was one of the largest and strongest of all the Iroquois towns,
+containing between a hundred and two hundred wooden houses, and with a
+population likely to be swollen greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois
+towns already destroyed. The need of caution--great caution--was borne
+in upon him, and he paid good heed.
+
+The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about three
+miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry, according
+to his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross. He was
+resolved to find out more about this important town, and his enterprise
+was in full accord with his duties, chief among which was to save the
+vanguard of the army from ambush.
+
+When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the covert,
+and, after traveling a short distance through the forest, turned in
+toward the river. As the town lay on or near the river, Henry thought
+they might see some signs of Indian life on the stream, and from this
+they could proceed to discoveries.
+
+But when they first saw the river it was desolate. Not a canoe was
+moving on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the undergrowth,
+followed the bank toward the town. But the forest soon ceased, and they
+came upon a great field, where the Senecas had raised corn, and where
+stalks, stripped of their ears and browned by the autumn cold, were
+still standing. But all the work of planting, tending, and reaping this
+great field, like all the other work in all the Iroquois fields, had
+been done by the Iroquois women, not by the warriors.
+
+Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint lines
+of smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca Castle. The dry
+cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew across the field.
+
+"The stalks will make a little shelter," said Henry, "and we must cross
+the field. We want to keep near the river."
+
+"Lead on," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and
+bearing back toward the river. They crossed the field without being
+observed, and came into a thick fringe of trees and undergrowth along
+the river. They moved cautiously in this shelter for a rod or two,
+and then the three, without word from any one of them, stopped
+simultaneously. They heard in the water the unmistakable ripple made by
+a paddle, and then the sound of several more. They crept to the edge of
+the bank and crouched down among the bushes. Then they saw a singular
+procession.
+
+A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. They were
+in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. But the aspect of
+the little fleet was wholly different from that of an ordinary group
+of Iroquois war canoes. It was dark, somber, and funereal, and in
+every canoe, between the feet of the paddlers, lay a figure, stiff
+and impassive, the body of a chief slain in battle. It had all the
+appearance of a funeral procession, but the eyes of the three, as they
+roved over it, fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as
+they were to the strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+
+The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who half
+sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. Her long
+black hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered head. She wore a
+brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but it was stained and torn.
+The woman's whole attitude expressed grief, anger, and despair.
+
+"Queen Esther!" whispered Henry. The other two nodded.
+
+So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman at
+Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now. The picture of the
+great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound prisoners was still too
+vivid. She had several sons, one or two of whom were slain in battle
+with the colonists, and the body that lay in the boat may have been one
+of them. Henry always believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+
+As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and now she
+raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+
+"They're goin' to land," whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it approached,
+a group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca chief, appeared
+among the trees, coming forward to meet them. The three in their covert
+crouched closer, interested so intensely that they were prepared to
+brave the danger in order to remain. But the absorption of the Iroquois
+in what they were about to do favored the three scouts.
+
+As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her
+crouching position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of grief,
+rage, and despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. It was
+fiercer than the cry of a wolf, and it came back from the dark forest in
+terrifying echoes.
+
+"It's not a woman, but a fiend," whispered Henry; and, as before, his
+comrades nodded in assent.
+
+The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty that
+had once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was long since
+gone. Her white half of blood had been submerged years ago in her Indian
+half, and there was nothing now about her to remind one of civilization
+or of the French Governor General of Canada who was said to have been
+her father.
+
+The Iroquois stood respectfully before her. It was evident that she had
+lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power proceeding partly
+from her force and partly from superstition. As the bodies were brought
+ashore, one by one, and laid upon the ground, she uttered the long
+wailing cry again and again, and the others repeated it in a sort of
+chorus.
+
+When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the ground, and
+began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to interpret roughly
+to the others. She sang:
+
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory.
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could ever
+remember or translate. But every verse ended with the melancholy
+refrain: "Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!" which the
+others also repeated in chorus. Then the warriors lifted up the bodies,
+and they moved in procession toward the town. The three watched them,
+but they did not rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit
+trees. Then they stood up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of
+relief.
+
+"I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in," said Shif'less Sol. "She
+gives me the creeps. She must be a witch huntin' for blood. She is shore
+to stir up the Iroquois in this town."
+
+"That's true," said Henry, "but I mean to go nearer."
+
+"Wa'al," said Tom Ross, "I reckon that if you mean it we mean it, too."
+
+"There are certainly Tories in the town," said Henry, "and if we are seen
+we can probably pass for them. I'm bound to find out what's here."
+
+"Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I mean to know if he's here," said Henry.
+
+"Lead on," said the shiftless one.
+
+They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of sight,
+and entered the orchard. From that point they saw the houses and great
+numbers of Indians, including squaws and children, gathered in the open
+spaces, where the funeral train was passing. Queen Esther still stalked
+at its head, but her chant was now taken up by many scores of voices,
+and the volume of sound penetrated far in the night. Henry yet relied
+upon the absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him
+a chance for a good look through the town, and he and his comrades
+advanced with boldness.
+
+They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as their occupants had
+gone to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white men-a few
+of the Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other Tories, who were
+dressed much like Henry and his comrades. One of them spoke to Shif'less
+Sol, who nodded carelessly and passed by. The Tory seemed satisfied and
+went his way.
+
+"Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead o' the
+army," said the shiftless one.
+
+Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. He
+saw that no preparations for defense had been made, and there was no
+evidence that any would be made. All was confusion and despair. Already
+some of the squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy burdens. The three
+coupled caution with boldness. If they met a Tory they merely exchanged
+a word or two, and passed swiftly on. Henry, although he had seen enough
+to know that the army could advance without hesitation, still pursued
+the quest. Shif'less Sol was right. At the bottom of Henry's heart was
+a desire to know whether Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a
+desire soon satisfied, as they reached the great Council House, turned a
+corner of it, and met the renegade face to face.
+
+Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he uttered
+a cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. There was no light
+but that of the moon, but he knew his foe in an instant.
+
+"Henry Ware!" he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+
+They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a
+weapon. Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching Wyatt on the
+jaw, and sending him down as if he had been shot. Shif'less Sol and Tom
+Ross ran bodily over Coleman, hurling him down, and leaping across his
+prostrate figure. Then they ran their utmost, knowing that their lives
+depended on speed and skill.
+
+They quickly put the Council House between them and their pursuers, and
+darted away among the houses. Braxton Wyatt was stunned, but he speedily
+regained his wits and his feet.
+
+"It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again!" he cried to his
+lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up. "Come, men! After
+them! After them!"
+
+A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they began a
+search among the houses. But it was hard to find the fugitives. The
+light was not good, many flitting figures were about, and the frantic
+search developed confusion. Other Tories were often mistaken for the
+three scouts, and were overhauled, much to their disgust and that of the
+overhaulers. Iroquois, drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join
+in the hunt, but Wyatt could give them little information. He had merely
+seen an enemy, and then the enemy had gone. It was quite certain that
+this enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+
+Henry and his comrades were crafty. Trained by ambush and escape, flight
+and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive their pursuers. When
+Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran around the Council House, a
+large and solid structure, and, finding a door on the opposite side and
+no one there or in sight from that point, they entered it, closing the
+door behind them.
+
+They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they made
+out the log wall of the great, single room which constituted the Council
+House. After that, with more accustomed eyes, they saw on the wall arms,
+pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some with long hair and some with
+short. The hair was usually blonde, and most of the scalps had been
+stretched tight over little hoops. Henry clenched his fist in the
+darkness.
+
+"Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I don't think so," said Henry. "At any rate they'd find us if we were
+rushing about the village. Here we at least have a chance."
+
+At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes, and the
+three sat down behind them in the very heart of the Iroquois sanctuary.
+Should anyone casually enter the Council House they would still be
+hidden. They sat in Turkish fashion on the floor, close together and
+with their rifles lying across their knees. A thin light filtered
+through a window and threw pallid streaks on the floor, which they could
+see when they peeped around the edge of the mats. But outside they
+heard very clearly the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the
+village. Shif'less Sol chuckled. It was very low, but it was a chuckle,
+nevertheless, and the others heard.
+
+"It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em," said the shiftless one,
+"layin' here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're ragin' an'
+tearin' up the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. Gives me a mighty
+snug feelin', though, like the one you have when you're safe in a big
+log house, an' the wind an' the hail an' the snow are beatin' outside."
+
+"You're shorely right, Sol," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Seems to me," continued the irrepressible Sol, "that you did git in a
+good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all. Ain't he unhappy now, bitin' his
+fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? I feel real sorry,
+I do, fur Braxton. It's hard fur a nice young feller to have to suffer
+sech disappointments."
+
+Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in the
+darkness. Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong. It would be a bitter blow
+to Braxton Wyatt. Moreover, it was pleasant where they sat. A hard floor
+was soft to them, and as they leaned against the wall they could relax
+and rest.
+
+"What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?" asked Tom Ross.
+
+"They won't have to think," replied Henry. "They'll sit quiet as we're
+doing and wait."
+
+The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops came
+from different points of the village. There were shrill cries of women
+and children, and the sound of many running feet. After a while it began
+to sink, and soon after that they heard no more noises than those of
+people preparing for flight. Henry felt sure that the town would be
+abandoned on the morrow, but his desire to come to close quarters with
+Braxton Wyatt was as strong as ever. It was certain that the army could
+not overtake Wyatt's band, but he might match his own against it. He was
+thinking of making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their
+great amazement, they heard the door of the Council House open and shut,
+and then footsteps inside.
+
+Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky figures
+near the window.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINAL FIGHT
+
+
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and the
+three would have recognized those figures anywhere. The taller was
+Timmendiquas, the other Thayendanegea. The thin light from the window
+fell upon their faces, and Henry saw that both were sad. Haughty and
+proud they were still, but each bore the look that comes only from
+continued defeat and great disappointment. It is truth to say that
+the concealed three watched them with a curiosity so intense that
+all thought of their own risk was forgotten. To Henry, as well as his
+comrades, these two were the greatest of all Indian chiefs.
+
+The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the Mohawks
+stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window, taking a last
+look at the great Seneca Castle. It was Thayendanegea who spoke first,
+using Wyandot, which Henry understood.
+
+"Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots," he said. "You have
+come far with your warriors, and you have been by our side in battle.
+The Six Nations owe you much. You have helped us in victory, and you
+have not deserted us in defeat. You are the greatest of warriors, the
+boldest in battle, and the most skillful."
+
+Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went on:
+
+"I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots. We owe you much,
+and some day we may repay. Here the Bostonians crowd us hard, and the
+Mohawks may yet fight by your side to save your own hunting grounds."
+
+"It is true," said Timmendiquas. "There, too, we' must fight the
+Americans."
+
+"Victory was long with us here," said Thayendanegea, "but the rebels
+have at last brought an army against us, and the king who persuaded
+us to make war upon the Americans adds nothing to the help that he has
+given us already. Our white allies were the first to run at the Chemung,
+and now the Iroquois country, so large and so beautiful, is at the mercy
+of the invader. We perish. In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes.
+The American army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca
+Castle, the last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames.
+I know not how our people will live through the Winter that is yet to
+come. Aieroski has turned his face from us."
+
+But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+
+"The Six Nations will regain their country," he said. "The great
+League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so many
+generations, cannot be destroyed. All the tribes from here to the
+Mississippi will help, and will press down upon the settlements. I will
+return to stir them anew, and the British posts will give us arms and
+ammunition."
+
+The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of Thayendanegea.
+
+"You raise my spirits again," he said. "We flee now, but we shall come
+back again. The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit. We will ravage all
+their settlements, and burn and destroy. We will make a wilderness where
+they have been. The king and his men will yet give us more help."
+
+Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding Thayendanegea
+was long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had refused the requested
+neutrality, had lost their Country forever, save such portions as the
+victor in the end chose to offer to them.
+
+"And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I give
+you a last farewell," said Thayendanegea.
+
+The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the white
+man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House, shutting the
+door behind him. Thayendanegea lingered a while at the window, and
+the look of sadness returned to his face. Henry could read many of the
+thoughts that were passing through the Mohawk's proud mind.
+
+Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the
+power and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory of
+the Iroquois, of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by Sir
+John Johnson, the half brother of the children of Molly Brant,
+Thayendanegea's own sister, of the Butlers and all the others who had
+said that the rebels would be easy to conquer. He knew better now,
+he had long known better, ever since that dreadful battle in the dark
+defile of the Oriskany, when the Palatine Germans, with old Herkimer at
+their head, beat the Tories, the English, and the Iroquois, and made the
+taking of Burgoyne possible. The Indian chieftain was a statesman,
+and it may be that from this moment he saw that the cause of both the
+Iroquois and their white allies was doomed. Presently Thayendanegea left
+the window, walking slowly toward the door. He paused there a moment or
+two, and then went out, closing it behind him, as Timmendiquas had done.
+The three did not speak until several minutes after he had gone.
+
+"I don't believe," said Henry, "that either of them thinks, despite
+their brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back again."
+
+"Serves 'em right," said Tom Ross. "I remember what I saw at Wyoming."
+
+"Whether they kin do it or not," said the practical Sol, "it's time for
+us to git out o' here, an' go back to our men."
+
+"True words, Sol," said Henry, "and we'll go."
+
+Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened
+slightly, they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. The
+preparations for departure had probably ceased until morning. Forth
+stole the three, passing swiftly among the houses, going, with silent
+foot toward the orchard. An old squaw, carrying a bundle from a house,
+saw them, looked sharply into their faces, and knew them to be white.
+She threw down her bundle with a fierce, shrill scream, and ran,
+repeating the scream as she ran.
+
+Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. Wyatt
+caught a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on each side,
+running toward the orchard, and he knew it. Hate and the hope to capture
+or kill swelled afresh. He put a whistle to his lip and blew shrilly.
+It was a signal to his band, and they came from every point, leading the
+pursuit.
+
+Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt who had
+made the sound. A single glance backward confirmed him. He knew Wyatt's
+figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark mass with him was
+certainly composed of his own men. The other Indians and Tories, in
+all likelihood, would turn back soon, and that fact would give him the
+chance he wished.
+
+They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the orchard,
+and Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at once.
+
+"We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark," he said.
+
+"We don't want to dodge 'em," said Henry.
+
+The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's face he
+understood.
+
+"You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?" he said.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+"Glad you thought uv it," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They crossed the very corn field through which they had come, Braxton
+Wyatt and his band in full cry after them. Several shots were fired, but
+the three kept too far ahead for any sort of marksmanship, and they were
+not touched. When they finally entered the woods they curved a little,
+and then, keeping just far enough ahead to be within sight, but not
+close enough for the bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of
+the riflemen. As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered
+the long shout of the forest runner. He shouted a second time, and
+now Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry
+penetrating far through the woods.
+
+Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and Tories
+suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never knew, but the
+pursuit came on with undiminished speed. There was a good silver moon
+now, shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt still in the van, with
+his Tory lieutenant close behind, and after them red men and white,
+spreading out like a fan to inclose the fugitives in a trap. The blood
+leaped in his veins. It was a tide of fierce joy. He had achieved both
+of the purposes for which he had come. He had thoroughly scouted the
+Seneca Castle, and he was about to come to close quarters with Braxton
+Wyatt and the band which he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+
+Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was startled.
+He had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute, and so pitiless. He
+seemed to remember as one single, fearful picture all the ruthless and
+terrible scenes of the last year. Henry uttered again that cry which was
+at once a defiance and a signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was
+answered, signal for signal. The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim,
+and Heemskerk at their head. They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw the
+flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them. From the Indians
+and Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and every one in either
+band knew that the issue was now about to be settled by battle, and
+by battle alone. They used all the tactics of the forest. Both sides
+instantly dropped down among the trees and undergrowth, three or four
+hundred yards apart, and for a few moments there was no sound save heavy
+breathing, heard only by those who lay close by. Not a single human
+being would have been visible to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight,
+which tipped boughs and bushes with ghostly silver. Yet no area so small
+ever held a greater store of resolution and deadly animosity. On one
+side were the riflemen, nearly every one of whom had slaughtered kin to
+mourn, often wives and little children, and on the other the Tories and
+Iroquois, about to lose their country, and swayed by the utmost passions
+of hate and revenge.
+
+"Spread out," whispered Henry. "Don't give them a chance to flank us.
+You, Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you, Heemskerk, take ten
+and go to the left."
+
+"It is well," whispered Heemskerk. "You have a great head, Mynheer
+Henry."
+
+Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen remained
+in the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim on one side of
+him, and Silent Tom on the other. When he thought that the two flanking
+parties had reached the right position, he uttered a low whistle, and
+back came two low whistles, signals that all was ready. Then the line
+began its slow advance, creeping forward from tree to tree and from
+bush to bush. Henry raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see
+anything where the hostile force lay hidden. They went a little farther,
+and then all lay down again to look.
+
+Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. He was
+almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling himself along by a
+sort of muscular action of his whole body. Now he was so still that
+he did not seem to breathe. Yet his eyes, uncommonly eager now, were
+searching the thickets ahead. They rested at last on a spot of brown
+showing through some bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure
+aim. The Iroquois uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and
+then fell back prone. Shots were fired in return, and a dozen riflemen
+replied to them. The battle was joined.
+
+They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of the
+Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack of the
+rifles. The riflemen continued to advance in slow, creeping fashion,
+always pressing the enemy. Every time they caught sight of a hostile
+face or body they sent a bullet at it, and Wyatt's men did the same. The
+two lines came closer, and all along each there were many sharp little
+jets of fire and smoke. Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two
+were slain, dying quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who
+continued to press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+
+This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a moment, and
+which was now without the sound of voices, continued without a moment's
+cessation in the dark forest. The fury of the combatants increased as
+the time went on, and neither side was yet victorious. Closer and closer
+came the lines. Meanwhile dark clouds were piling in a bank in the
+southwest. Slow thunder rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at
+intervals by lightning. But the combatants did not notice the heralds of
+storm. Their attention was only for each other.
+
+It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had culminated.
+Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his pitiless resolve
+was not relaxed a particle. The thunder and the lightning, although he
+did not notice them, seemed to act upon him as an incitement, and with
+low words he continually urged those about him to push the battle.
+
+Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver on
+boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire, pressed
+down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees, and the moon was
+partly hidden. But file combat did not relax because of the obscurity.
+Wandering Indians, hearing the firing, came to Wyatt's relief, but,
+despite their aid, he was compelled to give ground. His were the most
+desperate and hardened men, red and white, in all the allied forces, but
+they were faced by sharpshooters better than themselves. Many of them
+were already killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and
+Coleman raged and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so
+hard pressed were they that the Iroquois could not perform the sacred
+duty of carrying off their dead. No one sought to carry away the Tories,
+who lay with the rain, that had now begun to fall, beating upon them.
+
+So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point where
+bodies of their enemies lay. Again that fierce joy surged up in Henry's
+heart. His friends and he were winning. But he wished to do more than
+win. This band, if left alone, would merely flee from the Seneca Castle
+before the advance of the army, and would still exist to ravage and slay
+elsewhere.
+
+"Keep on, Tom! Keep on!" he cried to Ross and the others. "Never let
+them rest!"
+
+"We won't! We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing," replied the
+redoubtable one as he loaded and fired. "Thar, I got another!"
+
+The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way faster.
+Some sought to dart away to right or left, and bury themselves in the
+forest, but they were caught by the flanking parties of Shif'less Sol
+and Heemskerk, and driven back on the center. They could not retreat
+except straight on the town, and the riflemen followed them step for
+step. The moan of the distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell,
+but the deadly crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note
+that claimed the whole attention of both combatants.
+
+It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help. Twenty or more
+scouts and others abroad in the forest were called by the rifle fire,
+and went at once into the battle. Then Wyatt was helped a second time by
+a band of Senecas and Mohawks, but, despite all the aid, they could not
+withstand the riflemen. Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to
+them and sometimes cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat
+could not be stopped. Men fell fast. Every one of the riflemen was a
+sharpshooter, and few bullets missed.
+
+Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field through
+which Henry had passed. Here the retreat became faster, and, with shouts
+of triumph, the riflemen followed after. Wyatt lost some men in the
+flight through the field, but when he came to the orchard, having the
+advantage of cover, he made another desperate stand.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks, pouring in
+a destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth of his band, all
+that survived, broke into a run for the town.
+
+The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was impossible
+to restrain their pursuit. Henry would have stopped here, knowing the
+danger of following into the town, especially when the army was near at
+band with an irresistible force, but he could not stay them. He decided
+then that if they would charge it must be done with the utmost fire and
+spirit.
+
+"On, men! On!" he cried. "Give them no chance to take cover."
+
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties, and
+the riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of pursuit. Wyatt
+and his men had no chance to turn and fire, or even to reload. Bullets
+beat upon them as they fled, and here perished nearly all of that savage
+band. Wyatt, Coleman, and only a half dozen made good the town, where
+a portion of the Iroquois who had not yet fled received them. But the
+exultant riflemen did not stop even there. They were hot on the heels of
+Wyatt and the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who came to
+their relief. So fierce was their rush that these new forces were driven
+back at once. Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a dozen more, seeing no other
+escape, fled to a large log house used as a granary, threw themselves
+into it, barred the doors heavily, and began to fire from the upper
+windows, small openings usually closed with boards. Other Indians from
+the covert of house, tepee, or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a
+fresh battle began in the town.
+
+The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation promptly.
+Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into a house some
+forty yards from that of Braxton Wyatt. Others seized another house,
+while the rest remained outside, sheltered by little outhouses, trees,
+or inequalities of the earth, and maintained rapid sharpshooting in
+reply to the Iroquois in the town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the
+house. Now the combat became fiercer than ever. The warriors uttered
+yells, and Wyatt's men in the house sent forth defiant shouts. From
+another part of the town came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on
+their fighting men.
+
+It was now about four o'clock in the morning. The thunder and lightning
+had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling. The Indians had lighted
+fires some distance away. Several carried torches. Helped by these, and,
+used so long to the night, the combatants saw distinctly. The five lay
+behind a low embankment, and they paid their whole attention to the big
+house that sheltered Wyatt and his men. On the sides and behind they
+were protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+
+"Keep low, Paul," said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. "Those
+fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose you. There,
+didn't I tell you!"
+
+A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's cap, but
+clipped only his hair. Before the flash from the window passed, Long Jim
+fired in return, and something fell back inside. Bullets came from other
+windows. Shif'less Sol fired, and a Seneca fell forward banging half out
+of the window, his naked body a glistening brown in the firelight. But
+he hung only a few seconds. Then he fell to the ground and lay still.
+The five crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity. Behind them, and
+on either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and challenging
+cries.
+
+Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were still
+alive in the strong log house. Two or three were wounded, but they
+scarcely noticed it in the passion of conflict. The house was a
+veritable fortress, and the renegade's hopes rose high as he heard
+the rifle fire from different parts of the town. His own band had been
+annihilated by the riflemen, led by Henry Ware, but he had a sanguine
+hope now that his enemies had rushed into a trap. The Iroquois would
+turn back and destroy them.
+
+Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they crouched in
+the room and fired from the two little windows. His clothes and those
+of the white men had been torn by bushes and briars in their flight, and
+their faces had been raked, too, until they bled, but they had paid
+no attention to such wounds, and the blood was mingled with sweat and
+powder smoke. The Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion,
+and streaked, too, with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the
+muz'zles of their rifles at the windows, seeking something human to
+kill. One and all, red and white, they were now raging savages, There
+was not one among them who did not have some foul murder of woman or
+child to his credit.
+
+Wyatt himself was mad for revenge. Every evil passion in him was up and
+leaping. His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than a human being,
+blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black. By the side of him the
+dark Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses fully as fierce.
+
+"To think of it!" exclaimed Wyatt. "He led us directly into a trap, that
+Ware! And here our band is destroyed! All the good men that we gathered
+together, except these few, are killed!"
+
+"But we may pay them back," said Coleman. "We were in their trap, but
+now they are in ours! Listen to that firing and the war whoop! There are
+enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill every one of those rebels!"
+
+"I hope so! I believe so!" exclaimed Wyatt. "Look out, Coleman! Ah, he's
+pinked you! That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and he's the best
+sharpshooter of them all except Ware!"
+
+Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a good
+aim at something. He had disclosed only a little of his face, but in an
+instant a bullet had seared his forehead like the flaming stroke of a
+sword, passing on and burying itself in the wall. Fresh blood dripped
+down over his face. He tore a strip from the inside of his coat, bound
+it about his head, and went on with the defense.
+
+A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window. Like a flash
+came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the room, stone dead,
+with a bullet through his bead.
+
+"That was Ware himself," said Wyatt. "I told you he was the best shot of
+them all. I give him that credit. But they're all good. Look out!
+There goes another of our men! It was Ross who did that! I tell you, be
+careful! Be careful!"
+
+It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head on the
+window sill until another Indian pulled him inside. A minute later a
+Tory, who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a bullet through his
+head, and sank down on the floor. A sort of terror spread among the
+others. What could they do in the face of such terrible sharpshooting?
+It was uncanny, almost superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one
+another. Smoke from their own firing had gathered in the room, and it
+formed a ghastly veil about their faces. They heard the crash of the
+rifles outside from every point, but no help came to them.
+
+"We're bound to do something!" exclaimed Wyatt. "Here you, Jones, stick
+up the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it I'll put a bullet in
+the man who pulls the trigger."
+
+Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be taken
+in by an old trick. The cap remained unhurt, but when Jones in his
+eagerness thrust it higher until he exposed his arm, his wrist was
+smashed in an instant by a bullet, and he fell back with a howl of pain.
+Wyatt swore and bit his lips savagely. He and all of them began to fear
+that they were in another and tighter trap, one from which there was no
+escape unless the Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that
+they could as yet see no sign. The sharpshooters held their place behind
+the embankment and the little outhouse, and so little as a finger, even,
+at the windows became a sure mark for their terrible bullets. A Seneca,
+seeking a new trial for a shot, received a bullet through the shoulder,
+and a Tory who followed him in the effort was slain outright.
+
+The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was coming.
+Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened into red and
+yellow. The beams reached the room where the beleaguered remains of
+Wyatt's band fought, but, mingling with the smoke, they gave a new and
+more ghastly tint to the desperate faces.
+
+"We've got to fight!" exclaimed Wyatt. "We can't sit here and be taken
+like beasts in a trap! Suppose we unbar the doors below and make a rush
+for it?"
+
+Coleman shook his head. "Every one of us would be killed within twenty
+yards," he said.
+
+"Then the Iroquois must come back," cried Wyatt. "Where is Joe Brant?
+Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John Johnson? Will
+they come?"
+
+"They won't come," said Coleman.
+
+They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which swayed
+hither and thither. The smoke in the room thinned somewhat, and the
+daylight broadened and deepened. As a desperate resort they resumed fire
+from the windows, but three more of their number were slain, and, bitter
+with chagrin, they crouched once more on the floor out of range. Wyatt
+looked at the figures of the living and the dead. Savage despair tore at
+his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this increased.
+It was being served out to him and his band as they had served it out
+to many a defenseless family in the beautiful valleys of the border.
+Despite the sharpshooters, he took another look at the window, but kept
+so far back that there was no chance for a shot.
+
+"Two of them are slipping away," he exclaimed. "They are Ross and the
+one they call Long Jim! I wish I dared a shot! Now they're gone!"
+
+They lay again in silence for a time. There was still firing in
+the town, and now and then they heard shouts. Wyatt looked at his
+lieutenant, and his lieutenant looked at him.
+
+"Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw," said Wyatt.
+
+"I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine," said Coleman.
+
+The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed faces of
+each other, and then laughed wildly. A wounded Seneca sitting with his
+back against the wall began to chant a low, wailing death song.
+
+"Shut up! Stop that infernal noise!" exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+
+The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued his
+chant. Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. He knew
+that everything was lost. The main force of the Iroquois would not
+come back to his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. He sat down on the
+floor, and muttered fierce words under his breath.
+
+"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Coleman. "What is that?"
+
+A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+instantly. It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood, and of
+that wood was built the house they now held. Even as they listened they
+could hear the flames leap and roar into new and larger life.
+
+"This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!" exclaimed Wyatt.
+"We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in our trap!"
+
+"Not I," said Coleman, "I'm goin' to make a rush for it."
+
+"It's the only thing to be done," said Wyatt. "Come, all of you that are
+left!"
+
+The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca,
+who sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant.
+Wyatt glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed
+down the stairs.
+
+The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were
+roaring. They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower
+of bullets met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up
+his arms, and fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the
+smaller men, and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the
+fire of his foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man
+whom he held was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he
+made the corner. In an instant he put the burning building between him
+and his pursuers, and ran as he had never run before in all his life,
+deadly fear putting wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom
+of a cannon, and he knew that the American army was entering the Seneca
+Castle. Ahead of him he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the
+woods, and behind him the burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping
+flames and sparks in myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO
+
+
+"We didn't get Wyatt," said Henry, "but we did pretty well,
+nevertheless."
+
+"That's so," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
+hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I
+guess we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this
+morning's work."
+
+"Never a doubt of it," said Henry, "and here's the army now finishing up
+the task."
+
+The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
+hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no
+part in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had
+been grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed.
+As they rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by
+so much material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes
+drifted over all the forest beyond the fields.
+
+All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
+British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
+already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for
+two or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its steps
+down the Genesee.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was finished.
+Kentucky was calling to them. They had no doubt that Braxton Wyatt, now
+that his band was destroyed, would return there, and he would surely
+be plotting more danger. It was their part to meet and defeat him. They
+wished, too, to see again the valley, the river, and the village in
+which their people had made their home, and they wished yet more to look
+upon the faces of these people.
+
+They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others of the
+riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant Dutchman and
+his comrades.
+
+"It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends," said Heemskerk,
+"and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry; to you, Mynheer
+Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom; and to you, Mynheer
+Jim."
+
+He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away to hide
+his emotion.
+
+The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. When
+they looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his hand to them.
+They waved in return, and then disappeared in the forest. It was a long
+journey to Pittsburgh, but they found it a pleasant one. It was yet
+deep autumn on the Pennsylvania hills, and the forest was glowing with
+scarlet and gold. The air was the very wine of life, and when they
+needed game it was there to be shot. As the cold weather hung off, they
+did not hurry, and they enjoyed the peace of the forest. They realized
+now that after their vast labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed
+a great rest, and they took it. It was singular, and perhaps not so
+singular, how their minds turned from battle, pursuit, and escape, to
+gentle things. A little brook or fountain pleased them. They admired the
+magnificent colors of the foliage, and lingered over the views from the
+low mountains. Doe and fawn fled from them, but without cause. At night
+they built splendid fires, and sat before them, while everyone in his
+turn told tales according to his nature or experience.
+
+They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at the point
+where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set sail down the
+Ohio. It was winter now, but in their stout caravel they did not care.
+They had ample supplies of all kinds, including ammunition, and their
+hearts were light when they swung into the middle of the Ohio and moved
+with its current.
+
+"Now for a great voyage," said Paul, looking at the clear stream with
+sparkling eyes.
+
+"I wonder what it will bring to us," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"We shall see," said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Scouts of the Valley, by Joseph A. Altsheler
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+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Scouts of the Valley, by Altsheler
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+
+
+
+The Scouts of the Valley
+by Joseph A. Altsheler
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE LONE CANOE
+
+
+A light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved
+swiftly up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio.  The
+water, clear and deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently
+at the edges, where it lapped the land, but in the center the
+full current flowed steadily and without noise.
+
+The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid
+tint over the world, a tint touched here and there with living
+fire from the sun, which was gone, though leaving burning embers
+behind.  One glowing shaft, piercing straight through the heavy
+forest that clothed either bank, fell directly upon the figure in
+the boat, as a hidden light illuminates a great picture, while
+the rest is left in shadow.  It was no common forest runner who
+sat in the middle of the red beam.  Yet a boy, in nothing but
+years, he swung the great paddle with an ease and vigor that the
+strongest man in the West might have envied.  His rifle, with the
+stock carved beautifully, and the long, slender blue barrel of
+the border, lay by his side.  He could bring the paddle into the
+boat, grasp the rifle, and carry it to his shoulder with a
+single, continuous movement.
+
+His most remarkable aspect, one that the casual observer even
+would have noticed, was an extraordinary vitality.  He created in
+the minds of those who saw him a feeling that he lived intensely
+every moment of his life.  Born and-bred in the forest, he was
+essentially its child, a perfect physical being, trained by the
+utmost hardship and danger, and with every faculty, mental and
+physical, in complete coordination.  It is only by a singular
+combination of time and place, and only once in millions of
+chances, that Nature produces such a being.
+
+The canoe remained a few moments in the center of the red light,
+and its occupant, with a slight swaying motion of the paddle,
+held it steady in the current, while he listened.  Every feature
+stood out in the glow, the firm chin, the straight strong nose,
+the blue eyes, and the thick yellow hair.  The red blue, and
+yellow beads on his dress of beautifully tanned deerskin flashed
+in the brilliant rays.  He was the great picture of fact, not of
+fancy, a human being animated by a living, dauntless soul.
+
+He gave the paddle a single sweep and shot from the light into
+the shadow.  His canoe did not stop until it grazed the northern
+shore, where bushes and overhanging boughs made a deep shadow. 
+It would have taken a keen eye now to have seen either the canoe
+or its occupant, and Henry Ware paddled slowly and without noise
+in the darkest heart of the shadow.
+
+The sunlight lingered a little longer in the center of the
+stream.  Then the red changed to pink.  The pink, in its turn,
+faded, and the whole surface of the river was somber gray,
+flowing between two lines of black forest.
+
+The coming of the darkness did not stop the boy.  He swung a
+little farther out into the stream, where the bushes and hanging
+boughs would not get in his way, and continued his course with
+some increase of speed.
+
+The great paddle swung swiftly through the water, and the length
+of stroke was amazing, but the boy's breath did not come faster,
+and the muscles on his arms and shoulders rippled as if it were
+the play of a child.  Henry was in waters unknown to him.  He had
+nothing more than hearsay upon which to rely, and he used all the
+wilderness caution that he had acquired through nature and
+training.  He called into use every faculty of his perfect
+physical being.  His trained eyes continually pierced the
+darkness.  At times, he stopped and listened with ears that could
+hear the footfall of the rabbit, but neither eye nor ear brought
+report of anything unusual.  The river flowed with a soft,
+sighing sound.  Now and then a wild creature stirred in the
+forest, and once a deer came down to the margin to drink, but
+this was the ordinary life of the woods, and he passed it by.
+
+He went on, hour after hour.  The river narrowed.  The banks grew
+higher and rockier, and the water, deep and silvery under the
+moon, flowed in a somewhat swifter current.  Henry gave a little
+stronger sweep to the paddle, and the speed of the canoe was
+maintained.  He still kept within the shadow of the northern
+bank.
+
+He noticed after a while that fleecy vapor was floating before
+the moon.  The night seemed to be darkening, and a rising wind
+came out of the southwest.  The touch of  the air on, his face
+was damp.  It was the token of rain, and he felt that it would
+not be delayed long.
+
+It was no part of his plan to be caught in a storm on the
+Monongahela.  Besides the discomfort, heavy rain and wind might
+sink his frail canoe, and he looked for a refuge.  The river was
+widening again, and the banks sank down until they were but
+little above the water.  Presently he saw a place that he knew
+would be suitable, a stretch of thick bushes and weeds growing
+into the very edge of the water, and extending a hundred yards or
+more along the shore.
+
+He pushed his canoe far into the undergrowth, and then stopped it
+in shelter so close that, keen as his own eyes were, he could
+scarcely see the main stream of the river.  The water where he
+came to rest was not more than a foot deep, but he remained in
+the canoe, half reclining and wrapping closely around himself and
+his rifle a beautiful blanket woven of the tightest fiber.
+
+His position, with his head resting on the edge of the canoe and
+his shoulder pressed against the side, was full of comfort to
+him, and he awaited calmly whatever might come.  Here and there
+were little spaces among the leaves overhead, and through them he
+saw a moon, now almost hidden by thick and rolling vapors, and a
+sky that had grown dark and somber.  The last timid star had
+ceased to twinkle, and the rising wind was wet and cold.  He was
+glad of the blanket, and, skilled forest runner that he was, he
+never traveled without it.  Henry remained perfectly still.  The
+light canoe did not move beneath his weight the fraction of an
+inch.  His upturned eyes saw the little cubes of sky that showed
+through the leaves grow darker and darker.  The bushes about him
+were now bending before the wind, which blew steadily from the
+south, and presently drops of rain began to fall lightly on the
+water.
+
+The boy, alone in the midst of all that vast wilderness,
+surrounded by danger in its most cruel forms, and with a black
+midnight sky above him, felt neither fear nor awe.  Being what
+nature and circumstance had made him, he was conscious, instead,
+of a deep sense of peace and comfort.  He was at ease, in a nest
+for the night, and there was only the remotest possibility that
+the prying eye of an enemy would see him.  The leaves directly
+over his head were so thick that they formed a canopy, and, as he
+heard the drops fall upon them, it was like the rain on a roof,
+that soothes the one beneath its shelter.
+
+Distant lightning flared once or twice, and low thunder rolled
+along the southern horizon, but both soon ceased, and then a
+rain, not hard, but cold and persistent, began to fall, coming
+straight down.  Henry saw that it might last all night, but he
+merely eased himself a little in the canoe, drew the edges of the
+blanket around his chin, and let his eyelids droop.
+
+The rain was now seeping through the leafy canopy of green, but
+he did not care.  It could not penetrate the close fiber of the
+blanket, and the fur cap drawn far down on his head met the
+blanket.  Only his face was uncovered, and when a cold drop fell
+upon it, it was to him, hardened by forest life, cool and
+pleasant to the touch.
+
+Although the eyelids still drooped, he did not yet feel the
+tendency to sleep.  It was merely a deep, luxurious rest, with
+the body completely relaxed, but with the senses alert.  The wind
+ceased to blow, and the rain came down straight with an even beat
+that was not unmusical.  No other sound was heard in the forest,
+as the ripple of the river at the edges was merged into it. 
+Henry began to feel the desire for sleep by and by, and, laying
+the paddle across the boat in such a way that it sheltered his
+face, he closed his eyes.  In five minutes he would have been
+sleeping as soundly as a man in a warm bed under a roof, but with
+a quick motion he suddenly put the paddle aside and raised
+himself a little in the canoe, while one hand slipped down under
+the folds of the blanket to the hammer of his rifle.
+
+His ear had told him in time that there was a new sound on the
+river.  He heard it faintly above the even beat of the rain, a
+soft sound, long and sighing, but regular.  He listened, and then
+he knew it.  It was made by oars, many of them swung in unison,
+keeping admirable time.
+
+Henry did not yet feel fear, although it must be a long boat full
+of Indian warriors, as it was not likely, that anybody else would
+be abroad upon these waters at such a time.  He made no attempt
+to move.  Where he lay it was black as the darkest cave, and his
+cool judgment told him that there was no need of flight.  
+
+The regular rhythmic beat of the oars came nearer, and presently
+as he looked through the covert of leaves the dusky outline of a
+great war canoe came into view.  It contained at least twenty
+warriors, of what tribe he could not tell, but they were wet, and
+they looked cold and miserable.  Soon they were opposite him, and
+he saw the outline of every figure.  Scalp locks drooped in the
+rain, and he knew that the warriors, hardy as they might be, were
+suffering.         
+
+Henry expected to see the long boat pass on, but it was turned
+toward a shelving bank fifty or sixty yards below, and they
+beached it there.  Then all sprang out, drew it up on the land,
+and, after turning it over, propped it up at an angle.  When this
+was done they sat under it in a close group, sheltered from the
+rain.  They were using their great canoe as a roof, after the
+habit of Shawnees and Wyandots.
+
+The boy watched them for a long time through one of the little
+openings in the bushes, and he believed that they would remain as
+they were all night, but presently he saw a movement among them,
+and a little flash of light.  He understood it.  They were trying
+to kindle a fire-with flint and steel, under the shelter of the
+boat.  He continued to watch them 'lazily and without alarm.
+
+Their fire, if they succeeded in making it, would cast no light
+upon him in the dense covert, but they would be outlined against
+the flame, and he could see them better, well enough, perhaps, to
+tell to what tribe they belonged.
+
+He watched under his lowered eyelids while the warriors, gathered
+in a close group to make a shelter from stray puffs of wind,
+strove with flint and steel.  Sparks sprang up and went out, but
+Henry at last saw a little blaze rise and cling to life.  Then,
+fed with tinder and bark, it grew under the roof made by the boat
+until it was ruddy and strong.  The boat was tilted farther back,
+and the fire, continuing to grow, crackled cheerfully, while the
+flames leaped higher.
+
+By a curious transfer of the senses, Henry, as he lay in the
+thick blackness felt the influence of the fire, also.  Its warmth
+was upon his face, and it was pleasing to see the red and yellow
+light victorious against the sodden background of the rain and
+dripping forest.  The figures of the warriors passed and repassed
+before the fire, and the boy in the boat moved suddenly.   His
+body was not shifted more than an inch, but his surprise was
+great.
+
+A warrior stood between him and the fire, outlined perfectly
+against the red light.  It was a splendid figure, young, much
+beyond the average height, the erect and noble head crowned with
+the defiant scalplock, the strong, slightly curved nose and the
+massive chin cut as clearly as if they had been carved in copper. 
+The man who had laid aside a wet blanket was bare now to the
+waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play on chest and
+shoulders as he moved.
+
+The boy knew him.  It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning
+of the Wyandots, the youngest, but the boldest and ablest of all
+the Western chiefs.  Henry's pulses leaped a little at the sight
+of his old foe and almost friend.  As always, he felt admiration
+at the sight of the young chief.  It was not likely that he would
+ever behold such another magnificent specimen of savage manhood.
+
+The presence of Timmendiquas so far east was also full of
+significance.  The great fleet under Adam Colfax, and with Henry
+and his comrades in the van, had reached Pittsburgh at last. 
+Thence the arms, ammunition, and other supplies were started on
+the overland journey for the American army, but the five lingered
+before beginning the return to Kentucky.  A rumor came that the
+Indian alliance was spreading along the entire frontier, both
+west and north.  It was said that Timmendiquas, stung to fiery
+energy by his defeats, was coming east to form a league with the
+Iroquois, the famous Six Nations.  These warlike tribes were
+friendly with the Wyandots, and the league would be a formidable
+danger to the Colonies, the full strength of which was absorbed
+already in the great war.
+
+But the report was a new call of battle to Henry, Shif'less Sol,
+and the others.  The return to Kentucky was postponed.  They
+could be of greater service here, and they plunged into the great
+woods to the north and, east to see what might be stirring among
+the warriors.
+
+Now Henry, as be looked at Timmendiquas, knew that report had
+told the truth.  The great chief would not be on the fringe of
+the Iroquois country, if be did not have such a plan, and he had
+the energy and ability to carry it through.  Henry shuddered at
+the thought of the tomahawk flashing along every mile of a
+frontier so vast, and defended so thinly.  He was glad in every
+fiber that he and his comrades had remained to hang upon the
+Indian hordes, and be heralds of their marches.  In the forest a
+warning usually meant the saving of life.
+
+The rain ceased after a while, although water dripped from the
+trees everywhere.  But the big fire made an area of dry earth
+about it, and the warriors replaced the long boat in the water. 
+Then all but four or five of them lay beside the coals and went
+to sleep.  Timmendiquas was one of those who remained awake, and
+Henry saw that he was in deep thought.  He walked back and forth
+much like a white man, and now and then he folded his hands
+behind his back, looking toward the earth, but not seeing it. 
+Henry could guess what was in his mind.  He would draw forth the
+full power of the Six Nations, league them with the Indians of
+the great valley, and hurl them all in one mass upon the
+frontier.  He was planning now the means to the end.
+
+The chief, in his little walks back and forth, came close to the
+edge of the bushes in which Henry lay, It was not at all probable
+that he would conclude to search among them, but some accident, a
+chance, might happen, and Henry began to feel a little alarm. 
+Certainly, the coming of the day would make his refuge insecure,
+and he resolved to slip away while it was yet light.
+
+The boy rose a little in the boat, slowly and with the utmost
+caution, because the slightest sound out of the common might
+arouse Timmendiquas to the knowledge of a hostile presence.  The
+canoe must make no plash in the water.  Gradually he unwrapped
+the blanket and tied it in a folded square at his back.  Then he
+took thought a few moments.  The forest was so silent now that he
+did not believe he could push the canoe through the bushes
+without being heard.  He would leave it there for use another day
+and go on foot through the woods to his comrades.
+
+Slowly he put one foot down the side until it rested on the
+bottom, and then he remained still.  The chief had paused in his
+restless walk back and forth.  Could it be possible that he had
+heard so slight a sound as that of a human foot sinking softly
+into the water?  Henry waited with his rifle ready.  If necessary
+he would fire, and then dart away among the bushes.
+
+Five or six intense moments passed, and the chief resumed his
+restless pacing.  If he had heard, he had passed it by as
+nothing, and Henry raised the other foot out of the canoe.  He
+was as delicate in his movement as a surgeon mending the human
+eye, and he had full cause, as not eye alone, but life as well,
+depended upon his success.  Both feet now rested upon the muddy
+bottom, and he stood there clear of the boat.
+
+The chief did not stop again, and as the fire had burned higher,
+his features were disclosed more plainly in his restless walk
+back and forth before the flames.  Henry took a final look at the
+lofty features, contracted now into a frown, then began to wade
+among the bushes, pushing his way softly.  This was the most
+delicate and difficult task of all.  The water must not be
+allowed to plash around him nor the bushes to rustle as he
+passed.  Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and his
+feet were about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged
+in the mud broke under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud
+in the silence of the night.
+
+Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single
+swift glance.  He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the
+direction from which the sound had come.  Other warriors were
+just behind him, following his look, aware that there was an
+unexpected presence in the forest, and resolved to know its
+nature.
+
+Henry ran northward.  So confident was he in his powers and the
+protecting darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry,
+piercing and defiant, a cry of a quality that could come only
+from a white throat.  The warriors would know it, and he intended
+for them to know it.  Then, holding his rifle almost parallel
+with his body, he darted swiftly away through the black spaces of
+the forest.  But an answering cry came to his, the Indian yell
+taking up his challenge, and saying that the night would not
+check pursuit.
+
+Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the
+more open places that he might make no noise among the bushes and
+leaves.  Now and then water dripped in his face, and his
+moccasins were wet from the long grass, but his body was warm and
+dry, and he felt little weariness.  The clouds were now all gone,
+and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of dusky blue. 
+Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night, and
+Henry felt that he must be wary.  He recalled the skill and
+tenacity of Timmendiquas.  A fugitive could scarcely be trailed
+in the darkness, but the great chief would spread out his forces
+like a fan and follow.
+
+He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop
+in a thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested
+with his head under his arm.
+
+His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now
+resumed its regular beat.  Then he heard a soft sound, that of
+footsteps.  He thought at first that some wild animal was
+prowling near, but second thought convinced him that human beings
+had come.  Gazing through the thicket, he saw an Indian warrior
+walking among the trees, looking searchingly about him as if he
+were a scout.  Another, coming from a different direction,
+approached him, and Henry felt sure that they were of the party
+of Timmendiquas.  They had followed him in some manner, perhaps
+by chance, and it behooved Mm now to lie close.
+
+A third warrior joined them and they began to examine the ground. 
+Henry realized that it was much lighter.  Keen eyes under such a
+starry sky could see much, and they might strike his trail.  The
+fear quickly became fact.  One of the warriors, uttering a short
+cry, raised his head and beckoned to the others.  He had seen
+broken twigs or trampled grass, and Henry, knowing that it was no
+time to hesitate, sprang from his covert.  Two of the warriors
+caught a glimpse of his dusky figure and fired, the bullets
+cutting the leaves close to his head, but Henry ran so fast that
+he was lost to view in an instant.
+
+The boy was conscious that his position contained many elements
+of danger.  He was about to have another example of the tenacity
+and resource of the great young chief of the Wyandots, and he
+felt a certain anger.  He, did not wish to be disturbed in his
+plans, he wished to rejoin his comrades and move farther east
+toward the chosen lands of the Six Nations; instead, he must
+spend precious moments running for his life.
+
+Henry did not now flee toward the camp of his friends.  He was
+too wise, too unselfish, to bring a horde down upon them, and he
+curved away in a course that would take him to the south of them. 
+He glanced up and saw that the heavens were lightening yet more. 
+A thin gray color like a mist was appearing in the east.  It was
+the herald of day, and now the Indians would be able to find his
+trail.  But Henry was not afraid.  His anger over the loss of
+time quickly passed, and he ran swiftly on, the fall of his
+moccasins making scarcely any noise as be passed.
+
+It was no unusual incident.  Thousands of such pursuits occurred
+in the border life of our country, and were lost to the
+chronicler.  For generations they were almost a part of the daily
+life of the frontier, but the present, while not out of the
+common in itself, had, uncommon phases.  It was the most splendid
+type of white life in all the wilderness that fled, and the
+finest type of red life that followed.
+
+It was impossible for Henry to feel anger or hate toward
+Timmendiquas.  In his place he would have done what he was doing. 
+It was hard to give up these great woods and beautiful lakes and
+rivers, and the wild life that wild men lived and loved.  There
+was so much chivalry in the boy's nature that he could think of
+all these things while he fled to escape the tomahawk or the
+stake.
+
+Up came the sun.  The gray light turned to silver, and then to
+red and blazing gold.  A long, swelling note, the triumphant cry
+of the pursuing warriors, rose behind him.  Henry turned his head
+for one look.  He saw a group of them poised for a moment on the
+crest of a low hill and outlined against the broad flame in the
+east.  He saw their scalp locks, the rifles in their hands, and
+their bare chests shining bronze in the glow.  Once more he sent
+back his defiant cry, now in answer to theirs, and then, calling
+upon his reserves of strength and endurance, fled with a speed
+that none of the warriors had ever seen surpassed.
+
+Henry's flight lasted all that day, and he used every device to
+evade the pursuit, swinging by vines, walking along fallen logs,
+and wading in brooks.  He did not see the warriors again, but
+instinct warned him that they were yet following.  At long
+intervals he would rest for a quarter of an hour or so among the
+bushes, and at noon he ate a little of the venison that he always
+carried.  Three hours later he came to the river again, and
+swimming it he turned on his course, but kept to the southern
+side.  When the twilight was falling once more he sat still in
+dense covert for a long time.  He neither saw nor heard a sign of
+human presence, and he was sure now that the pursuit had failed. 
+Without an effort he dismissed it from his mind, ate a little
+more of the venison, and made his bed for the night.
+
+The whole day had been bright, with a light wind blowing, and the
+forest was dry once more.  As far as Henry could see it circled
+away on every side, a solid dark green, the leaves of oak and
+beech, maple and elm making a soft, sighing sound as they waved
+gently in the wind.  It told Henry of nothing but peace.  He had
+eluded the pursuit, hence it was no more.  This was a great,
+friendly forest, ready to shelter him, to soothe him, and to
+receive him into its arms for peaceful sleep.
+
+He found a place among thick trees where the leaves of last year
+lay deep upon the ground.  He drew up enough of them for a soft
+bed, because now and for the moment he was a forest sybarite.  He
+was wise enough to take his ease when he found it, knowing that
+it would pay his body to relax.
+
+He lay down upon the leaves, placed the rifle by his side, and
+spread the blanket over himself and the weapon.  The twilight was
+gone, and the night, dark and without stars, as he wished to see
+it, rolled up, fold after fold, covering and hiding everything. 
+He looked a little while at a breadth of inky sky showing through
+the leaves, and then, free from trouble or fear, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
+
+
+Henry slept until a rosy light, filtering through the leaves,
+fell upon his face.  Then he sprang up, folded the blanket once
+more upon his back, and looked about him.  Nothing had come in
+the night to disturb him, no enemy was near, and the morning sun
+was bright and beautiful.  The venison was exhausted, but he
+bathed his face in the brook and resumed his journey, traveling
+with a long, swift stride that carried him at great speed.
+
+The boy was making for a definite point, one that he knew well,
+although nearly all the rest of this wilderness was strange to
+him.  The country here was rougher than it usually is in the
+great valley to the west, and as he advanced it became yet more
+broken, range after range of steep, stony hills, with fertile but
+narrow little valleys between.  He went on without hesitation for
+at least two hours, and then stopping under a great oak he
+uttered a long, whining cry, much like the howl of a wolf.
+
+It was not a loud note, but it was singularly penetrating,
+carrying far through the forest.  A sound like an echo came back,
+but Henry knew that instead of an echo it was a reply to his own
+signal.  Then he advanced boldly and swiftly and came to the edge
+of a snug little valley set deep among rocks and trees like a
+bowl.  He stopped behind the great trunk of a beech, and looked
+into the valley with a smile of approval.
+
+Four human figures were seated around a fire of smoldering coals
+that gave forth no smoke.  They appeared to be absorbed in some
+very pleasant task, and a faint odor that came to Henry's
+nostrils filled him with agreeable anticipations.  He stepped
+forward boldly and called:
+
+"Jim, save that piece for me!"
+
+Long Jim Hart halted in mid-air the large slice of venison that
+he had toasted on a stick.  Paul Cotter sprang joyfully to his
+feet, Silent Tom Ross merely looked up, but Shif'less Sol said:
+
+"Thought Henry would be here in time for breakfast."
+
+Henry walked down in the valley, and the shiftless one regarded
+him keenly.
+
+"I should judge, Henry Ware, that you've been hevin' a foot
+race," he drawled.
+
+"And why do you think that?" asked Henry.
+
+"I kin see where the briars hev been rakin' across your leggins. 
+Reckon that wouldn't happen, 'less you was in a pow'ful hurry."
+
+"You're right," said Henry.  "Now, Jim, you've been holding that
+venison in the air long enough.  Give it to me, and after I've
+eaten it I'll tell you all that I've been doing, and all that's
+been done to me."
+
+Long Jim handed him the slice. Henry took a comfortable seat in
+the circle before the coals, and ate with all the appetite of a
+powerful human creature whose food had been more than scanty for
+at least two days.
+
+"Take another piece," said Long Jim, observing him with approval. 
+"Take two pieces, take three, take the whole deer.  I always like
+to see a hungry man eat.  It gives him sech satisfaction that I
+git a kind uv taste uv it myself."
+
+Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast
+was over.  Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content,
+and said:
+
+"Boys, I've got a lot to tell."
+
+Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
+
+"I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your
+leggins."
+
+"It has," continued Henry with emphasis," and I want to say to
+you boys that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning
+of the Wyandots."
+
+"Timmendiquas!" exclaimed the others together.
+
+"No less a man than he," resumed Henry.  " I've looked upon his
+very face, I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the
+honor of being pursued by him and his men more hours than I can
+tell.  That's why you see those briar scratches on my leggins,
+Sol."
+
+"Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to
+continued war," said Paul Cotter, "and he will succeed.  He is a
+mighty chief, and his fire and eloquence will make them take up
+the hatchet.  I'm glad that we've come.  We delayed a league once
+between the Shawnees and the Miamis; I don't think we can stop
+this one, but we may get some people out of the way before the
+blow falls."
+
+"Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up
+here?" asked Long Jim.
+
+"Their name is as big as it sounds," replied Henry.  They are the
+Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and
+Tuscaroras.  They used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras
+came up from the south and fought against them so bravely that
+they were adopted into the league, as a new and friendly tribe. 
+The Onondagas, so I've heard, formed the league a long, long time
+ago, and their head chief is the grand sachem or high priest of
+them all, but the head chief of the Mohawks is the leading war
+chief."
+
+"I've heard," said Paul, "that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all
+these tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the
+more friendliness to Timmendiquas."
+
+"Seems to me," said Tom Ross, "that we've got a most
+tre-men-je-ous big job ahead."
+
+"Then," said Henry, "we must make a most tremendous big effort."
+
+"That's so," agreed all.
+
+After that they spoke little.  The last coals were covered up,
+and the remainder of the food was put in their pouches.  Then
+they sat on the leaves, and every one meditated until such time
+as he might have something worth saying.    Henry's thoughts
+traveled on a wide course, but they always came back to one
+point.  They had heard much at Pittsburgh of a famous Mohawk
+chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to the Americans
+as Brant.  He was young, able, and filled with intense animosity
+against the white people, who encroached, every year, more and
+more upon the Indian hunting grounds.  His was a soul full kin to
+that of Timmendiquas, ;and if the two met it meant a great
+council and a greater endeavor for the undoing of the white man. 
+What more likely than that they intended to meet?
+
+"All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?" said Henry.
+
+They nodded.
+
+"It's my opinion that Timmendiquas is on the way to meet him.  I
+remember hearing a hunter say at Pittsburgh that about a hundred
+miles to the east of this point was a Long House or Council House
+of the Six Nations.  Timmendiquas is sure to go there, and we
+must go, too.  We must find out where they intend to strike. 
+What do you say?"
+
+"We go there!" exclaimed four voices together.
+
+Seldom has a council of war been followed by action so promptly.
+
+As Henry spoke the last word he rose, and tile others rose with
+him.  Saying no more, he led toward the east, and the others
+followed him, also saying no more. Separately every one of them
+was strong, brave, and resourceful, but when the five were
+together they felt that they had the skill and strength of
+twenty.  The long rest at Pittsburgh had restored them after the
+dangers and hardship of their great voyage from New Orleans.
+
+They carried in horn and pouch ample supplies of powder and
+bullet, and they did not fear any task.
+
+Their journey continued through hilly country, clothed in heavy
+forest, but often without undergrowth.  They avoided the open
+spaces, preferring to be seen of men, who were sure to be red
+men, as little as possible.  Their caution was well taken.  They
+saw Indian signs, once a feather that had fallen from a scalp
+lock, once footprints, and once the bone of a deer recently
+thrown away by him who had eaten the meat from it.  The country
+seemed to be as wild as that of Kentucky.  Small settlements, so
+they had heard, were scattered at great distances through the
+forest, but they saw none.  There was no cabin smoke, no trail of
+the plow, just the woods and the hills and the clear streams. 
+Buffalo had never reached this region, but deer were abundant,
+and they risked a shot to replenish their supplies.
+
+They camped the second night of their march on a little peninsula
+at the confluence of two creeks, with the deep woods everywhere. 
+Henry judged that they were well within the western range of the
+Six Nations, and they cooked their deer meat over a smothered
+fire, nothing more than a few coals among the leaves.  When
+supper was over they arranged soft places for themselves and
+their blankets, all except Long Jim, whose turn it was to scout
+among the woods for a possible foe.
+
+"Don't be gone long, Jim," said Henry as he composed himself in a
+comfortable position.  "A circle of a half mile about us will
+do."
+
+"I'll not be gone more'n an hour," said Long Jim, picking up his
+rifle confidently, and flitting away among the woods.
+
+" Not likely he'll see anything," said Shif'less Sol, but I'd
+shorely like to know what White Lightning is about.  He must be
+terrible stirred up by them beatin's he got down on the Ohio, an'
+they say that Mohawk, Thayendanegea is a whoppin' big chief, too. 
+They'll shorely make a heap of trouble."
+
+"But both of them are far from here just now," said Henry, "and
+we won't bother about either."
+
+He was lying on some leaves at the foot of a tree with his arm
+under his head and his blanket over his body.  He had a
+remarkable capacity for dismissing trouble or apprehension, and
+just then he was enjoying great physical and mental peace.  He
+looked through half closed eyes at his comrades, who also were
+enjoying repose, and his fancy could reproduce Long Jim in the
+forest, slipping from tree to tree and bush to bush, and finding
+no menace.
+
+"Feels good, doesn't it, Henry?" said the shiftless one. " I like
+a clean, bold country like this.  No more plowin' around in
+swamps for me."
+
+Yes," said Henry sleepily, " it's a good country."
+
+The hour slipped smoothly by, and Paul said:
+
+" Time for Long Jim to be back."
+
+"Jim don't do things by halves," said the shiftless one.  "Guess
+he's beatin' up every squar' inch o' the bushes.  He'll be here
+soon."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and Long Jim did not return; a half
+hour, and no sign of him.  Henry cast off the blanket and stood
+up.  The night was not very dark and he could see some distance,
+but he did not see their comrade.
+
+"I wonder why he's so slow," he said with a faint trace of
+anxiety.
+
+"He'll be 'long directly," said Tom Ross with confidence.
+
+Another quarter of an hour, and no Long Jim.  Henry sent forth
+the low penetrating cry of the wolf that they used so often as a
+signal.
+
+"He cannot fail to hear that," he said, "and he'll answer."
+
+No answer came.  The four looked at one another in alarm.  Long
+Jim had been gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue.  His
+failure to reply to the signal indicated either that something
+ominous had happened or that- he had gone much farther than they
+meant for him to go.
+
+The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little
+while in silence.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked Paul.
+
+"It must be all right," said Shif'less Sol.  "Mebbe Jim has lost
+the camp."
+
+Henry shook his head.
+
+"It isn't that," he said. "Jim is too good a woodsman for such a
+mistake.  I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I
+think something has happened to Jim."
+
+"Suppose you an' me go an' look for him," said Shif'less Sol,
+"while Paul and Tom stay here an' keep house."
+
+"We'd better do it," said Henry.  "Come, Sol."
+
+The two, rifles in the hollows of their arms, disappeared in the
+darkness, while Tom and Paul withdrew into the deepest shadow of
+the trees and waited.
+
+Henry and the shiftless one pursued an anxious quest, going about
+the camp in a great circle and then in another yet greater.  They
+did not find Jim, and the dusk was so great that they saw no
+evidences of his trail.  Long Jim had disappeared as completely
+as if he had left the earth for another planet.  When they felt
+that they must abandon the search for the time, Henry and
+Shif'less Sol looked at each other in a dismay that the dusk
+could not hide.
+
+"Mebbe be saw some kind uv a sign, an' has followed it," said the
+shiftless one hopefully.  "If anything looked mysterious an'
+troublesome, Jim would want to hunt it down."
+
+"I hope so," said Henry, "but we've got to go back to the camp
+now and report failure.  Perhaps he'll show up to-morrow, but I
+don't like it, Sol, I don't like it!"
+
+"No more do I," said Shif'less Sol.  "'Tain't like Jim not to
+come back, ef he could.  Mebbe he'll drop in afore day, anyhow."
+
+They returned to the camp, and two inquiring figures rose up out
+of the darkness.
+
+"You ain't seen him?" said Tom, noting that but two figures had
+returned.
+
+"Not a trace," replied Henry.  "It's a singular thing."
+
+The four talked together a little while, and they were far from
+cheerful.  Then three sought sleep, while Henry stayed on watch,
+sitting with his back against a tree and his rifle on his knees. 
+All the peace and content that be had felt earlier in the evening
+were gone.  He was oppressed by a sense of danger, mysterious and
+powerful.  It did not seem possible that Long Jim could have gone
+away in such a noiseless manner, leaving no trace behind.  But it
+was true.
+
+He watched with both ear and eye as much for Long Jim as for an
+enemy.  He was still hopeful that he would see the long, thin
+figure coming among the bushes, and then hear the old pleasant
+drawl.  But he did not see the figure, nor did he hear the drawl.
+
+Time passed with the usual slow step when one watches.  Paul,
+Sol, and Tom were asleep, but Henry was never wider awake in his
+life.  He tried to put away the feeling of mystery and danger. 
+He assured himself that Long Jim would soon come, delayed by some
+trail that he had sought to solve.  Nothing could have happened
+to a man so brave and skillful.  His nerves must be growing weak
+when he allowed himself to be troubled so much by a delayed
+return.
+
+But the new hours came, one by one, and Long Jim came with none
+of them.  The night remained fairly light, with a good moon, but
+the light that it threw over the forest was gray and uncanny. 
+Henry's feeling of mystery and danger deepened.  Once he thought
+he heard a rustling in the thicket and, finger on the trigger of
+his rifle, he stole among the bushes to discover what caused it.
+He found nothing and, returning to his lonely watch, saw that
+Paul, Sol, and Tom were still sleeping soundly.  But Henry was
+annoyed greatly by the noise, and yet more by his failure to
+trace its origin.  After an hour's watching he looked a second
+time.  The result was once more in vain, and he resumed his seat
+upon the leaves, with his back reclining against an oak.  Here,
+despite the fact that the night was growing darker, nothing
+within range of a rifle shot could escape his eyes.
+
+Nothing stirred.  The noise did not come a second time from the
+thicket.  The very silence was oppressive.  There was no wind,
+not even a stray puff, and the bushes never rustled.  Henry
+longed for a noise of some kind to break that terrible,
+oppressive silence.  What he really wished to hear was the soft
+crunch of Long Jim's moccasins on the grass and leaves.
+
+The night passed, the day came, and Henry awakened his comrades. 
+Long Jim was still missing and their alarm was justified. 
+Whatever trail lie might have struck, he would have returned in
+the night unless something had happened to him.  Henry had vague
+theories, but nothing definite, and he kept them to himself.  Yet
+they must make a change in their plans.  To go on and leave Long
+Jim to whatever fate might be his was unthinkable.  No task could
+interfere with the duty of the five to one another.
+
+"We are in one of the most dangerous of all the Indian
+countries," said Henry.  "We are on the fringe of the region over
+which the Six Nations roam, and we know that Timmendiquas and a
+band of the Wyandots are here also.  Perhaps Miamis and Shawnees
+have come, too."
+
+"We've got to find Long Jim," said Silent Tom briefly.
+
+They went about their task in five minutes.  Breakfast consisted
+of cold venison and a drink from a brook.  Then they began to
+search the forest.  They felt sure that such woodsmen as they,
+with the daylight to help them, would find some trace of Long
+Jim, but they saw none at all, although they constantly widened
+their circle, and again tried all their signals.  Half the
+forenoon passed in the vain search, and then they held a council.
+
+I think we'd better scatter," said Shif'less Sol, "an' meet here
+again when the sun marks noon."
+
+It was agreed, and they took careful note of the place, a little
+hill crowned with a thick cluster of black oaks, a landmark easy
+to remember.  Henry turned toward the south, and the forest was
+so dense that in two minutes all his comrades were lost to sight. 
+He went several miles, and his search was most rigid.  He was
+amazed to find that the sense of mystery and danger that he
+attributed to the darkness of the night did not disappear wholly
+in the bright daylight.  His spirit, usually so optimistic, was
+oppressed by it, and he had no belief that they would find Long
+Jim.
+
+At the set time he returned to the little hill crowned with the
+black oaks, and as he approached it from one side he saw
+Shif'less Sol coming from another.  The shiftless one walked
+despondently.  His gait was loose and shambling-a rare thing with
+him, and Henry knew that he, too, had failed.  He realized now
+that he had not expected anything else.    Shif'less Sol shook
+his head, sat down on a root and said nothing.  Henry sat down,
+also, and tile two exchanged a look of discouragement.
+
+"The others will be here directly," said Henry, "and perhaps Long
+Jim will be with one of them."
+
+But in his heart he knew that it would not be so, and the
+shiftless one knew that he had no confidence in his own words.
+
+" If not," said Henry, resolved to see the better side, we'll
+stay anyhow until we find him.  We can't spare good old Long
+Jim."
+
+Shif'less Sol did not reply, nor did Henry speak again, until lie
+saw the bushes moving slightly three or four hundred yards away.
+
+"There comes Tom," he said, after a single comprehensive glance,
+"and he's alone."
+
+Tom Ross was also a dejected figure.  He looked at the two on the
+hill, and, seeing that the man for whom they were searching was
+not with them, became more dejected than before.
+
+"Paul's our last chance," he said, as he joined them.  He's
+gen'rally a lucky boy, an' mebbe it will be so with him to-day."
+
+I hope so," said Henry fervently.  " He ought to be along in a
+few minutes."
+
+They waited patiently, although they really had no belief that
+Paul would bring in the missing man, but Paul was late.  The noon
+hour was well past.  Henry took a glance at the sun.  Noon was
+gone at least a half hour, and he stirred uneasily.
+
+"Paul couldn't get lost in broad daylight," he said.
+
+"No," said Shif'less Sol, "he couldn't get lost!"
+
+Henry noticed his emphasis on the word "lost," and a sudden fear
+sprang up in his heart.  Some power had taken away Long Jim;
+could the same power have seized Paul?  It was a premonition, and
+he paled under his brown, turning away lest the others see his
+face.  All three now examined the whole circle of the horizon for
+a sight of moving bushes that would tell of the boy's coming.
+
+The forest told nothing.  The sun blazed brightly over
+everything, and Paul, like Long Jim, did not come.  He was an
+hour past due, and the three, oppressed already by Long jim's
+disappearance, were convinced that he would not return.  But they
+gave him a half hour longer.  Then Henry said:
+
+"We must hunt for him, but we must not separate.  Whatever
+happens we three must stay together."
+
+I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself," said the
+shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul.  Once they saw
+trace of footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they
+were quickly, lost on hard ground, and after that there was
+nothing.  They stopped shortly before sunset at the edge of a
+narrow but deep creek.
+
+"What do you think of it, Henry?" asked Shif'less  Sol.
+
+"I don't know what to think," replied the youth, "but it seems to
+me that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also."
+
+"Looks like it," said Sol, "an' I guess it follers that we're in
+the same kind o' danger."
+
+"We three of us could put up a good fight," said Henry, " and I
+propose that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night
+here."
+
+"Yes, an' watch good," said Tom Ross.
+
+Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass
+under the low boughs of a tree.  Their supper was a little
+venison, and then they watched the coming of the. darkness.   It
+was a heavy hour for the three.  Long Jim was gone, and then
+Paul-Paul, the youngest, and, in a way, the pet of the little
+band.
+
+"Ef we could only know how it happened," whispered Shif'less Sol,
+"then we might rise up an' fight the danger an' git Paul an' Jim
+back.  But you can't shoot at somethin' you don't see or hear. 
+In all them fights o' ours, on the Ohio an' Mississippi we knowed
+what wuz ag'inst us, but here we don't know nothin'."
+
+" It is true, Sol," sighed Henry.  "We were making such big
+plans, too, and before we can even start our force is cut nearly
+in half.  To-morrow we'll begin the hunt again.  We'll never
+desert Paul and Jim, so long as we don't know they're dead."
+
+"It's my watch," said Tom.  "You two sleep.  We've got to keep
+our strength."
+
+Henry and the shiftless one acquiesced, and seeking the softest
+spots under the tree sat down.  Tom Ross took his place about ten
+feet in front of them, sitting on the ground, with his hands
+clasped around his knees, and his rifle resting on his arm. 
+Henry watched him idly for a little while, thinking all the time
+of his lost comrades.    The night promised to be dark, a good
+thing for them, as the need of hiding was too evident.
+
+Shif'less Sol soon fell asleep, as Henry, only three feet away,
+knew by his soft and regular breathing, but the boy himself was
+still wide-eyed.
+
+The darkness seemed to sink down like a great blanket dropping
+slowly, and the area of Henry's vision narrowed to a small
+circle.  Within this area the distinctive object was the figure
+of Tom Ross, sitting with his rifle across his knees.  Tom had an
+infinite capacity for immobility.  Henry had never seen another
+man, not even an Indian, who could remain so long in one position
+contented and happy.  He believed that the silent one could sit
+as he was all night.
+
+His surmise about Tom began to have a kind of fascination for
+him.  Would he remain absolutely still?  He would certainly shift
+an arm or a leg.  Henry's interest in the question kept him
+awake.  He turned silently on the other side, but, no matter how
+intently he studied the sitting figure of his comrade, he could
+not see it stir.  He did not know how long he had been awake,
+trying thus to decide a question that should be of no importance
+at such a time.  Although unable to sleep, be fell into a dreamy
+condition, and continued vaguely to watch the rigid and silent
+sentinel.
+
+He suddenly saw Tom stir, and he came from his state of languor. 
+The exciting question was solved at last.  The man would not sit
+all night absolutely immovable.  There could be no doubt of the
+fact that he had raised an arm, and that his figure had
+straightened.  Then he stood up, full height, remained motionless
+for perhaps ten seconds, and then suddenly glided away among the
+bushes.
+
+Henry knew what this meant.  Tom had heard something moving in
+the thickets, and, like a good sentinel, be had gone to
+investigate.  A rabbit, doubtless, or perhaps a sneaking raccoon. 
+Henry rose to a sitting position, and drew his own rifle across
+his knees.  He would watch while Tom was gone, and then lie would
+sink quietly back, not letting his comrade know that lie had
+taken his place.
+
+The faintest of winds began to stir among the thickets.  Light
+clouds drifted before the moon.  Henry, sitting with his rifle
+across his knees, and Shif'less Sol, asleep in the shadows, were
+invisible, but Henry saw beyond the circle of darkness that
+enveloped them into the grayish light that fell over the bushes. 
+He marked the particular point at which he expected Tom Ross to
+appear, a slight opening that held out invitation for the passage
+of a man.
+
+He waited a long time, ten minutes, twenty, a half hour, and the
+sentinel did not return.   Henry came abruptly out of his dreamy
+state.  He felt with all the terrible thrill of certainty that
+what happened to Long Jim and Paul had happened also to Silent
+Tom Ross.  He stood erect, a tense, tall figure, alarmed, but not
+afraid.  His eyes searched the thickets, but saw nothing.  The
+slight movement of the bushes was made by the wind, and no other
+sound reached his ears.
+
+But he might be mistaken after all!  The most convincing
+premonitions were sometimes wrong!  He would give Tom ten minutes
+more, and he sank down in a crouching position, where he would
+offer the least target for the eye.
+
+The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed
+any sign of Tom Ross.  Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and
+whispered to him all that he had seen.
+
+"Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him," whispered the
+shiftless one at once.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+"An' we're bound to look for him right now," continued Shif'less
+Sol. 
+
+" Yes," said Henry, " but we must stay together.  If we follow
+the others, Sol, we must follow 'em together."
+
+It would be safer," said Sol.  " I've an idee that we won't find
+Tom, an' I want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my
+nerves."
+
+It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the
+way into the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent
+Tom, keeping at the same time a thorough watch for any danger
+that might molest themselves.  But no danger showed, nor did they
+find Tom or his trail.  He, too, had vanished into nothingness,
+and Henry and Sol, despite their mental strength, felt cold
+shivers.  They came back at last, far toward morning, to the bank
+of the creek.  It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep stream
+flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost
+like walls.
+
+"It will be daylight soon," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I think we'd
+better lay low in thicket an' watch.  It looks ez ef we couldn't
+find anything, so we'd better wait an' see what will find us."
+
+"It looks like the best plan to me," said Henry, " but I think we
+might first hunt a while on the other side of the creek.  We
+haven't looked any over there."
+
+"That's so," replied Shif'less Sol, "but the water is at least
+seven feet deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash
+swimmin'.  Suppose you go up stream, an' I go down, an' the one
+that finds a ford first kin give a signal.  One uv us ought to
+strike shallow water in three or four hundred yards."
+
+Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up
+the stream.  The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage,
+and the creek soon grew wider and shallower.  At a distance of
+about three hundred yards lie came to a point where it could be
+waded easily.  Then he uttered the low cry that was their signal,
+and went back to meet Shif'less Sol.  He reached the exact point
+at which they had parted, and waited.  The shiftless one did not
+come.  The last of his comrades was gone, and he was alone in the
+forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE HUT ON THE ISLET
+
+
+Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on
+the exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless
+one, had parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade
+was not coming.  The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept
+the others away had taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less
+Sol, master of forest lore and with all the five senses developed
+to the highest pitch.  Yet his powers had availed him nothing,
+and the boy again felt that cold chill running down his spine.
+
+Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also,
+but his instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the
+thickest of the forest, continuing until he found a place in the
+bushes so thoroughly hidden that no one could see him ten feet
+away.  There he lay down and rapidly ran over in his mind the
+events connected with the four disappearances.  They were few,
+and he had little on which to go, but his duty to seek his four
+comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the greater.  Such a
+thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own life never
+entered his mind.  He would not only seek them, but he would
+penetrate the mystery of the power that had taken them.
+
+It was like him now to go about his work with calmness and
+method.  To approach an arduous task right one must possess
+freshness and vigor, and one could have neither without sleep. 
+His present place of hiding seemed to be as secure as any that
+could be found.  So composing himself he took all chances and
+sought slumber.  Yet it needed a great effort of the will to calm
+his nerves, and it was a half hour before he began to feel any of
+the soothing effect that precedes sleep.  But fall asleep he did
+at last, and, despite everything, he slept soundly until the
+morning.
+
+Henry did not awake to a bright day.  The sun had risen, but it
+was obscured by gray clouds, and the whole heavens were somber. 
+A cold wind began to blow, and with it came drops of rain.  He
+shivered despite the enfolding blanket.  The coming of the
+morning had invariably brought cheerfulness and increase of
+spirits, but now he felt depression.  He foresaw heavy rain
+again, and it would destroy any but the deepest trail.  Moreover,
+his supplies of food were exhausted and he must replenish them in
+some manner before proceeding further.
+
+A spirit even as bold and strong as Henry's might well have
+despaired.  He had found his comrades, only to lose them again,
+and the danger that had threatened them, and the elements as
+well, now threatened him, too.  An acute judge of sky and air, he
+knew that the rain, cold, insistent, penetrating, would fall all
+day, and that he must seek shelter if he would keep his strength. 
+The Indians themselves always took to cover at such times.
+
+He wrapped the blanket around himself, covering his body well
+from neck to ankle, putting his rifle just inside the fold, but
+with his hand upon it, ready for instant use if it should be
+needed.  Then he started, walking straight ahead until he came to
+the crown of a little hill.  The clouds meanwhile thickened, and
+the rain, of the kind that he had foreseen and as cold as ice,
+was blown against him.  The grass and bushes were reeking, and
+his moccasins became sodden.  Despite the vigorous walking, lie
+felt the wet cold entering his system.  There come times when the
+hardiest must yield, and be saw the increasing need of refuge.
+
+He surveyed the country attentively from the low hill.  All
+around was a dull gray horizon from which the icy rain dripped
+everywhere.  There was no open country.  All was forest, and the
+heavy rolling masses of foliage dripped with icy water, too.
+
+Toward the south the land seemed to dip down, and Henry surmised
+that in a valley he would be more likely to find the shelter that
+he craved.  He needed it badly.  As he stood there he shivered
+again and again from head to foot, despite the folds of the
+blanket.  So he started at once, walking fast, and feeling little
+fear of a foe.  It was not likely that any would be seeking him
+at such a time.  The rain struck him squarely in the face now. 
+Water came from his moccasins every time his foot was pressed
+against the earth, and, no matter how closely he drew the folds
+of the blanket, little streams of it, like ice to the touch,
+flowed down his neck and made their way under his clothing.  He
+could not remember a time when he had felt more miserable.
+
+He came in about an hour to the dip which, as he had surmised,
+was the edge of a considerable valley.  He ran down the slope,
+and looked all about for some place of shelter, a thick windbreak
+in the lee of a hill, or an outcropping of stone, but he saw
+neither, and, as he continued the search, he came to marshy
+ground.  He saw ahead among the weeds and bushes the gleam of
+standing pools, and he was about to turn back, when he noticed
+three or four stones, in a row and about a yard from one another,
+projecting slightly above the black muck.  It struck him that the
+stones would not naturally be in the soft mud, and, his curiosity
+aroused, he stepped lightly from one stone to another.  When he
+came to the last stone that he had seen from the hard ground he
+beheld several more that had been hidden from him by the bushes. 
+Sure now that he had happened upon something not created by
+nature alone, he followed these stones, leading like steps into
+the very depths of the swamp, which was now deep and dark with
+ooze all about him.  He no longer doubted that the stones, the
+artificial presence of which might have escaped the keenest eye
+and most logical mind, were placed there for a purpose, and he
+was resolved to know its nature.
+
+The stepping stones led him about sixty yards into the swamp, and
+the last thirty yards were at an angle from the first thirty. 
+Then he came to a bit of hard ground, a tiny islet in the mire,
+upon which he could stand without sinking at all.  He looked back
+from there, and he could not see his point of departure.  Bushes,
+weeds, and saplings grew out of the swamp to a height of a dozen
+or fifteen feet, and he was inclosed completely.  All the
+vegetation dripped with cold water, and the place was one of the
+most dismal that he had ever seen.  But he had no thought of
+turning back.
+
+Henry made a shrewd guess as to whither the path led, but he
+inferred from the appearance of the stepping stones-chiefly from
+the fact that an odd one here and there had sunk completely out
+of sight-that they had not been used in a long time, perhaps for
+years.  He found on the other side of the islet a second line of 
+stones, and they led across a marsh, that was almost like a black
+liquid, to another and larger island.
+
+Here the ground was quite firm, supporting a thick growth of
+large trees.   It seemed to Henry that this island might be
+seventy or eighty yards across, and he began at once to explore
+it.  In the center, surrounded so closely by swamp oaks that they
+almost formed a living wall, he found what he had hoped to find,
+and his relief was so great that, despite his natural and trained
+stoicism, he gave a little cry of pleasure when he saw it.
+
+A small lodge, made chiefly of poles and bark after the Iroquois
+fashion, stood within the circle of the trees, occupying almost
+the whole of the space.  It was apparently abandoned long ago,
+and time and weather had done it much damage.  But the bark
+walls, although they leaned in places at dangerous angles, still
+stood.  The bark roof was pierced by holes on one side, but on
+the other it was still solid, and shed all the rain from its
+slope.
+
+The door was open, but a shutter made of heavy pieces of bark
+cunningly joined together leaned against the wall, and Henry saw
+that he could make use of it.  He  stepped inside.  The hut had a
+bark floor which was dry on one side, where the roof was solid,
+but dripping on the other.  Several old articles of Indian use
+lay about.  In one corner was a basket woven of split willow and
+still fit for service.  There were pieces of thread made of
+Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm.  There were also a
+piece of pottery and a large, beautifully carved wooden spoon
+such as every Iroquois carried.  In the corner farthest from the
+door was a rude fireplace made of large flat stones, although
+there was no opening for the smoke.
+
+Henry surveyed it all thoughtfully, and he came to the conclusion
+that it was a hut for hunting, built by some warrior of an
+inquiring mind who had found this secret place, and who had
+recognized its possibilities.  Here after an expedition for game
+he could lie hidden from enemies and take his comfort without
+fear.  Doubtless he had sat in this hut on rainy days like the
+present one and smoked his pipe in the long, patient calm of
+which the Indian is capable.
+
+Yes, there was the pipe, unnoticed before, trumpet shaped and
+carved beautifully, lying on a small bark shelf.  Henry picked it
+tip and examined the bowl.  It was as dry as a bone, and not a
+particle of tobacco was left there.  He believed that it had not
+been used for at least a year.  Doubtless the Indian who had
+built this hunting lodge had fallen in some foray, and the secret
+of it had been lost until Henry Ware, seeking through the cold
+and rain, had stumbled upon it.
+
+It was nothing but a dilapidated little lodge of poles and bark,
+all a-leak, but the materials of a house were there, and Henry
+was strong and skillful.  He covered the holes in tile roof with
+fallen pieces of bark, laying heavy pieces of wood across them to
+hold them in place.  Then he lifted the bark shutter into
+position and closed the door.  Some drops of rain still came in
+through the roof, but they were not many, and he would not mind
+them for the present.  Then he opened the door and began his
+hardest task.
+
+He intended to build a fire on the flat stones, and, securing
+fallen wood, he stripped off the bark and cut splinters from the
+inside.  It was slow work and he was very cold, his wet feet
+sending chills through him, but be persevered, and the little
+heap of dry splinters grew to a respectable size.  Then he cut
+larger pieces, laying them on one side while he worked with his
+flint and steel on the splinters.
+
+Flint and steel are not easily handled even by the most skillful,
+and Henry saw the spark leap up and die out many times before it
+finally took hold of the end of the tiniest splinter and grew. 
+He watched it as it ran along the little piece of wood and
+ignited another and then another, the beautiful little red and
+yellow flames leaping up half a foot in height.  Already he felt
+the grateful warmth and glow, but he would not let himself
+indulge in premature joy.   He fed it with larger and larger
+pieces until the flames, a deeper and more beautiful red and
+yellow, rose at least two feet, and big coals began to form.  He
+left the door open a while in order that the smoke might go out,
+but when the fire had become mostly coals he closed it again, all
+except a crack of about six inches, which would serve at once to
+let any stray smoke out, and to let plenty of fresh air in.
+
+Now Henry, all his preparations made, no detail neglected,
+proceeded to luxuriate.  He spread the soaked blanket out on the
+bark floor, took off the sodden moccasins and placed them at one
+angle of the fire, while he sat with his bare feet in front. 
+What a glorious warmth it was!  It seemed to enter at his toes
+and proceed upward through his body, seeking out every little
+nook and cranny, to dry and warm it, and fill it full of new glow
+and life.
+
+He sat there a long  time, his being radiating with physical
+comfort.  The moccasins dried on one side, and he turned the
+other.  Finally they dried all over and all through, and he put
+them on again.  Then he hung the blanket on the bark wall near
+the fire, and it, too, would be dry in another hour or so.  He
+foresaw a warm and dry place for the night, and sleep.  Now if
+one only had food!  But he must do without that for the present.
+
+He rose and tested all his bones and muscles.  No stiffness or
+soreness had come from the rain and cold, and he was satisfied. 
+He was fit for any physical emergency.  He looked out through the
+crevice.  Night was coming, and on the little island in the swamp
+it looked inexpressibly black and gloomy.  His stomach
+complained, but he shrugged his shoulders, acknowledging
+primitive necessity, and resumed his seat by the fire.  There he
+sat until the blanket had dried, and deep night had fully come.
+
+In the last hour or two Henry did not move.  He remained before
+the fire, crouched slightly forward, while the generous heat fed
+the flame of life in him.  A glowing bar, penetrating the crevice
+at the door, fell on the earth outside, but it did not pass
+beyond the close group of circling trees.  The rain still fell
+with uncommon steadiness and persistence, but at times hail was
+mingled with it.  Henry could not remember in his experience a
+more desolate night.  It seemed that the whole world dwelt in
+perpetual darkness, and that he was the only living being on it.  
+ Yet within the four or five feet square of the hut it was warm
+and bright, and he was not unhappy.
+
+He would forget the pangs of hunger, and, wrapping himself in the
+dry blanket, he lay down before the bed of coals, having first
+raked ashes over them, and he slept one of the soundest sleeps of
+his life.  All night long, the dull cold rain fell, and with it,
+at intervals, came gusts of hail that rattled like bird shot on
+the bark walls of the hut.  Some of the white pellets blew in at
+the door, and lay for a moment or two on the floor, then melted
+in the glow of the fire, and were gone.
+
+But neither wind, rain nor hail awoke Henry.  He was as safe, for
+the time, in the hut on the islet, as if he were in the fort at
+Pittsburgh or behind the palisades at Wareville.  Dawn came, the
+sky still heavy and dark with clouds, and the rain still falling.
+
+Henry, after his first sense of refreshment and pleasure, became
+conscious of a fierce hunger that no amount of the will could now
+keep quiet.  His was a powerful system, needing much nourishment,
+and he must eat.  That hunger became so great that it was acute
+physical pain.  He was assailed by it at all points, and it could
+be repelled by only one thing, food.  He must go forth, taking
+all risks, and seek it.
+
+He put on fresh wood, covering it with ashes in order that it
+might not blaze too high, and left the islet.  The stepping
+stones were slippery with water, and his moccasins soon became
+soaked again, but he forgot the cold and wet in that ferocious
+hunger, the attacks of which became more violent every minute. 
+He was hopeful that he might see a deer, or even a squirrel, but
+the animals themselves were likely to keep under cover in such a
+rain.  He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended also by
+much danger - these woods must be full of Indians - but be
+thought little of the risk.  His hunger was taking complete
+possession of his mind.  He was realizing now that one might want
+a thing so much that it would drive away all other thoughts.
+
+Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after
+hour through the woods and thickets.  He was wet, bedraggled, and
+as fierce as a famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct
+guided him to anything.  The rabbit hid in his burrow, the
+squirrel remained in his hollow tree, and the deer did not leave
+his covert.
+
+Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so
+fearfully long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged
+that it must be about noon, and his temper was becoming that of
+the famished panther to which he likened himself.  He paused and
+looked around the circle of the dripping woods.  He had retained
+his idea of direction and he knew that he could go straight back
+to the hut in the swamp.  But he had no idea of returning now.  A
+power that neither he nor anyone else could resist was pushing
+him on his search.
+
+Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a
+thin and darker line that he knew to be smoke.  He inferred,
+also, with certainty, that it came from an Indian camp, and,
+without hesitation, turned his course toward it.  Indian camp
+though it might be, and containing the deadliest of foes, he was
+glad to know something lived beside himself in this wilderness.
+
+He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be
+correct.  Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of
+about twenty warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak
+opening.  They had erected bark shelters, they had good fires,
+and they were cooking.  He saw them roasting the strips over the
+coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit, bird-and the odor, so
+pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils.  But it was now
+only a taunt and a torment.  It aroused every possible pang of
+hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.
+
+The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no
+sentinels, and they were enjoying themselves like men who had
+everything they wanted.  Henry could hear them laughing and
+talking, and he watched them as they ate strip after strip of the
+delicate, tender meat with the wonderful appetite that the Indian
+has after long fasting.  A fierce, unreasoning anger and jealousy
+laid hold of him.  He was starving, and they rejoiced in plenty
+only fifty yards away.  He began to form plans for a piratical
+incursion upon them.  Half the body of a deer lay near the edge
+of the opening, he would rush upon it, seize it, and dart away. 
+It might be possible to escape with such spoil.
+
+Then he recalled his prudence.  Such a thing was impossible.  The
+whole band of warriors would be upon him in an instant.  The best
+thing that he could do was to shut out the sight of so much
+luxury in which he could not share, and he crept away among the
+bushes wondering what he could do to drive away those terrible
+pains.  His vigorous system was crying louder than ever for the
+food that would sustain it.  His eyes were burning a little too
+brightly, and his face was touched with fever.
+
+Henry stopped once to catch a last glimpse of the fires and the
+feasting Indians under the bark shelters.  He saw a warrior raise
+a bone, grasping it in both hands, and bite deep into the tender
+flesh that clothed it.  The sight inflamed him into an anger
+almost uncontrollable.  He clenched his fist and shook it at the
+warrior, who little suspected the proximity of a hatred so
+intense.  Then he bent his head down and rushed away among the
+wet bushes which in rebuke at his lack of caution raked him
+across the face.
+
+Henry walked despondently back toward the islet in the swamp. 
+The aspect of air and sky had not changed.  The heavens still
+dripped icy water, and there was no ray of cheerfulness anywhere. 
+The game remained well hidden.
+
+It was a long journey back, and as he felt that he was growing
+weak he made no haste.  He came to dense clumps of bushes, and
+plowing his way through them, he saw a dark opening under some
+trees thrown down by an old hurricane.  Having some vague idea
+that it might be the lair of a wild animal, he thrust the muzzle
+of his rifle into the darkness.  It touched a soft substance. 
+There was a growl, and a black form shot out almost into his
+face.  Henry sprang aside, and in an instant all his powers and
+faculties returned.  He had stirred up a black bear, and before
+the animal, frightened as much as he was enraged, could run far
+the boy, careless how many Indians might hear, threw up his rifle
+and fired.
+
+His aim was good.  The bear, shot through the head, fell, and was
+dead.  Henry, transformed, ran up to him.  Bear life had been
+given up to sustain man's.  Here was food for many days, and he
+rejoiced with a great joy.  He did not now envy those warriors
+back there.
+
+The bear, although small, was very fat.  Evidently he had fed
+well on acorns and wild honey, and he would yield up steaks
+which, to one with Henry's appetite, would be beyond compare.  He
+calculated that it was more than a mile to the swamp, and, after
+a few preliminaries, he flung the body of the bear over his
+shoulder.  Through some power of the mind over the body his full
+strength had returned to him miraculously, and when he reached
+the stepping stones he crossed from one to another lightly and
+firmly, despite the weight that he carried.
+
+He came to the little bark hut which he now considered his own. 
+The night had fallen again, but some coals still glowed under the
+ashes, and there was plenty of dry wood.  He did everything
+decently and in order.  He took the pelt from the bear, carved
+the body properly, and then, just as the Indians had done, he
+broiled strips over the coals.  He ate them one after another,
+slowly, and tasting all the savor, and, intense as was the mere
+physical pleasure, it was mingled with a deep thankfulness.  Not
+only was the life nourished anew in him, but he would now regain
+the strength to seek his comrades.
+
+When he had eaten enough he fastened the body of the bear, now in
+several portions, on hooks high upon the walls, hooks which
+evidently had been placed there by the former owner of the hut
+for this very purpose.  Then, sure that the savor of the food
+would draw other wild animals, he brought one of the stepping
+stones and placed it on the inside of the door.  The door could
+not be pushed aside without arousing him, and, secure in the
+knowledge, he went to sleep before the coals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE RED CHIEFS
+
+
+Henry awoke only once, and that was about half way between
+midnight and morning, when his senses, never still entirely, even
+in sleep, warned him that something was at the door.  He rose
+cautiously upon his arm, saw a dark muzzle at the crevice, and
+behind it a pair of yellow, gleaming eyes.  He knew at once that
+it was a panther, probably living in the swamp and drawn by the
+food.  It must be very hungry to dare thus the smell of man. 
+Henry's hand moved slowly to the end of a stick, the other end of
+which was a glowing coal.  Then he seized it and hurled it
+directly at the inquisitive head.
+
+The hot end of the stick struck squarely between the yellow eyes. 
+There was a yelp of pain, and the boy heard the rapid pad of the
+big cat's feet as it fled into the swamp.  Then he turned over on
+his side, and laughed in genuine pleasure at what was to him a
+true forest joke.  He knew the panther would not come, at least
+not while he was in the hut, and he calmly closed his eyes once
+more.  The old Henry was himself again.
+
+He awoke in the morning to find that the cold rain was still
+falling.  It seemed to him that it had prepared to rain forever,
+but he was resolved, nevertheless, now that he had food and the
+strength that food brings, to begin the search for his comrades. 
+The islet in the swamp would serve as his base-nothing could be
+better-and he would never cease until he found them or discovered
+what had become of them.
+
+A little spring of cold water flowed from the edge of the islet
+to lose itself quickly in the swamp.  Henry drank there after his
+breakfast, and then felt as strong and active as ever.  As he
+knew, the mind may triumph over the body, but the mind cannot
+save the body without food.  Then he made his precious bear meat
+secure against the prowling panther or others of his kind, tying
+it on hanging boughs too high for a jump and too slender to
+support the weight of a large animal.  This task finished
+quickly, he left the swamp and returned toward the spot where lie
+had seen the Mohawks.
+
+The falling rain and the somber clouds helped Henry, in a way, as
+the whole forest was enveloped in a sort of  gloom, and he was
+less likely to be seen.  But when he had gone about half the
+distance he heard Indians signaling to one another, and, burying
+himself as usual in the wet bushes, he saw two small groups of
+warriors meet and talk.  Presently they separated, one party
+going toward the east and the other toward the west.  Henry
+thought they were out hunting, as the Indians usually took little
+care of the morrow, eating all their food in a few days, no
+matter how great the supply might be.
+
+When he drew near the place he saw three more Indians, and these
+were traveling directly south.  He was quite sure now that his
+theory was correct.  They were sending out hunters in every
+direction, in order that they might beat up the woods thoroughly
+for game, and his own position anywhere except on the islet was
+becoming exceedingly precarious.  Nevertheless, using all his
+wonderful skill, he continued the hunt.  He had an abiding faith
+that his four comrades were yet alive, and he meant to prove it.
+
+In the afternoon the clouds moved away a little, and the rain
+decreased, though it did not cease.  The Indian signs multiplied,
+and Henry felt sure that the forest within a radius of twenty
+miles of his islet contained more than one camp.  Some great
+gathering must be in progress and the hunters were out to supply
+it with food.  Four times he heard the sound of shots, and thrice
+more he saw warriors passing through the forest.  Once a wounded
+deer darted past him, and, lying down in the bushes, he saw the
+Indians following the fleeing animal.  As the day grew older the
+trails multiplied.  Certainly a formidable gathering of bands was
+in progress, and, feeling that he might at any time be caught in
+a net, he returned to the islet, which had now become a veritable
+fort for him.
+
+It was not quite dark when he arrived, and he found all as it had
+been except the tracks of two panthers under the boughs to which
+he had fastened the big pieces of bear meat.  Henry felt a
+malicious satisfaction at the disappointment of the panthers.
+
+"Come again, and have the same bad luck," he murmured."
+
+At dusk the rain ceased entirely, and he prepared for a journey
+in the night.  He examined his powder carefully to see that no
+particle of it was wet, counted the bullets in his pouch, and
+then examined the skies.  There was a little moon, not too much,
+enough to show him the way, but not enough to disclose him to an
+enemy unless very near.  Then he left the islet and went swiftly
+through the forest, laying his course a third time toward the
+Indian camp.  He was sure now that all the hunters had returned,
+and he did not expect the necessity of making any  stops for the
+purpose of hiding.  His hopes were justified, and as he drew near
+the camp he became aware that its population had increased
+greatly.  It was proved by many signs.  New trails converged upon
+it, and some of them were very broad, indicating that many
+warriors had passed.  They had passed, too, in perfect
+confidence, as there was no effort at concealment, and Henry
+surmised that no white force of any size could be within many
+days' march of this place.  But the very security of the Indians
+helped his own design.  They would not dream that any one of the
+hated race was daring to come almost within the light of their
+fires.
+
+Henry had but one fear just now, and that was dogs.  If the
+Indians had any of their mongrel curs with them, they would
+quickly scent him out and give the alarm with their barking.  But
+he believed that the probabilities were against it.  This, so he
+thought then, was a war or hunting camp, and it was likely that
+the Indians would leave the dogs at their permanent villages.  At
+any rate he would take the risk, and he drew slowly toward the
+oak opening, where some Indians stood about.  Beyond them, in
+another dip of the valley, was a wider opening which he had not
+seen on his first trip, and this contained not only bark
+shelters, but buildings that indicated a permanent village.  The
+second and larger opening was filled with a great concourse of
+warriors.
+
+Fortunately the foliage around the opening was very dense, many
+trees and thickets everywhere.  Henry crept to the very rim,
+where, lying in the blackest of the shadows, and well hidden
+himself, he could yet see nearly everything in the camp.  The men
+were not eating now, although it was obvious that the hunters had
+done well.  The dressed bodies of deer and bear hung in the bark
+shelters.  Most of the Indians sat about the fires, and it seemed
+to Henry that they had an air of expectancy.  At least two
+hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint, although
+there were several styles of paint.  There was a difference in
+appearance, too, in the warriors, and Henry surmised that
+representatives of all the tribes of the Iroquois were there,
+coming to the extreme western boundary or fringe of their
+country.
+
+While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing
+and manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him
+and talked together earnestly.  Now and then they looked toward
+the forest, and he was quite sure that they were expecting
+somebody, a person of importance.  He became deeply interested. 
+He was lying in a dense clump of hazel bushes, flat upon his
+stomach, his face raised but little above the ground.  He would
+have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet away, but the
+faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight were
+so clearly visible to him that he could see every change of
+expression.  They were fine-looking men, all of middle age, tall,
+lean, their noses hooked, features cut clean and strong, and
+their heads shaved, all except the defiant scalp lock, into which
+the feather of an eagle was twisted.  Their bodies were draped in
+fine red or blue blankets, and they wore leggins and moccasins of
+beautifully tanned deerskin.
+
+They ceased talking presently, and Henry heard a distant wailing
+note from the west.  Some one in the camp replied with a cry in
+kind, and then a silence fell upon them all.  The chiefs stood
+erect, looking toward the west.  Henry knew that he whom they
+expected was at hand.
+
+The cry was repeated, but much nearer, and a warrior leaped into
+the opening, in the full blaze of the firelight.  He was entirely
+naked save for a breech cloth and moccasins, and he was a wild
+and savage figure.  He stood for a moment or two, then faced the
+chiefs, and, bowing before them, spoke a few words in the Wyandot
+tongue-Henry knew already by his paint that he was a Wyandot.
+
+The chiefs inclined their heads gravely, and the herald, turning,
+leaped back into the forest.  In two or three minutes six men,
+including the herald, emerged from the woods, and Henry moved a
+little when he saw the first of the six, all of whom were
+Wyandots.  It was Timmendiquas, head chief of the Wyandots, and
+Henry had never seen him more splendid in manner and bearing than
+he was as he thus met the representatives of the famous Six
+Nations.  Small though the Wyandot tribe might be, mighty was its
+valor and fame, and White Lightning met the great Iroquois only
+as an equal, in his heart a superior.
+
+It was an extraordinary thing, but Henry, at this very moment,
+burrowing in the earth that be might not lose his life at the
+hands of either, was an ardent partisan of Timmendiquas.  It was
+the young Wyandot chief whom he wished to be first, to make the
+greatest impression, and he was pleased when he heard the low hum
+of admiration go round the circle of two hundred savage warriors. 
+It was seldom, indeed, perhaps never, that the Iroquois had
+looked upon such a man as Timmendiquas.
+
+Timmendiquas and his companions advanced slowly toward the
+chiefs, and the Wyandot overtopped all the Iroquois.  Henry could
+tell by the manner of the chiefs that the reputation of the
+famous White Lightning had preceded him, and that they had
+already found fact equal to report.
+
+The chiefs, Timmendiquas among them, sat down on logs before the
+fire, and all the warriors withdrew to a respectful distance,
+where they stood and watched in silence.  The oldest chief took
+his long pipe, beautifully carved and shaped like a trumpet, and
+filled it with tobacco which he lighted with a coal from the
+fire.  Then he took two or three whiffs and passed the pipe to
+Timmendiquas, who did the same.  Every chief smoked the pipe, and
+then they sat still, waiting in silence.
+
+Henry was so much absorbed in this scene, which was at once a
+spectacle and a drama, that he almost forgot where he was, and
+that he was an enemy.  He wondered now at their silence.  If this
+was a council surely they would discuss whatever question had
+brought them there! But he was soon enlightened.  That low far
+cry came again, but from the east.  It was answered, as before,
+from the camp, and in three or four minutes a warrior sprang from
+the forest into the opening.  Like the first, he was naked except
+for the breech cloth and moccasins.  The chiefs rose at his
+coming, received his salute gravely, and returned it as gravely. 
+Then he returned to the forest, and all waited in the splendid
+calm of the Indian.
+
+Curiosity pricked Henry like a nettle.  Who was coming now?  It
+must be some man of great importance, or they would not wait so
+silently.  There was the same air of expectancy that had preceded
+the arrival of Timmendiquas.  All the warriors looked toward the
+eastern wall of the forest, and Henry looked the same way. 
+Presently the black foliage parted, and a man stepped forth,
+followed at a little distance by seven or eight others.  The
+stranger, although tall, was not equal in height to Timmendiquas,
+but he, too, had a lofty and splendid presence, and it was
+evident to anyone versed at all in forest lore that here was a
+great chief.  He was lean but sinewy, and he moved with great
+ease and grace.  He reminded Henry of a powerful panther.  He was
+dressed, after the manner of famous chiefs, with the utmost care. 
+His short military coat of fine blue cloth bore a silver epaulet
+on either shoulder.  His head was not bare, disclosing the scalp
+lock, like those of the other Indians; it was covered instead
+with a small hat of felt, round and laced.  Hanging carelessly
+over one shoulder was a blanket of blue cloth with a red border. 
+At his side, from a belt of blue leather swung a silver-mounted
+small sword.  His leggins were of superfine blue cloth and his
+moccasins of deerskin.  Both were trimmed with small beads of
+many colors.
+
+The new chief advanced into the opening amid the dead silence
+that still held all, and Timmendiquas stepped forward to meet
+him.  These two held the gaze of everyone, and what they and they
+alone did had become of surpassing interest.  Each was haughty,
+fully aware of his own dignity and importance, but they met half
+way, looked intently for a moment or two into the eyes of each
+other, and then saluted gravely.
+
+All at once Henry knew the stranger.  He had never seen him
+before, but his impressive reception, and the mixture of military
+and savage attire revealed him.  This could be none other than
+the great Mohawk war chief, Thayendanegea, the Brant of the white
+men, terrible name on the border.  Henry gazed at him eagerly
+from his covert, etching his features forever on his memory.  His
+face, lean and strong, was molded much like that of Timmendiquas,
+and like the Wyandot he was young, under thirty.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea-it was truly he-returned to the
+fire, and once again the trumpet-shaped pipe was smoked by all. 
+The two young chiefs received the seats of favor, and others sat
+about them.  But they were not the only great chiefs present,
+though all yielded first place to them because of their character
+and exploits.
+
+Henry was not mistaken in his guess that this was an important
+council, although its extent exceeded even his surmise. 
+Delegates and head chiefs of all the Six Nations were present to
+confer with the warlike Wyandots of the west who had come so far
+east to meet them.  Thayendanegea was the great war chief of the
+Mohawks, but not their titular chief.  The latter was an older
+man, Te-kie-ho-ke (Two Voices), who sat beside the younger.  The
+other chiefs were the Onondaga, Tahtoo-ta-hoo (The Entangled) ;
+the Oneida, 0-tat-sheh-te (Bearing a Quiver) ; the Cayuga,
+Te-ka-ha-hoonk (He Who Looks Both Ways) ; the Seneca,
+Kan-ya-tai-jo (Beautiful Lake) ; and the Tuscarora,
+Ta-ha-en-te-yahwak-hon (Encircling and Holding Up a Tree).  The
+names were hereditary, and because in a dim past they had formed
+the great confederacy, the Onondagas were first in the council,
+and were also the high priests and titular head of the Six
+Nations.  But the Mohawks were first on-the war path.
+
+All the Six Nations were divided into clans, and every clan,
+camping in its proper place, was represented at this meeting.
+
+Henry had heard much at Pittsburgh of the Six Nations, their
+wonderful league, and their wonderful history.  He knew that
+according to the legend the league had been formed by Hiawatha,
+an Onondaga.  He was opposed in this plan by Tododaho, then head
+chief of the Onondagas, but he went to the Mohawks and gained the
+support of their great chief, Dekanawidah.  With his aid the
+league was formed, and the solemn agreement, never broken, was
+made at the Onondaga Lake.  Now they were a perfect little state,
+with fifty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs, fifty-six.
+
+Some of these details Henry was to learn later.  He was also to
+learn many of the words that the chiefs said through a source of
+which he little dreamed at the present.  Yet he divined much of
+it from the meeting of the fiery Wyandots with the highly
+developed and warlike power of the Six Nations.
+
+Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and
+grave, was listening.  The Mohawk approached his subject
+indirectly through the trope, allegory, and simile that the
+Indian loved.  He talked of the unseen deities that ruled the
+life of the Iroquois through mystic dreams.  He spoke of the
+trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which to the Iroquois
+had souls.  He called on the name of the Great Spirit, which was
+Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in the
+Iroquois belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul
+was so mighty that he did not need body.
+
+This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of
+the brave Wyandots," he said to Timmendiquas.  "Once there was no
+land, only the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni
+above the foam.  Then he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it,
+and from those handfuls grew the Five Nations.  Later grew up the
+Tuscaroras, who have joined us and other tribes of our race, like
+yours, great chief of the brave Wyandots."
+
+Timmendiquas still said nothing.  He did not allow an eyelid to
+flicker at this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations
+over all other tribes.  A great warrior he was, a great
+politician also, and he wished to unite the Iroquois in a firm
+league with the tribes of the Ohio valley.  The coals from the
+great fire glowed and threw out an intense heat.  Thayendanegea
+unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back, revealing a bare
+bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of the Mohawks, a
+flint and steel.  The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca
+head chiefs were also bared to the glow.  The device on the chest
+of the Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a
+great pipe, and the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca
+bronze.
+
+"We have had the messages that you have sent to us,
+Timmendiquas," said Thayendanegea, "and they are good in the eyes
+of our people, the Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks).  They please,
+too, the ancient tribe, the Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the
+valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and all our brethren of the
+Six Nations.  All the land from the salt water to the setting sun
+was given to the red men by Aieroski, but if we do not defend it
+we cannot keep it."
+
+"It is so," said Timmendiquas, speaking for the first time.  "We
+have fought them on the Ohio and in Kaintuck-ee, where they come
+with their rifles and axes.  The whole might of the Wyandots, the
+Shawnees, the Miamis, the Illinois, the Delawares, and the
+Ottawas has gone forth against them.  We have slain many of them,
+but we have failed to drive them back.  Now we have come to ask
+the Six Nations to press down upon them in the east with all your
+power, while we do the same in the west.  Surely then your
+Aieroski and our Manitou, who are the same, will not refuse us
+success."
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea glistened.
+
+"You speak well, Timmendiquas," he said.  " All the red men must
+unite to fight for the land of Konspioni which Aieroski raised
+above the sea, and we be two, you and I, Timmendiquas, fit to
+lead them to battle."
+
+"It is so," said Timmendiquas gravely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE IROQUOIS TOWN
+
+
+Henry lay fully an hour in the bushes.  He had forgotten about
+the dogs that he dreaded, but evidently he was right in his
+surmise that the camp contained none.  Nothing disturbed him
+while he stared at what was passing by the firelight.  There
+could be no doubt that the meeting of Timmendiquas and
+Thayendanegea portended great things, but he would not be stirred
+from his task of rescuing his comrades or discovering their fate.
+
+They two, great chiefs, sat long in close converse.  Others-older
+men, chiefs, also-came at times and talked with them.  But these
+two, proud, dominating, both singularly handsome men of the
+Indian type, were always there.  Henry was almost ready to steal
+away when he saw a new figure approaching the two chiefs.  The
+walk and bearing of the stranger were familiar, and HENRY knew
+him even before his face was lighted tip by the fire.  It was
+Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, who had escaped the great battles on
+both the Ohio and the Mississippi, and who was here with the
+Iroquois, ready to do to his own race all the evil that he could. 
+Henry felt a shudder of repulsion, deeper than any Indian could
+inspire in him.  They fought for their own land and their own
+people, but Braxton Wyatt had violated everything that an honest
+man should hold sacred.
+
+Henry, on the whole, was not surprised to see him.  Such a chance
+was sure to draw Braxton Wyatt.  Moreover, the war, so far as it
+pertained to the border, seemed to be sweeping toward the
+northeast, and it bore many stormy petrels upon its crest.
+
+He watched Wyatt as he walked toward one of the fires.  There the
+renegade sat down and talked with the warriors, apparently on the
+best of terms.  He was presently joined by two more renegades,
+whom Henry recognized as Blackstaffe and Quarles.  Timmendiquas
+and Thayendanegea rose after a while, and walked toward the
+center of the camp, where several of the bark shelters had been
+enclosed entirely.  Henry judged that one had been set apart for
+each, but they were lost from his view when they passed within
+the circling ring of warriors.
+
+Henry believed that the Iroquois and Wyandots would form a
+fortified camp here, a place from which they would make sudden
+and terrible forays upon the settlements.  He based his opinion
+upon the good location and the great number of saplings that had
+been cut down already.  They would build strong lodges and then a
+palisade around them with the saplings.  He was speedily
+confirmed in this opinion when he saw warriors come to the forest
+with hatchets and begin to cut down more saplings.  He knew then
+that it was time to go, as a wood chopper might blunder upon him
+at any time.
+
+He slipped from his covert and was quickly gone in the forest. 
+His limbs were somewhat stiff from lying so long in one position,
+but that soon wore away, and he was comparatively fresh when he
+came once more to the islet in the swamp.  A good moon was now
+shining, tipping the forest with a fine silvery gray, and Henry
+purveyed with the greatest satisfaction the simple little shelter
+that he had found so opportunely.  It was a good house, too, good
+to such a son of the deepest forest as was Henry.  It was made of
+nothing but bark and poles, but it had kept out all that long,
+penetrating rain of the last three or four days, and when he
+lifted the big stone aside and opened the door it seemed as snug
+a place as he could have wished.
+
+He left the door open a little, lighted a small fire on the flat
+stones, having no fear that it would be seen through the dense
+curtain that shut him in, and broiled big bear steaks on the
+coals.  When he had eaten and the fire had died he went out and
+sat beside the hut.  He was well satisfied with the day's work,
+and he wished now to think with all the concentration that one
+must put upon a great task if he expects to achieve it.  He
+intended to invade the Indian camp, and he knew full well that it
+was the most perilous enterprise that he had ever attempted.  Yet
+scouts and hunters had done such things and had escaped with
+their lives.  He must not shrink from the path that others had
+trodden.
+
+He made up his mind firmly, and partly thought out his plan of
+operations.  Then he rested, and so sanguine was his temperament
+that he began to regard the deed itself as almost achieved. 
+Decision is always soothing after doubt, and he fell into a
+pleasant dreamy state.  A gentle wind was blowing, the forest was
+dry and the leaves rustled with the low note that is like the
+softest chord of a violin.  It became penetrating, thrillingly
+sweet, and hark! it spoke to him in a voice that he knew.  It was
+the same voice that he had heard on the Ohio, mystic, but telling
+him to be of heart and courage.  He would triumph over hardships
+and dangers, and he would see his friends again.
+
+Henry started up from his vision.  The song was gone, and he
+heard only the wind softly moving the leaves.  It had been vague
+and shadowy as gossamer, light as the substance of a dream, but
+it was real to him, nevertheless, and the deep glow of certain
+triumph permeated his being, body and mind.  It was not strange
+that he had in his nature something of the Indian mysticism that
+personified the winds and the trees and everything about him. 
+The Manitou of the red man and the ancient Aieroski of the
+Iroquois were the same as his own God.  He could not doubt that
+he had a message.  Down on the Ohio he had had the same message
+more than once, and it had always come true.
+
+He heard a slight rustling among the bushes, and, sitting
+perfectly still, he saw a black bear emerge into the open.  It
+had gained the islet in some manner, probably floundering through
+the black mire, and the thought occurred to him that it was the
+mate of the one he had slain, drawn perhaps by instinct on the
+trail of a lost comrade.  He could have shot the bear as he
+sat-and he would need fresh supplies of food soon-but he did not
+have the heart to do it.
+
+The bear sniffed a little at the wind, which was blowing the
+human odor away from him, and sat back on his haunches.  Henry
+did not believe that the animal had seen him or was yet aware of
+his presence, although he might suspect.  There was something
+humorous and also pathetic in the visitor, who cocked his head on
+one side and looked about him.  He made a distinct appeal to
+Henry, who sat absolutely still, so still that the little bear
+could not be sure at first that he was a human being.  A minute
+passed, and the red eye of the bear rested upon the boy.  Henry
+felt pleasant and sociable, but he knew that he could retain
+friendly relations only by remaining quiet.
+
+If I have eaten your comrade, my friend," he said to himself, "it
+is only because of hard necessity." The bear, little, comic, and
+yet with that touch of pathos about him, cocked his head a little
+further over on one side, and as a silver shaft of moonlight fell
+upon him Henry could see one red eye gleaming.  It was a singular
+fact, but the boy, alone in the wilderness, and the loser of his
+comrades, felt for the moment a sense of comradeship with the
+bear, which was also alone, and doubtless the loser of a comrade,
+also.  He uttered a soft growling sound like the satisfied purr
+of a bear eating its food.
+
+The comical bear rose a little higher on his hind paws, and
+looked in astonishment at the motionless figure that uttered
+sounds so familiar.  Yet the figure was not familiar.  He had
+never seen a human being before, and the shape and outline were
+very strange to him.  It might be some new kind of animal, and he
+was disposed to be inquiring, because there was nothing in these
+forests which the black bear was afraid of until man came.
+
+He advanced a step or two and growled gently.  Then he reared up
+again on his hind paws, and cocked his held to one side in his
+amusing manner.  Henry, still motionless, smiled at him.  Here,
+for an instant at least, was a cheery visitor and companionship. 
+He at least would not break the spell.
+
+"You look almost as if you could talk, old fellow," he said to
+himself, "and if I knew your language I'd ask you a lot of
+questions."
+
+The bear, too, was motionless now, torn by doubt and curiosity. 
+It certainly was a singular figure that sat there, fifteen or
+twenty yards before him, and he had the most intense curiosity to
+solve the mystery of this creature.  But caution held him back.
+
+There was a sudden flaw in the light breeze.  It shifted about
+and brought the dreadful man odor to the nostrils of the honest
+black bear.  It was something entirely new to him, but it
+contained the quality of fear.  That still strange figure was his
+deadliest foe.  Dropping down upon his four paws, he fled among
+the trees, and then scrambled somehow through the swamp to the
+mainland.
+
+Henry sighed.  Despite his own friendly feeling, the bear, warned
+by instinct, was afraid of him, and, as he was bound to
+acknowledge to himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. 
+He rose, went into the hut, and slept heavily through the night. 
+In the morning he left the islet once more to scout in the
+direction of the Indian camp, but he found it a most dangerous
+task.  The woods were full of warriors hunting.  As he had
+judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking in
+several directions.   He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of
+the thickets, willing to wait until night came for his
+enterprise.  It was advisable, moreover, to wait, because be did
+not see yet just how he was going to succeed.  He spent nearly
+the whole day shifting here and there through the forest, but
+late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed so numerous in
+the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.
+
+He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp
+but distant.  It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively
+divined the cause.  A party of the warriors had come somehow upon
+his trail, and they would surely follow it. It was a mischance
+that he had not expected.  He waited a minute or two, and then
+heard the cry again, but nearer.  He knew that it would come no
+more, but it confirmed him in his first opinion.
+
+Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so
+securely hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance
+of its discovery.  Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending
+as the darkness came, hiding his trail, to double back and regain
+the hut.
+
+He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the
+pursuit.  It was to him merely an incident that should be ended
+as soon as possible, annoying perhaps, but easily cured.  So he
+swung lightly along, stopping at intervals among the bushes to
+see if any of the warriors had drawn near, but he detected
+nothing.  Now and then he looked up to the sky, willing that
+night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.
+
+His wish seemed near fulfillment.  An uncommonly brilliant sun
+was setting.  The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire,
+but in the east the forest was already sinking into the dark.  He
+turned now, and went back toward the west on a line parallel with
+the pursuit, but much closer to the swamp.  The dusk thickened
+rapidly.  The sun dropped over the curve of the world, and the
+vast complex maze of trunks and boughs melted into a solid black
+wall.  The incident of the pursuit was over and with it its petty
+annoyances.  He directed his course boldly now for the stepping
+stones, and traveled fast.  Soon the first of them would be less
+than a hundred yards away.
+
+But the incident was not over.  Wary and skillful though the
+young forest runner might be, he had made one miscalculation, and
+it led to great consequences.  As he skirted the edge of the
+swamp in the darkness, now fully come, a dusky figure suddenly
+appeared.  It was a stray warrior from some small band, wandering
+about at will.  The meeting was probably as little expected by
+him as it was by Henry, and they were so close together when they
+saw each other that neither had time to raise his rifle.  The
+warrior, a tall, powerful man, dropping his gun and snatching out
+a knife, sprang at once upon his enemy.
+
+Henry was borne back by the weight and impact, but, making an
+immense effort, he recovered himself and, seizing the wrist of
+the Indian's knife hand, exerted all his great strength.  The
+warrior wished to change the weapon from his right band, but he
+dared not let go with the other lest he be thrown down at once,
+and with great violence.  His first rush having failed, he was
+now at a disadvantage, as the Indian is not generally a wrestler. 
+Henry pushed him back, and his hand closed tighter and tighter
+around the red wrist.  He wished to tear the knife from it, but
+he, too, was afraid to let go with the other hand, and so the two
+remained locked fast.  Neither uttered a cry after the first
+contact, and the only sounds in the dark were their hard
+breathing, which turned to a gasp now and then, and the shuffle
+of their feet over the earth.
+
+Henry felt that it must end soon.  One or the other must give
+way.  Their sinews were already strained to the cracking point,
+and making a supreme effort he bore all his weight upon the
+warrior, who, unable to sustain himself, went down with the youth
+upon him.  The Indian uttered a groan, and Henry, leaping
+instantly to his feet, looked down upon his fallen antagonist,
+who did not stir.  He knew the cause.  As they fell the point of
+the knife bad been turned upward, and it had entered the Indian's
+heart.
+
+Although he had been in peril at his hands, Henry looked at the
+slain man in a sort of pity.  He had not wished to take anyone's
+life, and, in reality, he had not been the direct cause of it. 
+But it was a stern time and the feeling soon passed.  The
+Wyandot, for such he was by his paint, would never have felt a
+particle of remorse had the victory been his.
+
+The moon was now coming out, and Henry looked down thoughtfully
+at the still face.  Then the idea came to him, in fact leaped up
+in his brain, with such an impulse that it carried conviction. 
+He would take this warrior's place and go to the Indian camp.  So
+eager was he, and so full of his plan, that he did not feel any
+repulsion as he opened the warrior's deerskin shirt and took his
+totem from a place near his heart.  It was a little deerskin bag
+containing a bunch of red feathers.  This was his charm, his
+magic spell, his bringer of good luck, which had failed him so
+woefully this time.  Henry, not without a touch of the forest
+belief, put it inside his own hunting shirt, wishing, although he
+laughed at himself, that if the red man's medicine had any
+potency it should be on his own side.
+
+Then he found also the little bag in which the Indian carried his
+war paint and the feather brush with which he put it on.  The
+next hour witnessed a singular transformation.  A white youth was
+turned into a red warrior.  He cut his own hair closely, all
+except a tuft in the center, with his sharp hunting knife.  The
+tuft and the close crop he stained black with the Indian's paint. 
+It was a poor black, but he hoped that it would pass in the
+night.  He drew the tuft into a scalplock, and intertwined it
+with a feather from the Indian's own tuft.  Then he stained his
+face, neck, hands, and arms with the red paint, and stood forth a
+powerful young warrior of a western nation.
+
+He hid the Indian's weapons and his own raccoon-skin cap in the
+brush.  Then he took the body of the fallen warrior to the edge
+of the swamp and dropped it in.  His object was not alone
+concealment, but burial as well.  He still felt sorry for the
+unfortunate Wyandot, and he watched him until he sank completely
+from sight in the mire.  Then he turned away and traveled a
+straight course toward the great Indian camp.
+
+He stopped once on the way at a clear pool irradiated by the
+bright moonlight, and looked attentively at his reflection.  By
+night, at least, it was certainly that of an Indian, and,
+summoning all his confidence, he continued upon his chosen and
+desperate task.
+
+Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his
+disguise, but he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was
+prepared to incur all risks and to endure all penalties.  He even
+felt a certain lightness of heart as he hurried on his way, and
+at length saw through the forest the flare of light from the
+Indian camp.
+
+He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a
+good look into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw.  In
+a single day the village had been enlarged much more.  It seemed
+to him that it contained at least twice as many warriors.  Women
+and children, too, had come, and he heard a stray dog barking
+here and there.  Many more fires than usual were burning, and
+there was a great murmur of voices.
+
+Henry was much taken aback at first.  It seemed that he was about
+to plunge into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a
+time, too, when something of extreme importance was going on, but
+a little reflection showed that he was fortunate.  Amid so many
+people, and so much ferment it was not at all likely that he
+would be noticed closely.  It was his intention, if the necessity
+came, to pass himself off as a warrior of the Shawnee tribe who
+had wandered far eastward, but he meant to avoid sedulously the
+eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size and stature,
+divine his identity.
+
+As Henry lingered at the edge of the camp, in indecision whether
+to wait a little or plunge boldly into the light of the fires, he
+became aware that all sounds in the village-for such it was
+instead of a camp-had ceased suddenly, except the light tread of
+feet and the sound of many people talking low.  He saw through
+the bushes that all the Iroquois, and with them the detachment of
+Wyandots under White Lightning, were going toward a large
+structure in the center, which he surmised to be the Council
+House.  He knew from his experience with the Indians farther west
+that the Iroquois built such structures.
+
+He could no longer doubt that some ceremony of the greatest
+importance was about to begin, and, dismissing indecision, he
+left the bushes and entered the village, going with the crowd
+toward the great pole building, which was, indeed, the Council
+House.
+
+But little attention was paid to Henry.  He would have drawn none
+at all, had it not been for his height, and when a warrior or two
+glanced at him he uttered some words in Shawnee, saying that he
+had wandered far, and was glad to come to the hospitable
+Iroquois.  One who could speak a little Shawnee bade him welcome,
+and they went on, satisfied, their minds more intent upon the
+ceremony than upon a visitor.
+
+The Council House, built of light poles and covered with poles
+and thatch, was at least sixty feet long and about thirty feet
+wide, with a large door on the eastern side, and one or two
+smaller ones on the other sides.  As Henry arrived, the great
+chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois were entering the building,
+and about it were grouped many warriors and women, and even
+children.  But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and, knowing
+the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the
+ceremony, whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred
+nature.  He himself drew to one side, keeping as much as possible
+in the shadow, but he was using to its utmost power every faculty
+of observation that Nature had given him.
+
+Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out
+with great brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole
+village, and investing with attributes that savored of the mystic
+and impressive this ceremony, held by a savage but great race
+here in the depths of the primeval forest.  Henry was about to
+witness a Condoling Council, which was at once a mourning for
+chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east with his own people
+and the election and welcome of their successors.
+
+The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it
+was more generally called, the Long House, and, despite the
+greatness of Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in
+virtue of their ancient and undisputed place as the political
+leaders and high priests of the Six Nations, led the way.  Among
+the stately Onondaga chiefs were: Atotarho (The Entangled),
+Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons (Looking Both Ways),
+Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The Scattered).  They
+were men of stature and fine countenance, proud of the titular
+primacy that belonged to them because it was the Onondaga,
+Hiawatha, who had formed the great confederacy more than four
+hundred years before our day, or just about the time Columbus was
+landing on the shores of the New World.
+
+Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who
+lived nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern
+Gate, and who were fully worthy of their trust.  They were
+content that the Onondagas should lead in council, so long as
+they were first in battle, and there was no jealousy between
+them.  Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha (Broad Shoulders)
+and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).
+
+Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were
+Kanokarih (The Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).
+
+These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas, were esteemed
+the three senior nations.  After them, in order of precedence,
+came the chiefs of the three junior nations, the Oneidas,
+Cayugas, and Tuscaroras.  All of the great chiefs had assistant
+chiefs, usually relatives, who, in case of death, often succeeded
+to their places.  But these assistants now remained in the crowd
+with other minor chiefs and the mass of the warriors.  A little
+apart stood Timmendiquas and his Wyandots.  He, too, was absorbed
+in the ceremony so sacred to him, an Indian, and he did not
+notice the tall figure of the strange Shawnee lingering in the
+deepest of the shadows.
+
+The head chiefs, walking solemnly and never speaking, marched
+across the clearing, and then through the woods to a glen, where
+two young warriors had kindled a little fire of sticks as a
+signal of welcome.  The chiefs gathered around the fire and spoke
+together in low tones.  This was Deyuhnyon Kwarakda, which means
+"The Reception at the Edge of the Wood."
+
+Henry and some others followed, as it was not forbidden to see,
+and his interest increased.  He shared the spiritual feeling
+which was impressed upon the red faces about him.  The bright
+moonlight, too, added to the effect, giving it the tinge of an
+old Druidical ceremony.
+
+The chiefs relapsed into silence and sat thus about ten minutes. 
+Then rose the sound of a chant, distant and measured, and a
+procession of young and inferior chiefs, led by Oneidas,
+appeared, slowly approaching the fire.  Behind them were
+warriors, and behind the warriors were many women and children. 
+All the women were in their brightest attire, gay with feather
+headdresses and red, blue, or green blankets from the British
+posts.
+
+The procession stopped at a distance of about a dozen yards from
+the chiefs about the council fire, and the Oneida, Kathlahon,
+formed the men in a line facing the head chiefs, with the women
+and children grouped in an irregular mass behind them.  The
+singing meanwhile had stopped.  The two groups stood facing each
+other, attentive and listening.
+
+Then Hahiron, the oldest of the Onondagas, walked back and forth
+in the space between the two groups, chanting a welcome.  Like
+all Indian songs it was monotonous.  Every line he uttered with
+emphasis and a rising inflection, the phrase "Haih-haih" which
+may be translated "Hail to thee!" or better, "All hail!" 
+Nevertheless, under the moonlight in the wilderness and with rapt
+faces about him, it was deeply impressive.  Henry found it so.
+
+Hahiron finished his round and went back to his place by the
+fire.  Atotarho, head chief of the Onondagas, holding in his
+hands beautifully beaded strings of Iroquois wampum, came forward
+and made a speech of condolence, to which Kathlahon responded. 
+Then the head chiefs and the minor chiefs smoked pipes together,
+after which the head chiefs, followed by the minor chiefs, and
+these in turn by the crowd, led the way back to the village.
+
+Many hundreds of persons were in this procession, which was still
+very grave and solemn, every one in it impressed by tile sacred
+nature of this ancient rite.  The chief entered the great door of
+the Long House, and all who could find places not reserved
+followed.  Henry went in with the others, and sat in a corner,
+making himself as small as possible.  Many women, the place of
+whom was high among the Iroquois, were also in the Long House.
+
+The head chiefs sat on raised seats at the north end of the great
+room.  In front of them, on lower seats, were the minor chiefs of
+the three older nations on the left, and of the three younger
+nations on the right.  In front of these, but sitting on the bark
+floor, was a group of warriors.  At the east end, on both high
+and low seats, were warriors, and facing them on the western side
+were women, also on both high and low seats.  The southern side
+facing the chiefs was divided into sections, each with high and
+low seats.  The one on the left was occupied by men, and the one
+on the right by women.  Two small fires burned in the center of
+the Long House about fifteen feet apart.
+
+It was the most singular and one of the most impressive scenes
+that Henry had ever beheld.  When all had found their seats there
+was a deep silence.  Henry could hear the slight crackling made
+by the two fires as they burned, and the light fell faintly
+across the multitude of dark, eager faces.   Not less than five
+hundred people were in the Long House, and here was the red man
+at his best, the first of the wild, not the second or third of
+the civilized, a drop of whose blood in his veins brings to the
+white man now a sense of pride, and not of shame, as it does when
+that blood belongs to some other races.
+
+The effect upon Henry was singular.  He almost forgot that he was
+a foe among them on a mission.  For the moment he shared in their
+feelings, and he waited with eagerness for whatever might come.
+
+Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, stood up in his place among the great
+chiefs.  The role he was about to assume belonged to Atotarho,
+the Onondaga, but the old Onondaga assigned it for the occasion
+to Thayendanegea, and there was no objection.  Thayendanegea was
+an educated man, be had been in England, he was a member of a
+Christian church, and be had translated a part of the Bible from
+English into his own tongue, but now he was all a Mohawk, a son
+of the forest.
+
+He spoke to the listening crowd of the glories of the Six
+Nations, how Hah-gweh-di-yu (The Spirit of Good) had inspired
+Hiawatha to form the Great Confederacy of the Five Nations,
+afterwards the Six; how they had held their hunting grounds for
+nearly two centuries against both English and French; and how
+they would hold them against the Americans.  He stopped at
+moments, and deep murmurs of approval went through the Long
+House.  The eyes of both men and women flashed as the orator
+spoke of their glory and greatness.  Timmendiquas, in a place of
+honor, nodded approval.  If he could he would form such another
+league in the west.
+
+The air in the Long House, breathed by so many, became heated. 
+It seemed to have in it a touch of fire.  The orator's words
+burned.  Swift and deep impressions were left upon the excited
+brain.  The tall figure of the Mohawk towered, gigantic, in the
+half light, and the spell that he threw over all was complete.
+
+He spoke about half an hour, but when he stopped he did not sit
+down.  Henry knew by the deep breath that ran through the Long
+House that something more was coming from Thayendanegea. 
+Suddenly the red chief began to sing in a deep, vibrant voice,
+and this was the song that he sung:
+
+
+  This was the roll of you,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  You that joined in the work,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  You that finished the task,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  The Great League,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+There was the same incessant repetition of "Haih haih!" that
+Henry had noticed in the chant at the edge of the woods, but it
+seemed to give a cumulative effect, like the roll of thunder, and
+at every slight pause that deep breath of approval ran through
+the crowd in the Long House.  The effect of the song was
+indescribable.  Fire ran in the veins of all, men, women, and
+children.  The great pulses in their throats leaped up.  They
+were the mighty nation, the ever-victorious, the League of the
+Ho-de-no-sau-nee, that had held at bay both the French and the
+English since first a white man was seen in the land, and that
+would keep back the Americans now.
+
+Henry glanced at Timmendiquas.  The nostrils of the great White
+Lightning were twitching.  The song reached to the very roots of
+his being, and aroused all his powers.  Like Thayendanegea, he
+was a statesman, and he saw that the Americans were far more
+formidable to his race than English or French had ever been.  The
+Americans were upon the ground, and incessantly pressed upon the
+red man, eye to eye.  Only powerful leagues like those of the
+Iroquois could withstand them.
+
+Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a
+period lasting about two minutes.  These silences seemed to be a
+necessary part of all Iroquois rites.  When it closed two young
+warriors stretched an elm bark rope across the room from east to
+west and near the ceiling, but between the high chiefs and the
+minor chiefs.  Then they hung dressed skins all along it, until
+the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the view of each other. 
+This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a silence. 
+The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little
+was to be seen but the eyes and general outline of the people. 
+Then a slender man of middle years, the best singer in all the
+Iroquois nation, arose and sang:
+
+
+  To the great chiefs bring we greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  To the strong men 'round him greeting,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!  
+
+  To the mourning women greeting,
+  All hail! All hail! All hail!
+
+  There our grandsires' words repeating,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+  Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear,
+  All hail! All hail!  All hail!
+
+
+The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the
+song was sad.  At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through
+the crowd in the Long House.  Grief for the dead held them all. 
+When he finished, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands
+three belts of wampum, uttered a long historical chant telling of
+their glorious deeds, to which they listened patiently.  The
+chant over, he handed the belts to an attendant, who took them to
+Thayendanegea, who held them for a few moments and looked at them
+gravely.
+
+One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another
+was purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of
+peace.  They were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.
+
+When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he
+crossed a lake supposed to be the Oneida.  While paddling along
+he noticed that man tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to
+his paddle.  Reaching the shore he found such shells in long rows
+upon the beach, and it occurred to him to use them for the
+depiction of thought according to color.  He strung them on
+threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league was
+formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. 
+For four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among
+the Iroquois.
+
+Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant,
+who returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk.  There was a
+silence once more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling
+Song again, but now he did not sing it alone.  Two hundred male
+voices joined him, and the time became faster.  Its tone changed
+from mourning and sorrow to exultation and menace.  Everyone
+thought of war, the tomahawk, and victory.  The song sung as it
+was now became a genuine battle song, rousing and thrilling.  The
+Long House trembled with the mighty chorus, and its volume poured
+forth into the encircling dark woods.
+
+All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk,
+stood holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave
+them to an attendant, who carried them to another head chief. 
+Thayendanegea now went to the center of the room and, standing
+between the two fires, asked who were the candidates for the
+places of the dead chiefs.
+
+The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen
+among their own tribes, came forward to succeed them.  Then a
+fourth came, and Henry was startled.  It was Timmendiquas, who,
+as the bravest chief of the brave Wyandots, was about to become,
+as a signal tribute, and as a great sign of friendship, an
+adopted son and honorary chief of the Mohawks, Keepers of the
+Western Gate, and most warlike of all the Iroquois tribes.
+
+As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval
+deeper than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in
+the Long House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where
+sat many matrons of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a
+woman could be a chief among the Iroquois.
+
+The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
+Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened
+in grave silence.  With his address the sacred part of the rite
+was concluded.  Nothing remained now but the great banquet
+outside - although that was much - and they poured forth to it
+joyously, Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the
+Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest two red chiefs on all
+the American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE EVIL SPIRIT'S WORK
+
+
+Henry slipped forth with the crowd from the Long House, stooping
+somewhat and shrinking into the smallest possible dimensions. 
+But there was little danger now that any one would notice him, as
+long as he behaved with prudence, because all grief and solemnity
+were thrown aside, and a thousand red souls intended to rejoice. 
+A vast banquet was arranged.  Great fires leaped up all through
+the village.  At every fire the Indian women, both young and old,
+were already far forward with the cooking.  Deer, bear, squirrel,
+rabbit, fish, and every other variety of game with which the
+woods and rivers of western New York and Pennsylvania swarmed
+were frying or roasting over the coals, and the air was permeated
+with savory odors.  There was a great hum of voices and an
+incessant chattering.  Here in the forest, among themselves, and
+in complete security, the Indian stoicism was relaxed.  According
+to their customs everybody fell to eating at a prodigious rate,
+as if they had not tasted anything for a month, and as if they
+intended to eat enough now to last another month.
+
+It was far into the night, because the ceremonies had lasted a
+long time, but a brilliant moon shone down upon the feasting
+crowd, and the flames of the great fires, yellow and blue, leaped
+and danced.  This was an oasis of light and life.  Timmendiquas
+and Thayendanegea sat together before the largest fire, and they
+ate with more restraint than the others.  Even at the banquet
+they would not relax their dignity as great chiefs.  Old
+Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too,
+Satekariwate, the Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head
+chiefs though they were of the three senior tribes, did not
+hesitate to eat as the rich Romans of the Empire ate, swallowing
+immense quantities of all kinds of meat, and drinking a sort of
+cider that the women made.  Several warriors ate and drank until
+they fell down in a stupor by the fires.  The same warriors on
+the hunt or the war path would go for days without food, enduring
+every manner of hardship.  Now and then a warrior would leap up
+and begin a chant telling of some glorious deed of his.  Those at
+his own fire would listen, but elsewhere they took no notice.
+
+In the largest open space a middle-aged Onondaga with a fine face
+suddenly uttered a sharp cry: " Hehmio!" which he rapidly
+repeated twice.  Two score voices instantly replied, "Heh!" and a
+rush was made for him.  At least a hundred gathered around him,
+but they stood in a respectful circle, no one nearer than ten
+feet.  He waved his hand, and all sat down on the ground.  Then,
+he, too, sat down, all gazing at him intently and with
+expectancy.
+
+He was a professional story-teller, an institution great and
+honored among the tribes of the Iroquois farther back even than
+Hiawatha.  He began at once the story of the warrior who learned
+to talk with the deer and the bear, carrying it on through many
+chapters.  Now and then a delighted listener would cry " Hah!"
+but if anyone became bored and fell asleep it was considered an
+omen of misfortune to the sleeper, and he was chased
+ignominiously to his tepee.  The Iroquois romancer was better
+protected than the white one is.  He could finish some of his
+stories in one evening, but others were serials.  When he arrived
+at the end of the night's installment he would cry, "Si-ga!"
+which was equivalent to our "To be continued in our next."  Then
+all would rise, and if tired would seek sleep, but if not they
+would catch the closing part of some other story-teller's
+romance.
+
+At three fires Senecas were playing a peculiar little wooden
+flute of their own invention, that emitted wailing sounds not
+without a certain sweetness.  In a corner a half dozen warriors
+hurt in battle were bathing their wounds with a soothing lotion
+made from the sap of the bass wood.
+
+Henry lingered a while in the darkest corners, witnessing the
+feasting, hearing the flutes and the chants, listening for a
+space to the story-tellers and the enthusiastic "Hahs!"  They
+were so full of feasting and merrymaking now that one could
+almost do as he pleased, and he stole toward the southern end of
+the village, where he had noticed several huts, much more
+strongly built than the others.  Despite all his natural skill
+and experience his heart beat very fast when he came to the
+first.  He was about to achieve the great exploration upon which
+he had ventured so much.  Whether he would find anything at the
+end of the risk he ran, he was soon to see.
+
+The hut, about seven feet square and as many feet in height, was
+built strongly of poles, with a small entrance closed by a
+clapboard door fastened stoutly on the outside with withes.  The
+hut was well in the shadow of tepees, and all were still at the
+feasting and merrymaking.  He cut the withes with two sweeps of
+his sharp hunting knife, opened the door, bent his head, stepped
+in and then closed the door behind him, in order that no Iroquois
+might see what had happened.
+
+It was not wholly dark in the hut, as there were cracks between
+the poles, and bars of moonlight entered, falling upon a floor of
+bark.  They revealed also a figure lying full length on one side
+of the but.  A great pulse of joy leaped up in Henry's throat,
+and with it was a deep pity, also.  The figure was that of
+Shif'less Sol, but be was pale and thin, and his arms and legs
+were securely bound with thongs of deerskin.
+
+Leaning over, Henry cut the thongs of the shiftless one, but he
+did not stir.  Great forester that Shif'less Sol was, and usually
+so sensitive to the lightest movement, be perceived nothing now,
+and, had he not found him bound, Henry would have been afraid
+that he was looking upon his dead comrade.  The hands of the
+shiftless one, when the hands were cut, had fallen limply by his
+side, and his face looked all the more pallid by contrast with
+the yellow hair which fell in length about it.  But it was his
+old-time friend, the dauntless Shif'less Sol, the last of the
+five to vanish so mysteriously.
+
+Henry bent down and pulled him by the shoulder.  The captive
+yawned, stretched himself a little, and lay still again with
+closed eyes.  Henry shook him a second time and more violently. 
+Shif'less Sol sat up quickly, and Henry knew that indignation
+prompted the movement.  Sol held his arms and legs stiffly and
+seemed to be totally unconscious that they were unbound.  He cast
+one glance upward, and in the dim light saw the tall warrior
+bending over him.
+
+"I'll never do it, Timmendiquas or White Lightning, whichever
+name you like better!" he exclaimed.  "I won't show you how to
+surprise the white settlements.  You can burn me at the stake or
+tear me in pieces first.  Now go away and let me sleep."
+
+He sank back on the bark, and started to close his eyes again. 
+It was then that he noticed for the first time that his hands
+were unbound.  He held them up before his face, as if they were
+strange objects wholly unattached to himself, and gazed at them
+in amazement.  He moved his legs and saw that they, too, were
+unbound.  Then he turned his startled gaze upward at the face of
+the tall warrior who was looking down at him.  Shif'less Sol was
+wholly awake now.  Every faculty in him was alive, and he pierced
+through the Shawnee disguise.  He knew who it was.  He knew who
+had come to save him, and he sprang to his feet, exclaiming the
+one word:
+
+"Henry!"
+
+The hands of the comrades met in the clasp of friendship which
+only many dangers endured together can give.
+
+"How did you get here?" asked the shiftless one in a whisper.
+
+"I met an Indian in the forest," replied Henry, "and well I am
+now he."
+
+Shif'less Sol laughed under his breath.
+
+"I see," said he, "but how did you get through the camp?  It's a
+big one, and the Iroquois are watchful.  Timmendiquas is here,
+too, with his Wyandots."
+
+"They are having a great feast," replied Henry, "and I could go
+about almost unnoticed.  Where are the others, Sol?"
+
+"In the cabins close by."
+
+"Then we'll get out of this place.  Quick!  Tie up your hair!  In
+the darkness you can easily pass for an Indian."
+
+The shiftless one drew his hair into a scalp lock, and the two
+slipped from the cabin, closing the door behind them and deftly
+retying the thongs, in order that the discovery of the escape
+might occur as late as possible.  Then they stood a few moments
+in the shadow of the hut and listened to the sounds of revelry,
+the monotone of the story-tellers, and the chant of the singers.
+
+"You don't know which huts they are in, do you?" asked Henry,
+anxiously.
+
+"No, I don't," replied tile shiftless one.
+
+"Get back!" exclaimed Henry softly.  "Don't you see who's passing
+out there?"
+
+"Braxton Wyatt," said Sol. "I'd like to get my hands on that
+scoundrel.  I've had to stand a lot from him."
+
+"The score must wait.  But first we'll provide you with weapons. 
+See, the Iroquois have stacked some of their rifles here while
+they're at the feast."
+
+A dozen good rifles had been left leaning against a hut near by,
+and Henry, still watching lest he be observed, chose the best,
+with its ammunition, for his comrade, who, owing to his
+semi-civilized attire, still remained in the shadow of the other
+hut.
+
+"Why not take four?" whispered the shiftless one.  "We'll need
+them for the other boys."
+
+Henry took four, giving two to his comrade, and then they hastily
+slipped back to the other side of the hut.  A Wyandot and a
+Mohawk were passing, and they had eyes of hawks.  Henry and Sol
+waited until the formidable pair were gone, and then began to
+examine the huts, trying to surmise in which their comrades lay.
+
+"I haven't seen 'em a-tall, a-tall," said Sol, "but I reckon from
+the talk that they are here.  I was s'prised in the woods, Henry. 
+A half dozen reds jumped on me so quick I didn't have time to
+draw a weepin.  Timmendiquas was at the head uv 'em an' he just
+grinned.  Well, he is a great chief, if he did truss me up like a
+fowl.  I reckon the same thing happened to the others."
+
+"Come closer, Sol!  Come closer!" whispered Henry.  More warriors
+are walking this way.  The feast is breaking up, and they'll
+spread all through the camp."
+
+A terrible problem was presented to the two.  They could no
+longer search among the strong huts, for their comrades.   The
+opportunity to save had lasted long enough for one only.  But
+border training is stern, and these two had uncommon courage and
+decision.
+
+"We must go now, Sol," said Henry, "but we'll come back."
+
+"Yes," said the shiftless one, "we'll come back."
+
+Darting between the huts, they gained the southern edge of the
+forest before the satiated banqueters could suspect the presence
+of an enemy.  Here they felt themselves safe, but they did not
+pause.  Henry led the way, and Shif'less Sol followed at a fair
+degree of speed.
+
+"You'll have to be patient with me for a little while, Henry,"
+said Sol in a tone of humility.  "When I wuz layin' thar in the
+lodge with my hands an' feet tied I wuz about eighty years old,
+jest ez stiff ez could be from the long tyin'.  When I reached
+the edge o' the woods the blood wuz flowin' lively enough to make
+me 'bout sixty.  Now I reckon I'm fifty, an' ef things go well
+I'll be back to my own nateral age in two or three hours."
+
+"You shall have rest before morning," said Henry, "and it will be
+in a good place, too.  I can promise that."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked at him inquiringly, but he did not say
+anything.  Like the rest of the five, Sol had acquired the most
+implicit confidence in their bold young leader.  He had every
+reason to feel good. That painful soreness was disappearing from
+his ankles.  As they advanced through the woods, weeks dropped
+from him one by one.  Then the months began to roll away, and at
+last time fell year by year.  As they approached the deeps of the
+forest where the swamp lay, Solomon Hyde, the so called shiftless
+one, and wholly undeserving of the name, was young again.
+
+"I've got a fine little home for us, Sol," said Henry.  "Best
+we've had since that time we spent a winter on the island in the
+lake.  This is littler, but it's harder to find.  It'll be a fine
+thing to know you're sleeping safe and sound with five hundred
+Iroquois warriors only a few miles away."
+
+"Then it'll suit me mighty well," said Shif'less Sol, grinning
+broadly.  "That's jest the place fur a lazy man like your humble
+servant, which is me."
+
+They reached the stepping stones, and Henry paused a moment.
+
+"Do you feel steady enough, Sol, to jump from stone to stone?" he
+asked.
+
+"I'm feelin' so good I could fly ef I had to," he replied.  "Jest
+you jump on, Henry, an' fur every jump you take you'll find me
+only one jump behind you!" 
+
+Henry, without further ado, sprang from one stone to another, and
+behind him, stone for stone, came the shiftless one.  It was now
+past midnight, and the moon was obscured.  The keenest eyes
+twenty yards away could not have seen the two dusky figures as
+they went by leaps into the very heart of the great, black swamp. 
+They reached the solid ground, and then the hut.
+
+"Here, Sol," said Henry, "is my house, and yours, also, and soon,
+I hope, to be that of Paul, Tom, and Jim, too."
+
+"Henry," said Shif'less Sol, " I'm shorely glad to come."
+
+They went inside, stacked their captured rifles against the wall,
+and soon were sound asleep.
+
+Meanwhile sleep was laying hold of the Iroquois village, also. 
+They had eaten mightily and they had drunk mightily.  Many times
+had they told the glories of Hode-no-sau-nee, the Great League,
+and many times had they gladly acknowledged the valor and worth
+of Timmendiquas and the brave little Wyandot nation. 
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea had sat side by side throughout
+the feast, but often other great chiefs were with them-Skanawati,
+Atotarho, and Hahiron, the Onondagas; Satekariwate, the Mohawk;
+Kanokarih and Kanyadoriyo, the Senecas; and many others.
+
+Toward midnight the women and the children left for the lodges,
+and soon the warriors began to go also, or fell asleep on tile
+ground, wrapped in their blankets.  The fires were allowed to
+sink low, and at last the older chiefs withdrew, leaving only
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea.
+
+"You have seen the power and spirit of the Iroquois," said
+Thayendanegea.  "We can bring many more warriors than are here
+into the field, and we will strike the white settlements with
+you."
+
+"The Wyandots are not so many as the warriors of the Great
+League," said Timmendiquas proudly, "but no one has ever been
+before them in battle."
+
+"You speak truth, as I have often heard it," said Thayendanegea
+thoughtfully.  Then be showed Timmendiquas to a lodge of honor,
+the finest in the village, and retired to his own.
+
+The great feast was over, but the chiefs had come to a momentous
+decision.  Still chafing over their defeat at Oriskany, they
+would make a new and formidable attack upon the white
+settlements, and Timmendiquas and his fierce Wyandots would help
+them.  All of them, from the oldest to the youngest, rejoiced in
+the decision, and, not least, the famous Thayendanegea.  He hated
+the Americans most because they were upon the soil, and were
+always pressing forward against the Indian.  The Englishmen were
+far away, and if they prevailed in the great war, the march of
+the American would be less rapid.  He would strike once more with
+the Englishmen, and the Iroquois could deliver mighty blows on
+the American rearguard.  He and his Mohawks, proud Keepers of the
+Western Gate, would lead in the onset.  Thayendanegea considered
+it a good night's work, and he slept peacefully.
+
+The great camp relapsed into silence.  The warriors on the ground
+breathed perhaps a little heavily after so much feasting, and the
+fires were permitted to smolder down to coals.  Wolves and
+panthers drawn by the scent of food crept through the thickets
+toward the faint firelight, but they were afraid to draw near. 
+Morning came, and food and drink were taken to the lodges in
+which four prisoners were held, prisoners of great value, taken
+by Timmendiquas and the Wyandots, and held at his urgent
+insistence as hostages.
+
+Three were found as they had been left, and when their bonds were
+loosened they ate and drank, but the fourth hut was empty.  The
+one who spoke in a slow, drawling way, and the one who seemed to
+be the most dangerous of them all, was gone.  Henry and Sol had
+taken the severed thongs with them, and there was nothing to show
+how the prisoner had disappeared, except that the withes
+fastening the door had been cut.
+
+The news spread through the village, and there was much
+excitement.  Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas came and looked at
+the empty hut.  Timmendiquas may have suspected how Shif'less Sol
+had gone, but he said nothing.  Others believed that it was the
+work of Hahgweh-da-et-gah (The Spirit of Evil), or perhaps Ga-oh
+(The Spirit of the Winds) had taken him away.
+
+"It is well to keep a good watch on the others," said
+Timmendiquas, and Thayendanegea nodded.
+
+That day the chiefs entered the Long House again, and held a
+great war council.  A string of white wampum about a foot in
+length was passed to every chief, who held it a moment or two
+before handing it to his neighbors.  It was then laid on a table
+in the center of the room, the ends touching.  This signified
+harmony among the Six Nations.  All the chiefs had been summoned
+to this place by belts of wampum sent to the different tribes by
+runners appointed by the Onondagas, to whom this honor belonged. 
+All treaties had to be ratified by the exchange of belts, and now
+this was done by the assembled chiefs.
+
+Timmendiquas, as an honorary chief of the Mohawks, and as the
+real head of a brave and allied nation, was present throughout
+the council.  His advice was asked often, and when he gave it the
+others listened with gravity and deference.  The next day the
+village played a great game of lacrosse, which was invented by
+the Indians, and which had been played by them for centuries
+before the arrival of the white man.  In this case the match was
+on a grand scale, Mohawks and Cayugas against Onondagas and
+Senecas.
+
+The game began about nine o'clock in the morning in a great
+natural meadow surrounded by forest.  The rival sides assembled
+opposite each other and bet heavily.  All the stakes, under the
+law of the game, were laid upon the ground in heaps here, and
+they consisted of the articles most precious to the Iroquois.  In
+these heaps were rifles, tomahawks, scalping knives, wampum,
+strips of colored beads, blankets, swords, belts, moccasins,
+leggins, and a great many things taken as spoil in forays on the
+white settlements, such is small mirrors, brushes of various
+kinds, boots, shoes, and other things, the whole making a vast
+assortment.
+
+These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the
+older chiefs sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and
+judges.
+
+The combatants, ranged in two long rows, numbered at least five
+hundred on each side, and already they began to show an
+excitement approaching that which animated them when they would
+go into battle.  Their eyes glowed, and the muscles on their
+naked backs and chests were tense for the spring.  In order to
+leave their limbs perfectly free for effort they wore no clothing
+at all, except a little apron reaching from the waist to the
+knee.
+
+The extent of the playground was marked off by two pair of "byes"
+like those used in cricket, planted about thirty rods apart.  But
+the goals of each side were only about thirty feet apart.
+
+At a signal from the oldest of the chiefs the contestants
+arranged themselves in two parallel lines facing each other,
+inside the area and about ten rods apart.  Every man was armed
+with a strong stick three and a half to four feet in length, and
+curving toward the end.  Upon this curved end was tightly
+fastened a network of thongs of untanned deerskin, drawn until
+they were rigid and taut.  The ball with which they were to play
+was made of closely wrapped elastic skins, and was about the size
+of an ordinary apple.
+
+At the end of the lines, but about midway between them, sat the
+chiefs, who, besides being judges and stakeholders, were also
+score keepers.  They kept tally of the game by cutting notches
+upon sticks.  Every time one side put the ball through the
+other's goal it counted one, but there was an unusual power
+exercised by the chiefs, practically unknown to the games of
+white men.  If one side got too far ahead, its score was cut down
+at the discretion of the chiefs in order to keep the game more
+even, and also to protract it sometimes over three or four days. 
+The warriors of the leading side might grumble among one another
+at the amount of cutting the chiefs did, but they would not dare
+to make any protest.  However, the chiefs would never cut the
+leading side down to an absolute parity with the other.  It was
+always allowed to retain a margin of the superiority it had won.
+
+The game was now about to begin, and the excitement became
+intense.  Even the old judges leaned forward in their eagerness,
+while the brown bodies of the warriors shone in the sun, and the
+taut muscles leaped up under the skin.  Fifty players on each
+side, sticks in hand, advanced to the center of the ground, and
+arranged themselves somewhat after the fashion of football
+players, to intercept the passage of the ball toward their goals. 
+Now they awaited the coming of the ball.
+
+There were several young girls, the daughters of chiefs. The most
+beautiful of these appeared.  She was not more than sixteen or
+seventeen years of age, as slender and graceful as a young deer,
+and she was dressed in the finest and most richly embroidered
+deerskin.  Her head was crowned with a red coronet, crested with
+plumes, made of the feathers of the eagle and heron.  She wore
+silver bracelets and a silver necklace.
+
+The girl, bearing in her hand the ball, sprang into the very
+center of the arena, where, amid shouts from all the warriors,
+she placed it upon the ground.  Then she sprang back and joined
+the throng of spectators.  Two of the players, one from each
+side, chosen for strength and dexterity, advanced.  They hooked
+the ball together in their united bats and thus raised it aloft,
+until the bats were absolutely perpendicular.  Then with a quick,
+jerking motion they shot it upward.  Much might be gained by this
+first shot or stroke, but on this occasion the two players were
+equal, and it shot almost absolutely straight into the air.  The
+nearest groups made a rush for it, and the fray began.
+
+Not all played at once, as the crowd was so great, but usually
+twenty or thirty on each side struck for tile ball, and when they
+became exhausted or disabled were relieved by similar groups. 
+All eventually came into action.
+
+The game was played with the greatest fire and intensity,
+assuming sometimes the aspect of a battle.  Blows with the
+formidable sticks were given and received.  Brown skins were
+streaked with blood, heads were cracked, and a Cayuga was killed. 
+Such killings were not unusual in these games, and it was always
+considered the fault of the man who fell, due to his own
+awkwardness or unwariness.  The body of the dead Cayuga was taken
+away in disgrace.
+
+All day long the contest was waged with undiminished courage and
+zeal, party relieving party.  The meadow and the surrounding
+forest resounded with the shouts and yells of combatants and
+spectators.  The old squaws were in a perfect frenzy of
+excitement, and their shrill screams of applause or condemnation
+rose above every other sound.
+
+On this occasion, as the contest did not last longer than one
+day, the chiefs never cut down the score of the leading side. 
+The game closed at sunset, with the Senecas and Onondagas
+triumphant, and richer by far than they were in the morning.  The
+Mohawks and Cayugas retired, stripped of their goods and
+crestfallen.
+
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, acting as umpires watched the
+game closely to its finish, but not so the renegades Braxton
+Wyatt and Blackstaffe.  They and Quarles had wandered eastward
+with some Delawares, and had afterward joined the band of
+Wyandots, though Timmendiquas gave them no very warm welcome. 
+Quarles had left on some errand a few days before.  They had
+rejoiced greatly at the trapping of the four, one by one, in the
+deep bush.  But they had felt anger and disappointment when the
+fifth was not taken, also.  Now both were concerned and alarmed
+over the escape of Shif'less Sol in the night, and they drew
+apart from the Indians to discuss it.
+
+"I think," said Wyatt, "that Hyde did not manage it himself, all
+alone.  How could he?  He was bound both hand and foot; and I've
+learned, too, Blackstaffe, that four of the best Iroquois rifles
+have been taken.  That means one apiece for Hyde and the three
+prisoners that are left."
+
+The two exchanged looks of meaning and understanding.
+
+"It must have been the boy Ware who helped Hyde to get away,"
+said Blackstaffe, "and their taking of the rifles means that he
+and Hyde expect to rescue the other three in the same way.  You
+think so, too?"
+
+"Of course," replied Wyatt. "What makes the Indians, who are so
+wonderfully alert and watchful most of the time, become so
+careless when they have a great feast?"
+
+Blackstaffe shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It is their way," he replied.  "You cannot change it.  Ware
+must have noticed what they were about, and he took advantage of
+it.  But I don't think any of the others will go that way."
+
+"The boy Cotter is in here," said Braxton Wyatt, tapping the
+side of a small hut.  "Let's go in and see him."
+
+
+"Good enough," said Blackstaffe.  "But we mustn't let him know
+that Hyde has escaped."
+
+Paul, also bound hand and foot, was lying on an old wolfskin. 
+He, too, was pale and thin-the strict confinement had told upon
+him heavily-but Paul's spirit could never be daunted.  He looked
+at the two renegades with hatred and contempt.
+
+"Well, you're in a fine fix," said Wyatt sneeringly.  "We just
+came in to tell you that we took Henry Ware last night."
+
+Paul looked him straight and long in the eye, and he knew that
+the renegade was lying.
+
+"I know better," he said.
+
+"Then we will get him," said Wyatt, abandoning the lie, "and all
+of you will die at the stake."
+
+"You, will not get him," said Paul defiantly, "and as for the
+rest of us dying at the stake, that's to be seen.  I know this:
+Timmendiquas considers us of value, to be traded or exchanged,
+and he's too smart a man to destroy what be regards as his own
+property.  Besides, we may escape.  I don't want to boast,
+Braxton Wyatt, but you know that we're hard to hold."
+
+Then Paul managed to turn over with his face to the wall, as if
+he were through with them.  They went out, and Braxton Wyatt said
+sulkily:
+
+"Nothing to be got out of him."
+
+"No," said Blackstaffe, "but we must urge that the strictest
+kind of guard be kept over the others."
+
+The Iroquois were to remain some time at the village, because all
+their forces were not yet gathered for the great foray they had
+in mind.  The Onondaga runners were still carrying the wampum
+belts of purple shells, sign of war, to distant villages of the
+tribes, and parties of warriors were still coming in.  A band of
+Cayugas arrived that night, and with them they brought a half
+starved and sick, Lenni-Lenape, whom they had picked up near the
+camp.  The Lenni-Lenape, who looked as if he might have been when
+in health a strong and agile warrior, said that news had reached
+him through the Wyandots of the great war to be waged by the
+Iroquois on the white settlements, and the spirits would not let
+him rest unless he bore his part in it.  He prayed therefore to
+be accepted among them.
+
+Much food was given to the brave Lenni-Lenape, and he was sent to
+a lodge to rest.  To-morrow he would be well, and he would be
+welcomed to the ranks of the Cayugas, a Younger nation.  But when
+the morning came, the lodge was empty.  The sick Lenni-Lenape was
+gone, and with him the boy, Paul, the youngest of the prisoners. 
+Guards bad been posted all around the camp, but evidently the two
+had slipped between.  Brave and advanced as were the Iroquois,
+superstition seized upon them.  Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work
+among them, coming in the form of the famished Lenni-Lenape.  He
+had steeped them in a deep sleep, and then he had vanished with
+the prisoner in Se-oh (The Night).  Perhaps lie had taken away
+the boy, who was one of a hated race, for some sacrifice or
+mystery of his own.  The fears of the Iroquois rose.  If the
+Spirit of Evil was among them, greater harm could be expected.
+
+But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged.  They did
+not believe in the interference of either good spirits or bad
+spirits, and just now their special hatred was a famished
+Lenni-Lenape warrior.
+
+"Why on earth didn't I think of it?" exclaimed Wyatt.  "I'm sure
+now by his size that it was the fellow Hyde.  Of Course he
+slipped to the lodge, let Cotter out, and they dodged about in
+the darkness until they escaped in the forest.  I'll complain to
+Timmendiquas."
+
+He was as good as his word, speaking of the laxness of both
+Iroquois and Wyandots.  The great White Lightning regarded him
+with an icy stare.
+
+"You say that the boy, Cotter, escaped through carelessness?" he
+asked.
+
+"I do," exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+"Then why did you not prevent it?"
+
+Wyatt trembled a little before the stern gaze of the chief.
+
+Since when," continued Timmendiquas, "have you, a deserter front
+your own people, had the right to hold to account the head chief
+of the Wyandots?"   Braxton Wyatt, brave though he undoubtedly
+was, trembled yet more.  He knew that Timmendiquas did not like
+him, and that the Wyandot chieftain could make his position among
+the Indians precarious.
+
+"I did not mean to say that it was the fault of anybody in
+particular," he exclaimed hastily, "but I've been hearing so much
+talk about the Spirit of Evil having a hand in this that I
+couldn't keep front saying something.  Of course, it was Henry
+Ware and Hyde who did it!"
+
+"It may be," said Timmendiquas icily, "but neither the Manitou of
+the Wyandots, nor the Aieroski of the Iroquois has given to me
+the eyes to see everything that happens in the dark."
+
+Wyatt withdrew still in a rage, but afraid to say more.  He and
+Blackstaffe held many conferences through the day, and they
+longed for the presence of Simon Girty, who was farther west.
+
+That night an Onondaga runner arrived from one of the farthest
+villages of the Mohawks, far east toward Albany.  He had been
+sent from a farther village, and was not known personally to the
+warriors in the great camp, but he bore a wampum belt of purple
+shells, the sign of war, and he reported directly to
+Thayendanegea, to whom he brought stirring and satisfactory
+words.  After ample feasting, as became one who had come so far,
+he lay upon soft deerskins in one of the bark huts and sought
+sleep.
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, the renegade, could not sleep.  His evil
+spirit warned him to rise and go to the huts, where the two
+remaining prisoners were kept.  It was then about one o'clock in
+the morning, and as he passed he saw the Onondaga runner at the
+door of one of the prison lodges.  He was about to cry out, but
+the Onondaga turned and struck him such a violent blow with the
+butt of a pistol, snatched from under his deerskin tunic, that he
+fell senseless.  When a Mohawk sentinel found and revived him an
+hour later, the door of the hut was open, and the oldest of the
+prisoners, the one called Ross, was gone.
+
+Now, indeed, were the Iroquois certain that the Spirit of Evil
+was among them.  When great chiefs like Timmendiquas and
+Thayendanegea were deceived, how could a common warrior hope to
+escape its wicked influence!
+
+But Braxton Wyatt, with a sore and aching head, lay all day on a
+bed of skins, and his friend, Moses Blackstaffe, could give him
+no comfort.
+
+The following night the camp was swept by a sudden and tremendous
+storm of thunder and lightning, wind and rain.  Many of the
+lodges were thrown down, and when the storm finally whirled
+itself away, it was found that the last of the prisoners, he of
+the long arms and long legs, had gone on the edge of the blast.
+
+Truly the Evil Spirit had been hovering over the Iroquois
+village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CATHARINE MONTOUR
+
+
+The five lay deep in the swamp, reunited once more, and full of
+content.  The great storm in which Long Jim, with the aid of his
+comrades, had disappeared, was whirling off to the eastward.  The
+lightning was flaring its last on the distant horizon, but the
+rain still pattered in the great woods.
+
+It was a small hut, but the five could squeeze in it.  They were
+dry, warm, and well armed, and they had no fear of the storm and
+the wilderness.  The four after their imprisonment and privations
+were recovering their weight and color.  Paul, who had suffered
+the most, had, on the other hand, made the quickest recovery, and
+their present situation, so fortunate in contrast with their
+threatened fate a few days before, made a great appeal to his
+imagination.  The door was allowed to stand open six inches , and
+through the crevice he watched the rain pattering on the dark
+earth.  He felt an immense sense of security and comfort.  Paul
+was hopeful by nature and full of courage, but when he lay bound
+and alone in a hut in the Iroquois camp it seemed to him that no
+chance was left.  The comrades had been kept separate, and he had
+supposed the others to be dead.  But here he was snatched from
+the very pit of death, and all the others had been saved from a
+like fate.
+
+"If I'd known that you were alive and uncaptured, Henry," he
+said, " I'd never have given up hope.  It was a wonderful thing
+you did to start the chain that drew us all away."
+
+"It's no more than Sol or Tom or any of you would have done,"
+said Henry.
+
+"We might have tried it," said Long Jim Hart, "but I ain't sure
+that we'd have done it.  Likely ez not, ef it had been left to me
+my scalp would be dryin' somewhat in the breeze that fans a
+Mohawk village.  Say, Sol, how wuz it that you talked Onondaga
+when you played the part uv that Onondaga runner.  Didn't know
+you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo."
+
+Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a
+thoughtful hand once or twice across his forehead.
+
+"Jim," he said, "I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the
+instincts uv the eddicated.  Learnin' always takes a mighty
+strong hold on me.  Ef I'd had the chance, I might be a
+purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin' poetry.  I ain't told you
+about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I moved with the
+settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk Iroquois
+a heap.  I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been
+now.  Ain't it funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an'
+it gits all covered with rust and mold, the time comes when that
+same forgot little thing is the most vallyble article in the
+world to you."
+
+"Weren't you scared, Sol," persisted Paul, "to face a man like
+Brant, an' pass yourself off as an Onondaga?"
+
+"No, I wuzn't," replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, "I've
+been wuss scared over little things.  I guess that when your life
+depends on jest a motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word,
+Natur' somehow comes to your help an' holds you up.  I didn't get
+good an' skeered till it wuz all over, an' then I had one fit
+right after another."
+
+"I've been skeered fur a week without stoppin'," said Tom Ross;
+"jest beginnin' to git over it.  I tell you, Henry, it wuz
+pow'ful lucky fur us you found them steppin' stones, an' this
+solid little place in the middle uv all that black mud."
+
+"Makes me think uv the time we spent the winter on that island
+in the lake," said Long Jim.   "That waz shorely a nice place an'
+pow'ful comf'table we wuz thar.  But we're a long way from it
+now.  That island uv ours must be seven or eight hundred miles
+from here, an' I reckon it's nigh to fifteen hundred to New
+Orleans, whar we wuz once."
+
+"Shet up," said Tom Ross suddenly.  "Time fur all uv you to go to
+sleep, an' I'm goin' to watch."
+
+"I'll watch," said Henry.
+
+"I'm the oldest, an' I'm goin' to have my way this time," said
+Tom.
+
+"Needn't quarrel with me about it," said Shif'less Sol.  "A lazy
+man like me is always willin' to go to sleep.  You kin hev my
+watch, Tom, every night fur the next five years."
+
+He ranged himself against the wall, and in three minutes was
+sound asleep.  Henry and Paul found room in the line, and they,
+too, soon slept.  Tom sat at the door, one of the captured rifles
+across his knees, and watched the forest and the swamp.  He saw
+the last flare of the distant lightning, and he listened to the
+falling of the rain drops until they vanished with the vanishing
+wind, leaving the forest still and without noise.
+
+Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although
+powerful in action, be was singularly chary of speech.  Henry was
+the leader, but somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over
+the other four, a sort of elder brother.  As the moon came out a
+little in the wake of the retreating clouds, he regarded them
+affectionately.
+
+"One, two, three, four, five," he murmured to himself.  "We're
+all here, an' Henry come fur us.  That is shorely the greatest
+boy the world hez ever seed.  Them fellers Alexander an' Hannibal
+that Paul talks about couldn't hev been knee high to Henry. 
+Besides, ef them old Greeks an' Romans hed hed to fight Wyandots
+an' Shawnees an' Iroquois ez we've done, whar'd they hev been?"
+
+Tom Ross uttered a contemptuous little sniff, and on the edge of
+that sniff Alexander and Hannibal were wafted into oblivion. 
+Then he went outside and walked about the islet, appreciating for
+the tenth time what a wonderful little refuge it was.  He was
+about to return to the hut when he saw a dozen dark blots along
+the high bough of a tree.  He knew them.  They were welcome
+blots.  They were wild turkeys that had found what had seemed to
+be a secure roosting place in the swamp.
+
+Tom knew that the meat of the little bear was nearly exhausted,
+and here was more food come to their hand.  "We're five pow'ful
+feeders, an' we'll need you," he murmured, looking up at the
+turkeys, " but you kin rest thar till nearly mornin'."
+
+He knew that the turkeys would not stir, and he went back to the
+hut to resume his watch. just before the first dawn he awoke
+Henry.
+
+"Henry," he said, "a lot uv foolish wild turkeys hev gone to rest
+on the limb of a tree not twenty yards from this grand manshun uv
+ourn.  'Pears to me that wild turkeys wuz made fur hungry fellers
+like us to eat.  Kin we risk a shot or two at 'em, or is it too
+dangerous?"
+
+"I think we can risk the shots," said Henry, rising and taking
+his rifle.  " We're bound to risk something, and it's not likely
+that Indians are anywhere near."
+
+They slipped from the cabin, leaving the other three still sound
+asleep, and stepped noiselessly among the trees.  The first pale
+gray bar that heralded the dawn was just showing in the cast.
+
+"Thar they are," said Tom Ross, pointing at the dozen dark blots
+on the high bough.
+
+"We'll take good aim, and when I say 'fire!' we'll both pull
+trigger," said Henry.
+
+He picked out a huge bird near the end of the line, but be
+noticed when be drew the bead that a second turkey just behind
+the first was directly in his line of fire.  The fact aroused his
+ambition to kill both with one bullet.  It was not a mere desire
+to slaughter or to display marksmanship, but they needed the
+extra turkey for food.
+
+"Are you ready, Tom?" he asked.  " Then fire."
+
+They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud
+to both under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and
+fattest of the turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest
+flapped their wings, and with frightened gobbles flew away.
+
+Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.
+
+"Don't show yourself, Henry!  Don't show yourself!" he cried
+in tense tones.
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" asked the boy in surprise.
+
+"Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to
+shoot?  An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a
+bead on one uv them turkeys at the same time we did."
+
+Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.
+
+"There's no Indian about," he said.  "I killed two turkeys with
+one shot, and I'm mighty proud of it, too.  I saw that they were
+directly in the line of the bullet, and it went through both."
+
+Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great
+depths.
+
+"I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry," he said. "Now when I
+saw that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one
+Injun or mebbe more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in
+the swamp, an' that we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in.  Thar come
+times, Henry, when my mind just natchally rises up an' rebels
+ag'in fightin', 'specially when I want to eat or sleep.  Ain't
+thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight, 'though I 'low a
+feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the woods?"
+
+They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and
+found them large and fat as butter.  More than once the wild
+turkey had come to their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a
+great part in the life of the frontier, wherever that frontier
+might be, as it shifted steadily westward.  As they walked back
+toward the hut they faced three figures, all three with leveled
+rifles.
+
+"All right, boys," sang out Henry. "It's nobody but Tom and
+myself, bringing in our breakfast."
+
+The three dropped their rifles.
+
+"That's good," said Shif'less Sol. "When them shots roused us
+out o' our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation,
+horse, foot, artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon
+us.  So we reckoned we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz
+too late.
+
+"But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys.  Sho'
+I reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz
+loaded down with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them
+other Roman and Rooshian delicacies Paul talks about in a way to
+make your mouth water.  But turkeys! jest turkeys!  Nothin' but
+turkeys!"
+
+"You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde," said Long
+Jim. "Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both
+to hold you back."
+
+But Shif'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were
+glued on the turkeys.
+
+"I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin'," he said, "but I'm
+goin' to help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the
+coals.  The quicker they are cooked the better it'll suit me."
+
+While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest
+the sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping
+stones and scouted a bit in the woods.  But there was no sign of
+Indian presence, and, relieved, he returned to the islet just as
+breakfast was ready.
+
+Long Jim had exerted all his surpassing skill, and it was a
+contented five that worked on one of the turkeys - the other two
+being saved for further needs.
+
+"What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty,
+Henry?" asked Long Jim as they ate.
+
+"We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us," replied
+the boy.  "It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were
+prisoners, that they often talked about their plans where you
+could hear them.  Sol has told me of two or three talks between
+Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, and from the last one he gathered
+that they're intending a raid with a big army against a place
+called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named the Susquehanna. 
+It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river, and they
+expect to take a lot of scalps.  They're going to be helped by
+British from Canada and Tories.  Boys, we're a long way from
+home, but shall we go and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?"
+
+"Of course," said the four together.
+
+"Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference " said
+Shif'less Sol.  "We're generally a long way from home, an' you
+know we sent word back from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz
+stayin' a while here in the east on mighty important business."
+
+"Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we
+can," said Henry.  "That's settled.  What else did you bear about
+their plans, Sol?"
+
+"They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march
+to a place called Tioga.  The white men an' I hear that's to be a
+lot uv 'em-will join 'em thar or sooner.  They've sent chiefs all
+the way to our Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an'
+then, when they git our people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on
+our settlements, the whole ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an'
+knife.  A white man named John Butler is to command 'em."
+
+Paul shuddered.
+
+"I've heard of him," he said.  "They called him 'Indian' Butler
+at Pittsburgh.  He helped lead the Indians in that terrible
+battle of the Oriskany last year.  And they say he's got a son,
+Walter Butler, who is as bad as he is, and there are other white
+leaders of the Indians, the Johnsons and Claus."
+
+"'Pears ez ef we would be needed," said Tom Ross.  
+
+"I don't think we ought to hurry," said Henry.  The more we know
+about the Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming
+people.  We've a safe and comfortable hiding place here, and we
+can stay and watch the Indian movements."
+
+"Suits me," drawled Shif'less Sol.  "My legs an' arms are still
+stiff from them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to
+wait on me I guess I'll take a rest from travelin."
+
+"You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself," rejoined Long Jim; 
+'an I'm afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either,
+but a good deal better than you deserve."
+
+They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close
+watch on the Indian camp.  They really had little to fear except
+from hunting parties, as the region was far from any settled
+portion of the country, and the Indians were not likely to
+suspect their continued presence.  But the hunters were numerous,
+and all the squaws in the camp were busy jerking meat.  It was
+obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great campaign, but
+that they would take their own time.  Most of the scouting was
+done by Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick
+brushwood and watched, by the light of the fires, what was
+passing in the Indian camp.
+
+On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and
+Shif'less Sol lay in the covert.  It was nearly midnight, but the
+fires still burned in the Indian camp, warriors were polishing
+their weapons, and the women were cutting up or jerking meat. 
+While they were watching they heard from a point to the north the
+sound of a voice rising and failing in a kind of chant.
+
+"Another war party comin'," whispered Shif'less Sol, "an' singin'
+about the victories that they're goin' to win."
+
+"But did you notice that voice?" Henry whispered back.  " It's
+not a man's, it's a woman's."
+
+"Now that you speak of it, you're right," said Shif'less Sol. 
+"It's funny to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she
+comes into camp.  That's the business o' warriors."
+
+"Then this is no ordinary woman," said Henry.
+
+"They'll pass along that trail there within twenty yards of us,
+Sol, and we want to see her."
+
+"So we do," said Sol, "but I ain't breathin' while they pass."
+
+They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye
+could not see them in the darkness.  All the time the singing was
+growing louder, and both remained, quite sure that it was the
+voice of a woman.  The trail was but a short distance away, and
+the moon was bright.  The fierce Indian chant swelled, and
+presently the most .singular figure that either had ever seen
+came into view.
+
+The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than
+most of her kind.  She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and
+arrayed in a strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery,
+deerskin leggins and moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads,
+a red dress of European cloth with a red shawl over it, and her
+head bare except for bright feathers, thrust in her long black
+hair, which hung loosely down her back.  She held in one hand a
+large sharp tomahawk, which she swung fiercely in time to her
+song.  Her face had the rapt, terrible expression of one who had
+taken some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked neither to
+right nor to left as she strode on, chanting a song of blood, and
+swinging the keen blade.
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol shuddered.  They had looked upon terrible
+human figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the
+strength of a man and twice his rage and cruelty.  There was
+something weird and awful in the look of that set, savage face,
+and the tone of that Indian chant.  Brave as they were, Henry and
+the shiftless one felt fear, as perhaps they had never felt it
+before in their lives.  Well they might!  They were destined to
+behold this woman again, under conditions the most awful of which
+the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery almost
+unbelievable in either man or woman.  The two did not yet know
+it, but they were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a
+French Governor General of Canada and an Indian woman, a
+chieftainess of the Iroquois, and of a memory infamous forever on
+the border, where she was known as "Queen Esther."
+
+Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:
+
+"I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians."
+
+A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file,
+and their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader
+in every sense.  She was truly an extraordinary woman.  Not even
+the great Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence
+among the Iroquois.  In her youth she had been treated as a white
+woman, educated and dressed as a white woman, and she had played
+a part in colonial society at Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. 
+But of her own accord she had turned toward the savage half of
+herself, had become wholly a savage, had married a savage chief,
+bad been the mother of savage children, and here she was, at
+midnight, striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness, her
+head aflame with visions of blood, death, and scalps.
+
+The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still
+leading, still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and
+Shif'less Sol was so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped
+along in the rear to see her entry.
+
+Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her
+chant, and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was
+waiting to be welcomed by her subjects.  Thayendanegea, who
+evidently expected her, stepped forward and gave her the Indian
+salute.  It may be that he received her with mild enthusiasm. 
+Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest, though an ally, would not
+dispute with him his place as real head of the Six Nations, but
+this terrible woman was his match ' and could inflame the
+Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.
+
+After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois
+village died down.  It was evident to both Henry and the
+shiftless one that they had been kept burning solely in the
+expectation of the coming of this formidable woman and her
+escort.  It was obvious that nothing more was to be seen that
+night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward their
+islet.  They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
+shivered slightly.
+
+"Henry," he said, "I feel all through me that somethin' terrible
+is comin'.  That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. 
+I'm more afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or
+Thayendanegea.  Do you think she is a witch?"
+
+"There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny.  I'm
+afraid, Sol, that your feeling about something terrible going to
+happen is right."
+
+It was about two o'clock in the morning when they reached the
+islet.  Tom Ross was awake, but the other two slumbered
+peacefully on.  They told Tom what they had seen, and he told
+them the identity of the terrible woman.
+
+"I heard about her at Pittsburgh, an' I've heard tell, too, about
+her afore I went to Kentucky to live.  She's got a tre-men-jeous
+power over the Iroquois.  They think she ken throw spells, an'
+all that sort of thing-an' mebbe she kin."
+
+Two nights later it was Henry and Tom who lay in the thickets,
+and then they saw other formidable arrivals in the Indian camp. 
+Now they were white men, an entire company in green uniforms, Sir
+John Johnson's Royal Greens, as Henry afterward learned; and with
+them was the infamous John Butler, or " Indian" Butler, as he was
+generally known on the New York and Pennsylvania frontier,
+middle-aged, short and fat, and insignificant of appearance, but
+energetic, savage and cruel in nature.  He was a descendant of
+the Duke of Ormond, and had commanded the Indians at the terrible
+battle of the Oriskany, preceding Burgoyne's capture the year
+before.
+
+Henry and Tom were distant spectators at an extraordinary council
+around one of the fires.  In this group were Timmendiquas,
+Thayendanegea, Queen Esther, high chiefs of the distant nations,
+and the white men, John Butler, Moses Blackstaffe, and the boy,
+Braxton Wyatt.  It seemed to Henry that Timmendiquas, King of the
+Wyandots, was superior to all the other chiefs present, even to
+Thayendanegea.  His expression was nobler than that of the great
+Mohawk, and it had less of the Indian cruelty.
+
+Henry and Tom could not hear 'anything that was said, but they
+felt sure the Iroquois were about to break up their village and
+march on the great campaign they had planned.  The two and their
+comrades could render no greater service than to watch their
+march, and then warn those upon whom the blow was to fall.
+
+The five left their hut on the islet early the next morning, well
+equipped with provisions, and that day they saw the Iroquois
+dismantle their village, all except the Long House and two or
+three other of the more solid structures, and begin the march. 
+Henry and his comrades went parallel with them, watching their
+movements as closely as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A CHANGE OF TENANTS
+
+
+The five were engaged upon one of their most dangerous tasks, to
+keep with the Indian army, and yet to keep out of its hands, to
+observe what was going on, and to divine what was intended from
+what they observed.  Fortunately it, was early summer, and the
+weather being very beautiful they could sleep without shelter. 
+Hence they found it convenient to sleep sometimes by daylight,
+posting a watch always, and to spy upon the Indian camp at night. 
+They saw other reinforcements come for the Indian army,
+particularly a strong division of Senecas, under two great war
+chiefs of theirs, Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, and also a body of
+Tories.
+
+Then they saw them go into their last great camp at Tioga,
+preparatory to their swift descent upon the Wyoming Valley. 
+About four hundred white men, English Canadians and Tories, were
+present, and eight hundred picked warriors of the Six Nations
+under Thayendanegea, besides the little band of Wyandots led by
+the resolute Timmendiquas.  "Indian" Butler was in general
+command of the whole, and Queen Esther was the high priestess of
+the Indians, continually making fiery speeches and chanting songs
+that made the warriors see red.  Upon the rear of this
+extraordinary army hung a band of fierce old squaws, from whom
+every remnant of mercy and Gentleness had departed.
+
+From a high rock overlooking a valley the five saw "Indian"
+Butler's force start for its final march upon Wyoming.  It was
+composed of many diverse elements, and perhaps none more
+bloodthirsty ever trod the soil of America.  In some preliminary
+skirmish a son of Queen Esther had been slain, and now her fury
+knew no limits.  She took her place at the very head of the army,
+whirling her great tomahawk about her head, and neither "Indian"
+Butler nor Thayendanegea dared to interfere with her in anything
+great or small.
+
+Henry and his comrades, as they left their rock and hastened
+toward the valley of Wyoming, felt that now they were coming into
+contact with the great war itself.  They had looked upon a
+uniformed enemy for the first time, and they might soon see the
+colonial buff and blue of the eastern army.  Their hearts
+thrilled high at new scenes and new dangers.
+
+They had gathered at Pittsburgh, and, through the captivity of
+the four in the Iroquois camp, they had some general idea of the
+Wyoming Valley and the direction in which it lay, and, taking one
+last look at the savage army, they sped toward it.  The time was
+the close, of June, and the foliage was still dark green.  It was
+a land of low mountain, hill, rich valley, and clear stream, and
+it was beautiful to every one of the five.  Much of their course
+lay along the Susquehanna, and soon they saw signs of a more
+extended cultivation than any that was yet to be witnessed in
+Kentucky.  From the brow of a little hill they beheld a field of
+green, and in another field a man plowing.
+
+"That's wheat," said Tom Ross.
+
+"But we can't leave the man to plow," said Henry, "or he'll
+never harvest that wheat.  We'll warn him."
+
+The man uttered a cry of alarm as five wild figures burst into
+his field.  He stopped abruptly, and snatched up a rifle that lay
+across the plow handles.  Neither Henry nor his companions
+realized that their forest garb and long life in the wilderness
+made them look more like Indians than white men.  But Henry threw
+up a hand as a sign of peace.
+
+"We're white like yourselves," he cried, "and we've come to warn
+you!  The Iroquois and the Tories are marching into the valley!"
+
+The man's face blanched, and he cast a hasty look toward a little
+wood, where stood a cabin from which smoke was rising.  He could
+not doubt on a near view that these were white like himself, and
+the words rang true.
+
+"My house is strong," he said, "and I can beat them off.  Maybe
+you will help me."
+
+"We'd help you willingly enough," said Henry, "if this were any
+ordinary raiding band, but 'Indian' Butler, Brant, and Queen
+Esther are coming at the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men. 
+How could we hold a house, no matter how thick its walls, against
+such an army as that?  Don't hesitate a moment!  Get up what you
+can and gallop."
+
+The man, a Connecticut settler-Jennings was his name-left his
+plow in the furrow, galloped on his horse to his house, mounted
+his wife and children on other horses, and, taking only food and
+clothing, fled to Stroudsburg, where there was a strong fort.  At
+a later day he gave Henry heartfelt thanks for his warning, as
+six hours afterward the vanguard of the horde burned  his home
+and raged because its owner and his family were gone with their
+scalps on their own heads.
+
+The five were now well into the Wyoming Valley, where the
+Lenni-Lenape, until they were pushed westward by other tribes,
+had had their village Wy-wa-mieh, which means in their language
+Wyoming.  It was a beautiful valley running twenty miles or more
+along the Susquehanna, and about three miles broad.  On either
+side rose mountain walls a thousand feet in height, and further
+away were peaks with mists and vapors around their crests.  The
+valley itself blazed in the summer sunshine, and the river
+sparkled, now in gold, now in silver, as the light changed and
+fell.
+
+More cultivated fields, more houses, generally of stout logs,
+appeared, and to all that they saw the five bore the fiery
+beacon.  Simon Jennings was not the only man who lived to thank
+them for the warning.  Others were incredulous, and soon paid the
+terrible price of unbelief.
+
+The five hastened on, and as they went they looked about them
+with wondering eyes-there were so many houses, so many cultivated
+fields, and so many signs of a numerous population.  They had
+emerged almost for the first time from the wilderness, excepting
+their memorable visit to New Orleans, although this was a very
+different region.  Long Jim spoke of it.
+
+"I think I like it better here than at New Or-leeyuns," he said. 
+"We found some nice Frenchmen an' Spaniards down thar, but the
+ground feels firmer under my feet here."
+
+"The ground feels firmer," said Paul, who had some of the
+prescience of the seer, "but the skies are no brighter.  They
+look red to me sometimes, Jim."
+
+Tom Ross glanced at Paul and shook his head ominously.  A
+woodsman, he had his superstitions, and Paul's words weighed upon
+his mind.  He began to fear a great disaster, and his experienced
+eye perceived at once the defenseless state of the valley.  He
+remembered the council of the great Indian force in the deep
+woods, and the terrible face of Queen Esther was again before
+him.
+
+"These people ought to be in blockhouses, every one uv 'em," he
+said.  "It ain't no time to be plowin' land."
+
+Yet peace seemed to brood still over the valley.  It was a fine
+river, beautiful with changing colors.  The soil on either side
+was as deep and fertile as that of Kentucky, and the line of the
+mountains cut the sky sharp and clear.  Hills and slopes were
+dark green with foliage.
+
+It must have been a gran' huntin' ground once," said Shif'less
+Sol.
+
+The alarm that the five gave spread fast, and other hunters and
+scouts came in, confirming it.  Panic seized the settlers, and
+they began to crowd toward Forty Fort on the west side of the
+river.  Henry and his comrades themselves arrived there toward
+the close of evening, just as the sun had set, blood red, behind
+the mountains.  Some report of them had preceded their coming,
+and as soon as they had eaten they were summoned to the presence
+of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the military force in
+the valley.  Singularly enough, he was a cousin of "Indian"
+Butler, who led the invading army.
+
+The five, dressed in deerskin hunting shirts, leggins, and
+moccasins, and everyone carrying a rifle, hatchet, and knife,
+entered a large low room, dimly lighted by some wicks burning in
+tallow.  A man of middle years, with a keen New England face, sat
+at a little table, and several others of varying ages stood near.
+
+The five knew instinctively that the man at the table  was
+Colonel Butler, and they bowed, but they did not show the
+faintest trace of subservience.  They had caught suspicious
+glances from some of the officers who stood about the commander,
+and they stiffened at once.  Colonel Butler looked involuntarily
+at Henry-everybody always took him, without the telling, for
+leader of the group.
+
+"We have had report of you," he said in cool noncommittal tones,"
+and you have been telling of great Indian councils that you have
+seen in the woods.  May I ask your name and where you belong?"
+
+"My name," replied Henry with dignity, "is Henry Ware, and I come
+from Kentucky.  My friends here are Paul Cotter, Solomon Hyde,
+Tom Ross, and Jim Hart.  They, too, come from Kentucky."
+
+Several of the men gave the five suspicious glances.  Certainly
+they were wild enough in appearance, and Kentucky was far away. 
+It would seem strange that new settlers in that far land should
+be here in Pennsylvania.  Henry saw clearly that his story was
+doubted.
+
+"Kentucky, you tell me?" said Colonel Butler.  "Do you mean to
+say you have come all that tremendous distance to warn us of an
+attack by Indians and Tories?"
+
+Several of the others murmured approval, and Henry flushed a
+little, but he saw that the commander was not unreasonable.  It
+was a time when men might well question the words of strangers. 
+Remembering this, he replied:
+
+"No, we did not come from Kentucky just to warn you.  In fact, we
+came from a point much farther than that.  We came from New
+Orleans to Pittsburgh with a fleet loaded with supplies for the
+Continental armies, and commanded by Adam Colfax of New
+Hampshire."
+
+The face of Colonel Butler brightened.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "you were on that expedition?  It seems to
+me that I recall hearing of great services rendered to it by some
+independent scouts."
+
+"When we reached Pittsburgh," continued Henry, ""it was our first
+intention to go back to Kentucky, but we heard that a great war
+movement was in progress to the eastward, and we thought that we
+would see what was going on.  Four of us have been captives among
+the Iroquois.  We know much of their plans, and we know, too,
+that Timmendiquas, the great chief of the Wyandots, whom we
+fought along the Ohio, has joined them with a hand of his best
+warriors.  We have also seen Thayendanegea, every one of us."
+
+"You have seen Brant?" exclaimed Colonel Butler, calling the
+great Mohawk by his white name.
+
+"Yes," replied Henry.  "We have seen him, and we have also seen
+the woman they call Queen Esther.  She is continually urging the
+Indians on."
+
+Colonel Butler seemed convinced, and invited them to sit down. 
+He also introduced the officers who were with him, Colonel John
+Durkee, Colonel Nathan Dennison, Lieutenant Colonel George
+Dorrance, Major John Garrett, Captain Samuel Ransom, Captain
+Dethrie Hewitt, and some others.
+
+"Now, gentlemen, tell us all that you saw," continued Colonel
+Butler courteously."  You will pardon so many questions, but we
+must be careful.  You will see that yourselves.  But I am a New
+England man myself, from Connecticut, and I have met Adam Colfax. 
+I recall now that we have heard of you, also, and we are grateful
+for your coming.  Will you and your comrades tell us all that you
+have seen and heard?"
+
+The five felt a decided change in the atmosphere.  They were no
+longer possible Tories or renegades, bringing an alarm at one
+point when it should be dreaded at another.  The men drew closely
+around them, and listened as the tallow wicks sputtered in the
+dim room.  Henry spoke first, and the others in their turn. 
+Every one of them spoke tersely but vividly in the language of
+the forest.  They felt deeply what they had seen, and they drew
+the same picture for their listeners.  Gradually the faces of the
+Wyoming men became shadowed.  This was a formidable tale that
+they were hearing, and they could not doubt its truth.
+
+"It is worse than I thought it could be," said Colonel Butler at
+last."  How many men do you say they have, Mr. Ware?"
+
+"Close to fifteen hundred."
+
+"All trained warriors and soldiers.  And at the best we cannot
+raise more than three hundreds including old men and boys, and
+our men, too, are farmers."
+
+"But we can beat them.  Only give us a chance, Colonel!"
+exclaimed Captain Ransom.
+
+"I'm afraid the chance will come too soon," said Colonel Butler,
+and then turning to the five:  "Help us all you can.  We need
+scouts and riflemen.  Come to the fort for any food and
+ammunition you may need."
+
+The five gave their most earnest assurances that they would stay,
+and do all in their power.  In fact, they had come for that very
+purpose.  Satisfied now that Colonel Butler and his officers had
+implicit faith in them they went forth to find that, despite the
+night and the darkness, fugitives were already crossing the river
+to seek refuge in Forty Fort, bringing with them tales of death
+and devastation, some of which were exaggerated, but too many
+true in all their hideous details.  Men had been shot and scalped
+in the fields, houses were burning, women and children were
+captives for a fate that no one could foretell.  Red ruin was
+already stalking down the valley.
+
+The farmers were bringing their wives and children in canoes and
+dugouts across the river.  Here and there a torch light flickered
+on the surface of the stream, showing the pale faces of the women
+and children, too frightened to cry.  They had fled in haste,
+bringing with them only the clothes they wore and maybe a blanket
+or two.  The borderers knew too well what Indian war was, with
+all its accompaniments of fire and the stake.
+
+Henry and his comrades helped nearly all that night.  They
+secured a large boat and crossed the river again and again,
+guarding the fugitives with their rifles, and bringing comfort to
+many a timid heart.  Indian bands had penetrated far into the
+Wyoming Valley, but they felt sure that none were yet in the
+neighborhood of Forty Fort.
+
+It was about three o'clock in the morning when the last of the
+fugitives who had yet come was inside Forty Fort, and the labors
+of the five, had they so chosen, were over for the time.  But
+their nerves were tuned to so high a pitch, and they felt so
+powerfully the presence of danger, that they could not rest, nor
+did they have any desire for sleep.
+
+
+The boat in which they sat was a good one, with two pairs of
+oars.  It had been detailed for their service, and they decided
+to pull up the river.  They thought it possible that they might
+see the advance of the enemy and bring news worth the telling. 
+Long Jim and Tom Ross took the oars, and their powerful arms sent
+the boat swiftly along in the shadow of the western bank.  Henry
+and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at the fort and a few on
+either shore.  The valley, the high mountain wall, and everything
+else were merged in obscurity.
+
+Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger,
+not for themselves, but for others.  In that Kentucky of theirs,
+yet so new, few people lived beyond the palisades, but here were
+rich and scattered settlements; and men, even in the face of
+great peril, are always loth to abandon the homes that they have
+built with so much toil.
+
+Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long
+strokes that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and
+houses sank out of sight.  Before them lay the somber surface of
+the rippling river, the shadowy hills, and silence.  The world
+seemed given over to the night save for themselves, but they knew
+too well to trust to such apparent desertion.  At such hours the
+Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt that they were
+already near, gathering news of their victims for the Indian and
+Tory horde.  Therefore, it was the part of his comrades and
+himself to use the utmost caution as they passed up the river.
+
+They bugged the western shore, where they were shadowed by banks
+and bushes, and now they went slowly, Long Jim and Tom Ross
+drawing their oars so carefully through the water that there was
+never a plash to tell of their passing.  Henry was in the prow of
+the boat, bent forward a little, eyes searching the surface of
+the river, and ears intent upon any sound that might pass on the
+bank.  Suddenly he gave a little signal to the rowers and they
+let their oars rest.
+
+"Bring the boat in closer to the bank," he whispered.  Push it
+gently among those bushes where we cannot be seen from above."
+
+Tom and Jim obeyed.  The boat slid softly among tall bushes that
+shadowed the water, and was hidden completely.  Then Henry
+stepped out, crept cautiously nearly up the bank, which was here
+very low, and lay pressed closely against the earth, but
+supported by the exposed root of a tree.  He had heard voices,
+those of Indians, he believed, and he wished to see.  Peering
+through a fringe of bushes that lined the bank he saw seven
+warriors and one white face sitting under the boughs of a great
+oak.  The face was that of Braxton Wyatt, who was now in his
+element, with a better prospect of success than any that he had
+ever known before.  Henry shuddered, and for a moment he
+regretted that he had spared Wyatt's life when he might have
+taken it.
+
+
+But Henry was lying against the bank to hear what these men might
+be saying, not to slay.  Two of the warriors, as he saw by their
+paint, were Wyandots, and he understood the Wyandot tongue. 
+Moreover, his slight knowledge of Iroquois came into service, and
+gradually he gathered the drift of their talk.  Two miles nearer
+Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of the Wyandots had seen it-not
+yet abandoned by its owner, who believed that his proximity to
+Forty Fort assured his safety.  He lived there with his wife and
+five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid the
+place before daylight and kill them all.  Henry had heard enough. 
+He slid back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.
+
+"Pull back down the river as gently as you can," he whispered,
+"and then I'll tell you."
+
+The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several
+hundred yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of
+the fiendish plan that he had heard.
+
+"I know that man," said Shif'less Sol.  "His name is Standish.  I
+was there nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to
+take his family an' run.  But he knowed more'n I did.  Said he'd
+stay, he wuzn't afraid, an' now he's got to pay the price."
+
+"No, he mustn't do that," said Henry.  "It's too much to pay for
+just being foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes.  Boys,
+we can yet save that man an' his wife and children.  Aren't you
+willing to do it?"
+
+"Why, course," said Long Jim.  "Like ez not Standish will shoot
+at us when we knock on his door, but let's try it."
+
+The others nodded assent.
+
+"How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?" asked
+Henry.
+
+"'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile
+down."
+
+"Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late.  Tom,
+you and Jim give Sol and me the oars now."
+
+Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat
+shooting down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by
+Sol.  They leaped ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and
+hastened toward a log house that they saw standing in a clump of
+trees.  The enemy had not yet come, but as they swiftly
+approached the house a dog ran barking at them.  The shiftless
+one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.
+
+"I hated to do it, but I had to," he murmured.  The next moment
+Henry was knocking at the door.
+
+"Up!  Up!" he cried, "the Indians are at hand, and you must run
+for your lives!"
+
+How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American
+border!
+
+The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their
+ears, and then they heard him at the door.
+
+"Who are you?" he cried.  "Why are you beating on my door at such
+a time?"
+
+"We are friends, Mr. Standish," cried Henry, "and if you would
+save your wife and children you must go at once!  Open the door! 
+Open, I say!"
+
+The man inside was in a terrible quandary.  It was thus that
+renegades or Indians, speaking the white man's tongue, sometimes
+bade a door to be opened, in order that they might find an easy
+path to slaughter.  But the voice outside was powerfully
+insistent, it had the note of truth; his wife and children,
+roused, too, were crying out, in alarm.  Henry knocked again on
+the door and shouted to him in a voice, always increasing in
+earnestness, to open and flee.  Standish could resist no longer. 
+He took down the bar and flung open the door, springing back,
+startled at the five figures that stood before him.  In the dusk
+he did not remember Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Mr. Standish," Henry said, speaking rapidly, "we are, as you can
+see, white.  You will be attacked here by Indians and renegades
+within half an hour.  We know that, because we heard them talking
+from the bushes.  We have a boat in the river; you can reach it
+in five minutes.  Take your wife and children, and pull for Forty
+Fort."
+
+Standish was bewildered.
+
+"How do I know that you are not enemies, renegades, yourselves?"
+he asked.
+
+"If we had been that you'd be a dead man already," said Shif'less
+Sol.
+
+It was a grim reply, but it was unanswerable, and Standish
+recognized the fact.  His wife had felt the truth in the tones of
+the strangers, and was begging him to go.  Their children were
+crying at visions of the tomahawk and scalping knife now so near.
+
+"We'll go," said Standish.  "At any rate, it can't do any harm. 
+We'll get a few things together."
+
+"Do not wait for anything!  "exclaimed Henry.  "You haven't a
+minute to spare!  Here are more blankets!  Take them and run for
+the boat!  Sol and Jim, see them on board, and then come back!"
+
+Carried away by such fire and earnestness, Standish and his
+family ran for the boat.  Jim and the shiftless one almost threw
+them on board, thrust a pair of oars into the bands of Standish,
+another into the hands of his wife, and then told them to pull
+with all their might for the fort.
+
+"And you," cried Standish, "what becomes of you?"
+
+Then a singular expression passed over his face-he had guessed
+Henry's plan.
+
+"Don't you trouble about us," said the shiftless one.  "We will
+come later.  Now pull! pull!"
+
+Standish and his wife swung on the oars, and in two minutes the
+boat and its occupants were lost in the darkness.  Tom Ross and
+Sol did not pause to watch them, but ran swiftly back to the
+house.  Henry was at the door.
+
+"Come in," he said briefly, and they entered.  Then he closed the
+door and dropped the bar into place.  Shif'less Sol and Paul were
+already inside, one sitting on the chair and the other on the
+edge of the bed.  Some coals, almost hidden under ashes,
+smoldered and cast a faint light in the room, the only one that
+the house had, although it was divided into two parts by a rough
+homespun curtain.  Henry opened one of the window shutters a
+little and looked out.  The dawn had not yet come, but it was not
+a dark night, and he looked over across the little clearing to
+the trees beyond.  On that side was a tiny garden, and near the
+wall of the house some roses were blooming.  He could see the
+glow of pink and red.  But no enemy bad yet approached. 
+Searching the clearing carefully with those eyes of his, almost
+preternaturally keen, he was confident that the Indians were
+still in the woods.  He felt an intense thrill of satisfaction at
+the success of his plan so far.
+
+He was not cruel, he never rejoiced in bloodshed, but the
+borderer alone knew what the border suffered, and only those who
+never saw or felt the torture could turn the other cheek to be
+smitten.  The Standish house had made a sudden and ominous change
+of tenants.
+
+"It will soon be day," said Henry, "and farmers are early risers. 
+Kindle up that fire a little, will you, Sol?  I want some smoke
+to come out of the chimney."
+
+The shiftless one raked away the ashes, and put on two or three
+pieces of wood that lay on the hearth.  Little flames and smoke
+arose.  Henry looked curiously about the house.  It was the usual
+cabin of the frontier, although somewhat larger.  The bed on
+which Shif'less Sol sat was evidently that of the father and
+mother, while two large ones behind the curtain were used by the
+children.  On the shelf stood a pail half full of drinking water,
+and by the side of it a tin cup.  Dried herbs hung over the
+fireplace, and two or three chests stood in the corners.  The
+clothing of the children was scattered about.  Unprepared food
+for breakfast stood on a table.  Everything told of a hasty
+flight and its terrible need.  Henry was already resolved, but
+his heart hardened within him as he saw.
+
+He took the hatchet from his belt and cut one of the hooks for
+the door bar nearly in two.  The others said not a word.  They
+had no need to speak.  They understood everything that he did. 
+He opened the window again and looked out.  Nothing yet appeared. 
+"The dawn will come in three quarters of an hour," he said, "and
+we shall not have to wait long for what we want to do."
+
+He sat down facing the door.  All the others were sitting, and
+they, too, faced the door.  Everyone had his rifle across his
+knees, with one hand upon the hammer.  The wood on the hearth
+sputtered as the fire spread, and the flames grew.  Beyond a
+doubt a thin spire of smoke was rising from the chimney, and a
+watching eye would see this sign of a peaceful and unsuspecting
+mind.
+
+"I hope Braxton Wyatt will be the first to knock at our door,"
+said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I wouldn't be sorry," said Henry.
+
+Paul was sitting in a chair near the fire, and he said nothing. 
+He hoped the waiting would be very short.  The light was
+sufficient for him to see the faces of his comrades, and he
+noticed that they were all very tense.  This was no common watch
+that they kept.  Shif'less Sol remained on the bed, Henry sat on
+another of the chairs, Tom Ross was on one of the chests with his
+back to the wall.  Long Jim was near the curtain.  Close by Paul
+was a home-made cradle.  He put down his hand and touched it.  He
+was glad that it was empty now, but the sight of it steeled his
+heart anew for the task that lay before them.
+
+Ten silent minutes passed, and Henry went to the window again. 
+He did not open it, but there was a crack through which he could
+see.  The others said nothing, but watched his face.  When he
+turned away they knew that the moment was at hand.
+
+"They've just come from the woods," he said, "and in a minute
+they'll be at the door.  Now, boys, take one last look at your
+rifles."
+
+A minute later there was a sudden sharp knock at the door, but no
+answer came from within.  The knock was repeated, sharper and
+louder, and Henry, altering his voice as much as possible,
+exclaimed like one suddenly awakened from sleep:
+
+"Who is it?  What do you want?"
+
+Back came a voice which Henry knew to be that of Braxton Wyatt:
+
+"We've come from farther up the valley.  We're scouts, we've been
+up to the Indian country.  We're half starved.  Open and give us
+food!"
+
+"I don't believe you," replied Henry.  "Honest people don't
+come to my door at this time in the morning."
+
+Then ensued a few moments of silence, although Paul, with his
+vivid fancy, thought he heard whispering on the other side of the
+door.
+
+"Open!" cried Wyatt, "or we'll break your door down!" Henry said
+nothing, nor did any of the others.  They did not stir.  The fire
+crackled a little, but there was no other sound in the Standish
+house.  Presently they heard a slight noise outside, that of
+light feet.
+
+"They are going for a log with which to break the door in,"
+whispered Henry.  "They won't have to look far.  The wood pile
+isn't fifty feet away."
+
+"An' then," said Shif'less Sol, "they won't have much left to do
+but to take the scalps of women an' little children."
+
+Every figure in the Standish house stiffened at the shiftless
+one's significant words, and the light in the eyes grew sterner. 
+Henry went to the door, put his ear to the line where it joined
+the wall, and listened.
+
+"They've got their log," he said, "and in half a minute they'll
+rush it against the door."
+
+He came back to his old position.  Paul's heart began to thump,
+and his thumb fitted itself over the trigger of his cocked rifle. 
+Then they heard rapid feet, a smash, a crash, and the door flew
+open.  A half dozen  Iroquois and a log that they held between
+them were hurled into the middle of the room.  The door had given
+away so easily and unexpectedly that the warriors could not check
+themselves, and two or three fell with the log.  But they sprang
+like cats to their feet, and with their comrades uttered a cry
+that filled the whole cabin with its terrible sound and import.
+
+The Iroquois, keen of eyes and quick of mind, saw the trap at
+once.   The five grim figures, rifle in hand and finger on
+trigger, all waiting silent and motionless were far different
+from what they expected.  Here could be no scalps, with the long,
+silky hair of women and children.
+
+There was a moment's pause, and then the Indians rushed at their
+foes.  Five fingers pulled triggers, flame leaped from five
+muzzles, and in an instant the cabin was filled with smoke and
+war shouts, but the warriors never had a chance.  They could only
+strike blindly with their tomahawks, and in a half minute three
+of them, two wounded, rushed through the door and fled to the
+woods.  They had been preceded already by Braxton Wyatt, who had
+hung back craftily while the Iroquois broke down the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WYOMING
+
+
+The five made no attempt to pursue.  In fact, they did not leave
+the cabin, but stood there a while, looking down at the fallen,
+hideous with war paint, but now at the end of their last trail. 
+Their tomahawks lay upon the floor, and glittered when the light
+from the fire fell upon them.  Smoke, heavy with the odor of
+burned gunpowder, drifted about the room.
+
+Henry threw open the two shuttered windows, and fresh currents of
+air poured into the room.  Over the mountains in the east came
+the first shaft of day.  The surface of the river was lightening.
+
+"What shall we do with them?" asked Paul, pointing to the silent
+forms on the floor.
+
+"Leave them," said Henry.  "Butler's army is burning everything
+before it, and this house and all in it is bound to go.  You
+notice, however, that Braxton Wyatt is not here."
+
+"Trust him to escape every time," said Shif'less Sol.  "Of course
+he stood back while the Indians rushed the house.  But ez shore
+ez we live somebody will get him some day.  People like that
+can't escape always."
+
+They slipped from the house, turning toward the river bank, and
+not long after it was full daylight they were at Forty Fort
+again, where they found Standish and his family.  Henry replied
+briefly to the man's questions, but two hours later a scout came
+in and reported the grim sight that he had seen in the Standish
+home.  No one could ask for further proof of the fealty of the
+five, who sought a little sleep, but before noon were off again.
+
+They met more fugitives, and it was now too dangerous to go
+farther up the valley.  But not willing to turn back, they
+ascended the mountains that hem it in, and from the loftiest
+point that they could find sought a sight of the enemy.
+
+It was an absolutely brilliant day in summer.  The blue of the
+heavens showed no break but the shifting bits of white cloud, and
+the hills and mountains rolled away, solid masses of rich, dark
+green.  The river, a beautiful river at any time, seemed from
+this height a great current of quicksilver.  Henry pointed to a
+place far up the stream where black dots appeared on its surface. 
+These dots were moving, and they came on in four lines.
+
+"Boys," he said, "you know what those lines of black dots are?"
+
+"Yes," replied Shif'less Sol, "it's Butler's army of Indians,
+Tories, Canadians, an' English.  They've come from Tioga Point on
+the river, an' our Colonel Butler kin expect 'em soon."
+
+The sunlight became dazzling, and showed the boats, despite the
+distance, with startling clearness.  The five, watching from
+their peak, saw them turn in toward the land, where they poured
+forth a motley stream of red men and white, a stream that was
+quickly swallowed up in the forest.
+
+"They are coming down through the woods on the fort, said Tom
+Ross.
+
+"And they're coming fast," said Henry.  "It's for us to carry the
+warning."
+
+They sped back to the Wyoming fort, spreading the alarm as they
+passed, and once more they were in the council room with Colonel
+Zebulon Butler and his officers around him.
+
+"So they are at hand, and you have seen them?" said the colonel.
+
+"Yes," replied Henry, the spokesman, "they came down from Tioga
+Point in boats, but have disembarked and are advancing through
+the woods.  They will be here today."
+
+There was a little silence in the room.  The older men understood
+the danger perhaps better than the younger, who were eager for
+battle.
+
+"Why should we stay here and wait for them?" exclaimed one of the
+younger captains at length-some of these captains were mere boys. 
+"Why not go out, meet them, and beat them ?"
+
+"They outnumber us about five to one," said Henry.  "Brant, if he
+is still with them, though be may have gone to some other place
+from Tioga Point, is a great captain.  So is Timmendiquas, the
+Wyandot, and they say that the Tory leader is energetic and
+capable."
+
+"It is all true!" exclaimed Colonel Butler.  "We must stay in the
+fort!  We must not go out to meet them!  We are not strong
+enough!"
+
+A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger
+officers.
+
+"And leave the valley to be ravaged!  Women and children to be
+scalped, while we stay behind log walls!" said one of them
+boldly.  
+
+The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely
+militia, farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
+
+Colonel Butler flushed.
+
+"We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge," he said. 
+"It hurts me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we
+sit quiet here.  But I know that we have no chance against so
+large a force, and if we fall what is to become of the hundreds
+whom we now protect?"
+
+But the murmur of protest grew.  All the younger men were
+indignant.  They would not seek shelter for themselves while
+others were suffering.  A young lieutenant saw from a window two
+fires spring up and burn like torch lights against the sky.  They
+were houses blazing before the Indian brand.
+
+"Look at that!," he cried, pointing with an accusing finger, "and
+we are here, under cover, doing nothing!"
+
+A deep angry mutter went about the room, but Colonel Butler,
+although the flush remained on his face, still shook his head. 
+He glanced at Tom Ross, the oldest of the five.
+
+"You know about the Indian force," he exclaimed.  What should we
+do?"
+
+The face of Tom Ross was very grave, and he spoke slowly, as was
+his wont.
+
+"It's a hard thing to set here," he exclaimed, "but it will be
+harder to go out an' meet 'em on their own ground, an' them four
+or five to one."
+
+"We must not go out," repeated the Colonel, glad of such backing.
+
+The door was thrust open, and an officer entered.
+
+"A rumor has just arrived, saying that the entire Davidson family
+has been killed and scalped," he said. 
+
+A deep, angry cry went up.  Colonel Butler and the few who stood
+with him were overborne.  Such things as these could not be
+endured, and reluctantly the commander gave his consent.  They
+would go out and fight.  The fort and its enclosures were soon
+filled with the sounds of preparation, and the little army was
+formed rapidly.
+
+"We will fight by your side, of course," said Henry, "but we
+wish to serve on the flank as an independent band.  We can be of
+more service in that manner."
+
+The colonel thanked them gratefully.
+
+"Act as you think best," he said.
+
+The five stood near one of the gates, while the little force
+formed in ranks.  Almost for the first time they were gloomy upon
+going into battle.  They had seen the strength of that army of
+Indians, renegades, Tories, Canadians, and English advancing
+under the banner of England, and they knew the power and
+fanaticism of the Indian leaders.  They believed that the
+terrible Queen Esther, tomahawk in hand, had continually chanted
+to them her songs of blood as they came down the river.  It was
+now the third of July, and valley and river were beautiful in the
+golden sunlight.  The foliage showed vivid and deep green on
+either line of high hills.  The summer sun had never shown more
+kindly over the lovely valley.
+
+The time was now three o'clock.  The gates of the fort were
+thrown open, and the little army marched out, only three hundred,
+of whom seventy were old men, or boys so young that in our day
+they would be called children.  Yet they marched bravely against
+the picked warriors of the Iroquois, trained from infancy to the
+forest and war, and a formidable body of white rovers who wished
+to destroy the little colony of "rebels," as they called them.
+
+Small though it might be, it was a gallant army.  Young and old
+held their heads high.  A banner was flying, and a boy beat a
+steady insistent roll upon a drum.  Henry and his comrades were
+on the left flank, the river was on the right.  The great gates
+had closed behind them, shutting in the women and the children. 
+The sun blazed down, throwing everything into relief with its
+intense, vivid light playing upon the brown faces of the
+borderers, their rifles and their homespun clothes.  Colonel
+Butler and two or three of his officers were on horseback,
+leading the van.  Now that the decision was to fight, the older
+officers, who had opposed it, were in the very front.  Forward
+they went, and spread out a little, but with the right flank
+still resting on the river, and the left extended on the plain.
+
+The five were on the edge of the plain, a little detached from
+the others, searching the forest for a sign of the enemy, who was
+already so near.  Their gloom did not decrease.  Neither the
+rolling of the drum nor the flaunting of the banner had any
+effect.  Brave though the men might be, this was not the way in
+which they should meet an Indian foe who outnumbered them four or
+five to one.
+
+"I don't like it," muttered Tom Ross.
+
+"Nor ' do I," said Henry, "but remember that whatever happens we
+all stand together."
+
+"We remember!" said the others.
+
+On-they went, and the five moving faster were now ahead of the
+main force some hundred yards.  They swung in a little toward the
+river.  The banks here were highland off to the left was a large
+swamp.  The five now checked speed and moved with great wariness. 
+They saw nothing, and they heard nothing, either, until they went
+forty or fifty yards farther.  Then a low droning sound came to
+their ears.  It was the voice of one yet far away, but they knew
+it.  It was the terrible chant of Queen Esther, in this moment
+the most ruthless of all the savages, and inflaming them
+continuously for the combat.
+
+The five threw themselves flat on their faces, and waited a
+little.  The chant grew louder, and then through the foliage they
+saw the ominous figure approaching.  She was much as she had been
+on that night when they first beheld her.  She wore the same
+dress of barbaric colors, she swung the same great tomahawk about
+her head, and sang all the time of fire and blood and death.
+
+They saw behind her the figures of chiefs, naked to the breech
+cloth for battle, their bronze bodies glistening with the war
+paint, and bright feathers gleaming in their hair.  Henry
+recognized the tall form of Timmendiquas, notable by his height,
+and around him his little band of Wyandots, ready to prove
+themselves mighty warriors to their eastern friends the Iroquois. 
+Back of these was a long line of Indians and their white allies,
+Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers in the
+center, bearing the flag of England.  The warriors, of whom the
+Senecas were most numerous, were gathered in greatest numbers on
+their right flank, facing the left flank of the Americans. 
+Sangerachte and Hiokatoo, who had taken two English prisoners at
+Braddock's defeat, and who had afterwards burned them both alive
+with his own hand, were the principal leaders of the Senecas. 
+Henry caught a glimpse of "Indian" Butler in the center, with a
+great blood-red handkerchief tied around his head, and, despite
+the forest, he noticed with a great sinking of the heart how far
+the hostile line extended.  It could wrap itself like a python
+around the defense.
+
+"It's a tale that will soon be told," said Paul.
+
+They went back swiftly, and warned Colonel Butler that the enemy
+was at band.  Even as they spoke they heard the loud wailing
+chant of Queen Esther, and then came the war whoop, pouring from
+a thousand throats, swelling defiant and fierce like the cry of a
+wounded beast.  The farmers, the boys, and the old men, most of
+whom had never been in battle, might well tremble at this ominous
+sound, so great in volume and extending so far into the forest. 
+But they stood firm, drawing themselves into a somewhat more
+compact body, and still advancing with their banners flying, and
+the boy beating out that steady roll on the drum.
+
+The enemy now came into full sight, and Colonel Butler deployed
+his force in line of battle, his right resting on the high bank
+of the river and his left against the swamp.  Forward pressed the
+motley army of the other Butler, he of sanguinary and cruel fame,
+and the bulk of his force came into view, the sun shining down on
+the green uniforms of the English and the naked brown bodies of
+the Iroquois.
+
+The American commander gave the order to fire.  Eager fingers
+were already on the trigger, and a blaze of light ran along the
+entire rank.  The Royal Greens and Rangers, although replying
+with their own fire, gave back before the storm of bullets, and
+the Wyoming men, with a shout of triumph, sprang forward.  It was
+always a characteristic of the border settler, despite many
+disasters and a knowledge of Indian craft and cunning, to rush
+straight at his foe whenever he saw him.  His, unless a trained
+forest warrior himself, was a headlong bravery, and now this
+gallant little force asked for nothing but to come to close grips
+with the enemy.
+
+The men in the center with "Indian" Butler gave back still more. 
+With cries of victory the Wyoming men pressed forward, firing
+rapidly, and continuing to drive the mongrel white force.  The
+rifles were cracking rapidly, and smoke arose over the two lines. 
+The wind caught wisps of it and carried them off down the river.
+
+"It goes better than I thought," said Paul as he reloaded his
+rifle.
+
+"Not yet," said Henry, "we are fighting the white men only. 
+Where are all the Indians, who alone outnumber our men more than
+two to one?"
+
+"Here they come," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to the depths of
+the swamp, which was supposed to protect the left flank of the
+Wyoming force.
+
+The five saw in the spaces, amid the briars and vines, scores of
+dark figures leaping over the mud, naked to the breech cloth,
+armed with rifle and tomahawk, and rushing down upon the
+unprotected side of their foe.  The swamp had been but little
+obstacle to them.
+
+Henry and his comrades gave the alarm at once.  As many as
+possible were called off immediately from the main body, but they
+were not numerous enough to have any effect.  The Indians came
+through the swamp in hundreds and hundreds, and, as they uttered
+their triumphant yell, poured a terrible fire into the Wyoming
+left flank.  The defenders were forced to give ground, and the
+English and Tories came on again.
+
+The fire was now deadly and of great volume.  The air was filled
+with the flashing of the rifles.  The cloud of smoke grew
+heavier, and faces, either from heat or excitement, showed red
+through it.  The air was filled with bullets, and the Wyoming
+force was being cut down fast, as the fire of more than a
+thousand rifles converged upon it.
+
+The five at the fringe of the swamp loaded and fired as fast as
+they could at the Indian horde, but they saw that it was creeping
+closer and closer, and that the hail of bullets it sent in was
+cutting away the whole left flank of the defenders.  They saw the
+tall figure of Timmendiquas, a very god of war, leading on the
+Indians, with his fearless Wyandots in a close cluster around
+him.  Colonel John Durkee, gathering up a force of fifty or
+sixty, charged straight at the warriors, but he was killed by a
+withering volley, which drove his men back.
+
+Now occurred a fatal thing, one of those misconceptions which
+often decide the fate of a battle.  The company of Captain
+Whittlesey, on the extreme left, which was suffering most
+severely, was ordered to fall back.  The entire little army,
+which was being pressed hard now, seeing the movement of
+Whittlesey, began to retreat.  Even without the mistake it is
+likely they would have lost in the face of such numbers.
+
+The entire horde of Indians, Tories, Canadians, English, and
+renegades, uttering a tremendous yell, rushed forward.  Colonel
+Zebulon Butler, seeing the crisis, rode up and down in front of
+his men, shouting: "Don't leave me, my children! the victory is
+ours!" Bravely his officers strove to stop the retreat.  Every
+captain who led a company into action was killed.  Some of these
+captains were but boys.  The men were falling by dozens.
+
+All the Indians, by far the most formidable part of the invading
+force, were through the swamp now, and, dashing down their
+unloaded rifles, threw themselves, tomahawk in hand, upon the
+defense.  Not more than two hundred of the Wyoming men were left
+standing, and the impact of seven or eight hundred savage
+warriors was so great that they were hurled back in confusion.  A
+wail of grief and terror came from the other side of the river,
+where a great body of women and children were watching the
+fighting.
+
+"The battle's lost," said Shif'less Sol,
+
+"Beyond hope of saving it," said Henry, "but, boys, we five are
+alive yet, and we'll do our best to help the others protect the
+retreat."
+
+They kept under cover, fighting as calmly as they could amid such
+a terrible scene, picking off warrior after warrior, saving more
+than one soldier ere the tomahawk fell.  Shif'less Sol took a
+shot at "Indian" Butler, but he was too far away, and the bullet
+missed him.
+
+"I'd give five years of my life if he were fifty yards nearer,"
+exclaimed the shiftless one.
+
+But the invading force came in between and he did not get another
+shot.  There was now a terrible medley, a continuous uproar, the
+crashing fire of hundreds of rifles, the shouts of the Indians,
+and the cries of the wounded.  Over them all hovered smoke and
+dust, and the air was heavy, too, with the odor of burnt
+gunpowder.  The division of old men and very young boys stood
+next, and the Indians were upon them, tomahawk in hand, but in
+the face of terrible odds all bore themselves with a valor worthy
+of the best of soldiers.  Three fourths of them died that day,
+before they were driven back on the fort.
+
+The Wyoming force was pushed away from the edge of the swamp,
+which had been some protection to the left, and they were now
+assailed from all sides except that of the river.  "Indian"
+Butler raged at the head of his men, who had been driven back at
+first, and who had been saved by the Indians.  Timmendiquas, in
+the absence of Brant, who was not seen upon this field, became by
+valor and power of intellect the leader of all the Indians for
+this moment.  The Iroquois, although their own fierce chiefs,
+I-Tiokatoo, Sangerachte, and the others fought with them,
+unconsciously obeyed him.  Nor did the fierce woman, Queen
+Esther, shirk the battle.  Waving her great tomahawk, she was
+continually among the warriors, singing her song of war and
+death.
+
+They were driven steadily back toward the fort, and the little
+band crumbled away beneath the deadly fire.  Soon none would be
+left unless they ran for their lives.  The five drew away toward
+the forest.  They saw that the fort itself could not hold out
+against such a numerous and victorious foe, and they had no mind
+to be trapped.  But their retreat was slow, and as they went they
+sent bullet after bullet into the Indian flank.  Only a small
+percentage of the Wyoming force was left, and it now broke. 
+Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison, who were mounted, reached
+the fort.  Some of the men jumped into the river, swam to the
+other shore and escaped.  Some swam to a little island called
+Monocacy, and hid, but the Tories and Indians hunted them out and
+slew them.  One Tory found his brother there, and killed him with
+his own hand, a deed of unspeakable horror that is yet mentioned
+by the people of that region.  A few fled into the forest and
+entered the fort at night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BLOODY ROCK
+
+
+Seeing that all was lost, the five drew farther away into the
+woods.  They were not wounded, yet their faces were white despite
+the tan.  They had never before looked upon so terrible a scene. 
+The Indians, wild with the excitement of a great triumph and
+thirsting for blood, were running over the field scalping the
+dead, killing some of the wounded, and saving others for the
+worst of tortures.  Nor were their white allies one whit behind
+them.  They bore a full part in the merciless war upon the
+conquered.  Timmendiquas, the great Wyandot, was the only one to
+show nobility.  Several of the wounded he saved from immediate
+death, and he tried to hold back the frenzied swarm of old squaws
+who rushed forward and began to practice cruelties at which even
+the most veteran warrior might shudder.  But Queen Esther urged
+them on, and "Indian" Butler himself and the chiefs were afraid
+of her.
+
+Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
+self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came
+from the lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing
+the same.  The sun was setting, but its dying light, brilliant
+and intense, tinged the field as if with blood, showing all the
+yelling horde as the warriors rushed about for scalps, or danced
+in triumph, whirling their hideous trophies about their heads. 
+Others were firing at men who were escaping to the far bank of
+the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the fugitives in
+their vain hiding places on the little islet.
+
+The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and
+sending in a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some
+fugitive who was seeking the shelter of the woods.  The retreat
+had become a rout and then a massacre.  The savages raged up and
+down in the greatest killing they had known since Braddock's
+defeat.  The lodges of the Iroquois would be full of the scalps
+of white men.
+
+All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its
+deepest impress, perhaps, upon Paul.  He had taken part in border
+battles before, but this was the first great defeat.  He was not
+blind to the valor and good qualities of the Indian and his claim
+upon the wilderness, but he saw the incredible cruelties that he
+could commit, and he felt a horror of those who used him as an
+ally, a horror that he could never dismiss from his mind as long
+as he lived.
+
+"Look!" he exclaimed, "look at that!"
+
+A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the
+forest.  They might have been grandfather and grandson. 
+Undoubtedly they had fought in the Battalion of the Very Old and
+the Very Young, and now, when everything else was lost, they were
+seeking to save their lives in the friendly shelter of the woods. 
+But they were pursued by two groups of Iroquois, four warriors in
+one, and three in the other, and the Indians were gaining fast.
+
+"I reckon we ought to save them," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"No doubt of it," said Henry.  "Paul, you and Sol move off to the
+right a little, and take the three, while the rest of us will
+look out for the four."
+
+The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and
+Sol having the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group
+of four Indians at closer range.  Paul and Sol were behind some
+trees, and, turning at an angle, they ran forward to intercept
+the three Indians.  It would have seemed to anyone who was not
+aware of the presence of friends in the forest that the old man
+and the boy would surely be overtaken and be tomahawked, but
+three rifles suddenly flashed among the foliage.  Two of the
+warriors in the group of four fell, and a third uttered a yell of
+pain.  Paul and Shif'less Sol fired at the same time at the group
+of three.  One fell before the deadly rifle of Shif'less Sol, but
+Paul only grazed his man.  Nevertheless, the whole pursuit
+stopped, and the boy and the old man escaped to the forest, and
+subsequently to safety at the Moravian towns.
+
+Paul, watching the happy effect of the shots, was about to say
+something to Shif'less Sol, when an immense force was hurled upon
+him, and he was thrown to the ground.  His comrade was served in
+the same way, but the shiftless one was uncommonly strong and
+agile.  He managed to writhe half way to his knees, and he
+shouted in a tremendous voice:
+
+"Run, Henry, run!  You can't do anything for us now!"
+
+Braxton Wyatt struck him fiercely across the mouth.  The blood
+came, but the shiftless one merely spat it out, and looked
+curiously at the renegade.
+
+"I've often wondered about you, Braxton," he said calmly.  " I
+used to think that anybody, no matter how bad, had some good in
+him, but I reckon you ain't got none."
+
+Wyatt did not answer, but rushed forward in search of the
+others.  But Henry, Silent Tom, and Long Jim had vanished.  A
+powerful party of warriors had stolen upon Shif'less Sol and
+Paul, while they were absorbed in the chase of the old man and
+the boy, and now they were prisoners, bound securely.  Braxton
+Wyatt came back from the fruitless search for the three, but his
+face was full of savage joy as he looked down at the captured
+two.
+
+"We could have killed you just as easily," he said, "but we
+didn't want to do that.  Our friends here are going to have their
+fun with you first."
+
+Paul's cheeks whitened a little at the horrible suggestion, but
+Shif'less Sol faced them boldly.  Several white men in uniform
+had come up, and among them was an elderly one, short and squat,
+and with a great flame colored handkerchief tied around his bead.
+
+"You may burn us alive, or you may do other things jest ez bad to
+us, all under the English flag," said Shif'less Sol, " but I'm
+thinkin' that a lot o' people in England will be ashamed uv it
+when they hear the news."
+
+"Indian" Butler and his uniformed soldiers turned away, leaving
+Shif'less Sol and Paul in the hands of the renegade and the
+Iroquois.  The two prisoners were jerked to their feet and told
+to march.
+
+
+"Come on, Paul," said Shif'less Sol. "'Tain't wuth while fur us
+to resist.  But don't you quit hopin', Paul.  We've escaped from
+many a tight corner, an' mebbe we're goin' to do it ag'in."
+
+"Shut up!" said Braxton Wyatt savagely.  "If you say another word
+I'll gag you in a way that will make you squirm."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked him squarely in the eye.  Solomon Hyde, who
+was not shiftless at all, had a dauntless soul, and he was not
+afraid now in the face of death preceded by long torture.
+
+"I had a dog once, Braxton Wyatt," he said, "an' I reckon he wuz
+the meanest, ornierest cur that ever lived.  He liked to live on
+dirt, the dirtier the place he could find the better; he'd rather
+steal his food than get it honestly; he wuz sech a coward that he
+wuz afeard o' a rabbit, but ef your back wuz turned to him he'd
+nip you in the ankle.  But bad ez that dog wuz, Braxton, he wuz a
+gentleman 'longside o' you."
+
+Some of the Indians understood English, and Wyatt knew it.  He
+snatched a pistol from his belt, and was about to strike Sol with
+the butt of it, but a tall figure suddenly appeared before him,
+and made a commanding gesture.  The gesture said plainly:  "Do
+not strike; put that pistol back!"  Braxton Wyatt, whose soul was
+afraid within him, did not strike, and he put the pistol back.
+
+It was Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots,
+who with his little detachment had proved that day how mighty the
+Wyandot warriors were, full equals of Thayendanegea's Mohawks,
+the Keepers of the Western Gate.  He was bare to the waist.  One
+shoulder was streaked with blood from a slight wound, but his
+countenance was not on fire with passion for torture and
+slaughter like those of the others.
+
+"There is no need to strike prisoners," he said in English. 
+"Their fate will be decided later."
+
+Paul thought that he caught a look of pity from the eyes of the
+great Wyandot, and Shif'less Sol said:
+
+"I'm sorry, Timmendiquas, since I had to be captured, that you
+didn't capture me yourself.  I'm glad to say that you're a great
+warrior."
+
+Wyatt growled under his breath, but he was still afraid to speak
+out, although he knew that Timmendiquas was merely a distant and
+casual ally, and had little authority in that army.  Yet he was
+overawed, and so were the Indians with him.
+
+"We were merely taking the prisoners to Colonel Butler," he said. 
+"That is all."
+
+Timmendiquas stared at him, and the renegade's face fell.  But he
+and the Indians went on with the prisoners, and Timmendiquas
+looked after them until they were out of sight.
+
+"I believe White Lightning was sorry that we'd been captured,"
+whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I think so, too," Paul whispered back.
+
+They had no chance for further conversation, as they were driven
+rapidly now to that point of the battlefield which lay nearest to
+the fort, and here they were thrust into the midst of a gloomy
+company, fellow captives, all bound tightly, and many wounded. 
+No help, no treatment of any kind was offered for hurts.  The
+Indians and renegades stood about and yelled with delight when
+the agony of some man's wound wrung from him a groan.  The scene
+was hideous in every respect.  The setting sun shone blood red
+over forest, field, and river.  Far off burning houses still
+smoked like torches.  But the mountain wall in the east, was
+growing dusky with the coming twilight.  From the island, where
+they were massacring the fugitives in their vain hiding places,
+came the sound of shots and cries, but elsewhere the firing had
+ceased.  All who could escape had done so already, and of the
+others, those who were dead were fortunate.
+
+The sun sank like a red ball behind the mountains, and darkness
+swept down over the earth.  Fires began to blaze up here and
+there, some for terrible purpose.  The victorious Iroquois;
+stripped to the waist and painted in glaring colors, joined in a
+savage dance that would remain forever photographed on the eye of
+Paul Cotter.  As they jumped to and fro, hundreds of them, waving
+aloft tomahawks and scalping knives, both of which dripped red,
+they sang their wild chant of war and triumph.  White men, too,
+as savage as they, joined them.  Paul shuddered again and again
+from head to foot at this sight of an orgy such as the mass of
+mankind escapes, even in dreams.
+
+The darkness thickened, the dance grew wilder.  It was like a
+carnival of demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder
+pitch.  A singular figure, one of extraordinary ferocity, was
+suddenly projected into the midst of the whirling crowd, and a
+chant, shriller and fiercer, rose above all the others.  The
+figure was that of Queen Esther, like some monstrous creature out
+of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with blood, her eyes
+bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders.  Paul would have
+covered his eyes had his hands not been tied instead, he turned
+his head away.  He could not bear to see more.  But the horrible
+chant came to his ears, nevertheless, and it was reinforced
+presently by other sounds still more terrible.  Fires sprang up
+in the forest, and cries came from these fires.  The victorious
+army of "Indian" Butler was beginning to burn the prisoners
+alive.  But at this point we must stop.  The details of what
+happened around those fires that night are not for the ordinary
+reader.  It suffices to say that the darkest deed ever done on
+the soil of what is now the United States was being enacted.
+
+Shif'less Sol himself, iron of body and soul, was shaken.  He
+could not close his ears, if he would, to the cries that came
+from the fires, but he shut his eyes to keep out the demon dance. 
+Nevertheless, he opened them again in a moment.  The horrible
+fascination was too great.  He saw Queen Esther still shaking her
+tomahawk, but as he looked she suddenly darted through the
+circle, warriors willingly giving way before her, and disappeared
+in the darkness.  The scalp dance went on, but it had lost some
+of its fire and vigor.
+
+Shif'less Sol felt relieved.
+
+"She's gone," he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened
+his eyes.  The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the
+warriors, was becoming a blur before him, confused and without
+meaning.
+
+Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting
+there on the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when
+Braxton Wyatt thrust a violent foot against the shiftless one and
+cried:
+
+"Get up!  You're wanted!"
+
+A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no
+chance of resistance.  The two rose slowly to their feet, and
+walked where Braxton Wyatt led.  The Senecas came on either side,
+and close behind them, tomahawks in their hands.  Paul, the
+sensitive, who so often felt the impression of coming events from
+the conditions around him, was sure that they were marching to
+their fate.  Death he did not fear so greatly, although he did
+not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one of the
+fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot. 
+Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but
+that he might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the
+awful sounds.  Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands,
+touched his shoulder gently against Paul's.
+
+"Paul," he whispered, "I ain't sure that we're goin' to die,
+leastways, I still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we
+don't have to die but oncet."
+
+"I'll remember, Sol," Paul whispered back.
+
+"Silence, there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt.  But the two had said
+all they wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were
+somewhat dulled.  They had passed through so much that they were
+like those who are under the influence of opiates.  The path was
+now dark, although both torches and fires burned in the distance. 
+Presently they heard that chant with which they had become
+familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and they knew
+that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose
+they could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter
+one.  As they approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon
+pitch of frenzy, and Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within
+him.
+
+"Get up there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave
+them both a push.  Other warriors who were standing at the edge
+of an open space seized them and threw them forward with much
+violence.  When they struggled into a sitting position, they saw
+Queen Esther standing upon a broad flat rock and whirling in a
+ghastly dance that had in it something Oriental.  She still swung
+the great war hatchet that seemed always to be in her hand.  Her
+long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red dress
+gleamed in the dusk.  Surely no more terrible image ever appeared
+in the American wilderness!  In front of her, lying upon the
+ground, were twenty bound Americans, and back of them were
+Iroquois in dozens, with a sprinkling of their white allies.
+
+What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul
+nor Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:
+
+  We have found them, the Yengees
+  Who built their houses in the valley,
+  They came forth to meet us in battle,
+  Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down,
+  As the Yengees lay low the forest.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+  There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois,
+  And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole,
+  But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt
+  And will gnaw the bones of them all,
+  Of the man, the woman, and the child.
+  Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children,
+  The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.
+
+Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the
+Iroquois, and so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of
+each verse came the refrain, in which the warriors joined:
+
+"Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children. The mighty Six
+Nations, greatest of men."
+
+"What under the sun is she about?" whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+"It is a fearful face," was Paul's only reply.
+
+Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to
+the warriors.  Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound
+prisoners, dragged him to his feet, and held him up before her. 
+She uttered a shout, whirled the great tomahawk about her head,
+its blade glittering in the moonlight, and struck with all her
+might.  The skull of the prisoner was cleft to the chin, and
+without a cry he fell at the feet of the woman who had killed
+him.  Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it was lost in the
+joyful yells of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the woman,
+offered a second victim.  Again the tomahawk descended, and again
+a man fell dead without a sound.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could
+not move them.  Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud.  It was strange to
+see how fast one with a bad nature could fall when the
+opportunities were spread before him.  Now he was as cruel as the
+Indians themselves.  Wilder and shriller grew the chant of the
+savage queen.  She was intoxicated with blood.  She saw it
+everywhere.  Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth,
+a sixth, a seventh, and eighth.  As fast as they fell the
+warriors at her command brought up new victims for her weapon. 
+Paul shut his eyes, but he knew by the sounds what was passing. 
+Suddenly a stern voice cried:
+
+"Hold, woman!  Enough of this!  Will your tomahawk never be
+satisfied?"
+
+Paul understood it , the meaning, but not the words.  He opened
+his eyes and saw the great figure of Timmendiquas striding
+forward, his hand upraised in protest.
+
+The woman turned her fierce gaze upon the young chief. 
+"Timmendiquas," she said, "we are the Iroquois, and we are the
+masters.  You are far from your own land, a guest in our lodges,
+and you cannot tell those who have won the victory how they shall
+use it.  Stand back!"
+
+A loud laugh came from the Iroquois.  The fierce old chiefs,
+Hiokatoo and Sangerachte, and a dozen warriors thrust themselves
+before Timmendiquas.  The woman resumed her chant, and a hundred
+throats pealed out with her the chorus:
+
+Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children The mighty Six
+Nations, greatest of men.
+
+She gave the signal anew.  The ninth victim stood before her, and
+then fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh,
+and the twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the
+fifteenth, and the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one
+woman in less than fifteen minutes.  The four in that group who
+were left had all the while been straining fearfully at their
+bonds.  Now they bad slipped or broken them, and, springing to
+their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human impulses, they
+dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.  Two
+were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two,
+Joseph Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old
+men, feeling that life could never again hold for them anything
+so dreadful as that scene at "The Bloody Rock."
+
+A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the
+Indians pursued.  Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and
+pity for the fugitives and having felt all the time that their
+turn, too, would come under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to
+their feet.  They did not see a form slip noiselessly behind
+them, but a sharp knife descended once, then twice, and the bands
+of both fell free.
+
+"Run! run!" exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but
+penetrating.  "I would save you from this!"
+
+Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was
+not seen by the other Indians and the renegades.  Paul flashed
+him one look of gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted
+away, choosing a course that led them from the crowd in pursuit
+of the other flying fugitives. 
+
+At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being
+noticed, had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who
+were first in cruelty that night.  A shrill wild howl arose, and
+the pointing fingers of the old women showed to the warriors the
+two in flight.  At the same time several of the squaws darted
+forward to intercept the fugitives.
+
+"I hate to hit a woman," breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, "but I'm
+goin' to do it now."
+
+A hideous figure sprang before them.  Sol struck her face with
+his open hand, and with a shriek she went down.  He leaped over
+her, although she clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on,
+with Paul at his side.  Shots were now fired at him, but they
+went wild, but Paul, casting a look backward out of the corner of
+his eye, saw that a real pursuit, silent and deadly, had begun. 
+Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly, were only a few hundred
+yards away.  They carried rifle, tomahawk, and knife, and Paul
+and Shif'less Sol were unarmed.  Moreover, they were coming fast,
+spreading out slightly, and the shiftless one, able even at such
+a time to weigh the case coolly, saw that the odds were against
+them.  Yet he would not despair.  Anything might happen.  It was
+night.  There was little organization in the army of the Indians
+and of their white allies, which was giving itself up to the
+enjoyment of scalps and torture.  Moreover, he and Paul were,
+animated by the love of life, which is always stronger than the
+desire to give death. 
+
+Their flight led them in a diagonal line toward the mountains. 
+Only once did the pursuers give tongue.  Paul tripped over a
+root, and a triumphant yell came from the Mohawks.  But it merely
+gave him new life.  He recovered himself in an instant and ran
+faster.  But it was terribly hard work.  He could hear Shif'less
+Sol's sobbing breath by his side, and he was sure that his own
+must have the same sound for his comrade.
+
+"At any rate one uv 'em is beat," gasped Shif'less Sol.  "Only
+four are ban-in' on now."
+
+The ground rose a little and became rougher.  The lights from the
+Indian fires had sunk almost out of sight behind them, and a
+dense thicket lay before them.  Something stirred in the thicket,
+and the eyes of Shif'less Sol caught a glimpse of a human
+shoulder.  His heart sank like a plummet in a pool.  The Indians
+were ahead of them.  They would be caught, and would be carried
+back to become the victims of the terrible tomahawk.
+
+The figure in the bushes rose a little higher, the muzzle of a
+rifle was projected, and flame leaped from the steel tube.
+
+But it was neither Shif'less Sol nor Paul who fell.  They heard a
+cry behind them, and when Shif'less Sol took a hasty glance
+backward he saw one of the Mohawks fall.  The three who were left
+hesitated and stopped.  When a second shot was fired from the
+bushes and another Mohawk went down, the remaining two fled.
+
+Shif'less Sol understood now, and he rushed into the bushes,
+dragging Paul after him.  Henry, Tom, and Long Jim rose up to
+receive them.
+
+"So you wuz watchin' over us!  "exclaimed the shiftless one
+joyously.  "It wuz you that clipped off the first Mohawk, an' we
+didn't even notice the shot."
+
+"Thank God, you were here!" exclaimed Paul.  "You don't know what
+Sol and I have seen!"
+
+Overwrought, he fell forward, but his comrades caught him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE MELANCHOLY FLIGHT
+
+
+Paul revived in a few minutes.  They were still lying in the
+bushes, and when he was able to stand up again, they moved at an
+angle several hundred yards before they stopped.  One pistol was
+thrust into Paul's hand and another into that of Shif'less Sol.
+
+Keep those until we can get rifles for you," said Henry. "You may
+need 'em to-night."
+
+They crouched down in the thicket and looked back toward the
+Indian camp.  The warriors whom they had repulsed were not
+returning with help, and, for the moment, they seemed to have no
+enemy to fear, yet they could still see through the woods the
+faint lights of the Indian camps, and to Paul, at least, came the
+echoes of distant cries that told of things not to be written.
+
+"We saw you captured, and we heard Sol's warning cry," said
+Henry.  " There was nothing to do but run.  Then we hid and
+waited a chance for rescue."
+
+"It would never have come if it had not been for Timmendiquas,"
+said Paul.
+
+"Timmendiquas!" exclaimed Henry.
+
+"Yes, Timmendiquas," said Paul, and then be told the story of
+"The Bloody Rock," and how, in the turmoil and excitement
+attending the flight of the last four, Timmendiquas had cut the
+bonds of Shif'less Sol and himself.
+
+"I think the mind o' White Lightnin', Injun ez he is," said
+Shif'less Sol, "jest naterally turned aginst so much slaughter
+an' torture o' prisoners."
+
+"I'm sure you're right," said Henry.
+
+"'Pears strange to me," said Long Jim Hart, "that Timmendiquas
+was made an Injun.  He's jest the kind uv man who ought to be
+white, an' he'd be pow'ful useful, too.  I don't jest eggzactly
+understan' it."
+
+"He has certainly saved the lives of at least three of us," said
+Henry.  "I hope we will get a chance to pay him back in full."
+
+"But he's the only one," said Shif'less Sol, thinking of all that
+he had seen that night.  "The Iroquois an' the white men that's
+allied with 'em won't ever get any mercy from me, ef any uv 'em
+happen to come under my thumb.  I don't think the like o' this
+day an' night wuz ever done on this continent afore.  I'm for
+revenge, I am, like that place where the Bible says, 'an eye for
+an eye, an' a tooth for a tooth,' an' I'm goin' to stay in this
+part o' the country till we git it!"
+
+It was seldom that Shif'less Sol spoke with so much passion and
+energy.
+
+"We're all going to stay with you, Sol," said Henry.  We're
+needed here.  I think we ought to circle about the fort, slip in
+if we can, and fight with the defense."
+
+"Yes, we'll do that," said Shif'less Sol, "but the Wyoming fort
+can't ever hold out.  Thar ain't a hundred men left in it fit to
+fight, an' thar are more than than a thousand howlin' devils
+outside ready to attack it.  Thar may be worse to come than
+anything we've yet seen."
+
+"Still, we'll go in an' help," said Henry.  "Sol, when you an'
+Paul have rested a little longer we'll make a big loop around in
+the woods, and come up to the fort on the other side."
+
+They were in full accord, and after an hour in the bushes, where
+they lay completely hidden, recovering their vitality and energy,
+they undertook to reach the fort and cabins inclosed by the
+palisades.  Paul was still weak from shock, but Shif'less Sol had
+fully recovered.  Neither bad weapons, but they were sure that
+the want could be supplied soon.  They curved around toward the
+west, intending to approach the fort from the other side, but
+they did not wholly lose sight of the fires, and they heard now
+and then the triumphant war whoop.  The victors were still
+engaged in the pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death. 
+Little did the five, seeing and feeling only their part of it
+there in the dark woods, dream that the deeds of this day and
+night would soon shock the whole civilized world, and remain, for
+generations, a crowning act of infamy.  But they certainly felt
+it deeply enough, and in each heart burned a fierce desire for
+revenge upon the Iroquois.
+
+It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort,
+which was filled with grief and wailing.  That afternoon more
+than one hundred and fifty women within those walls had been made
+widows, and six hundred children had been made orphans.  But few
+men fit to bear arms were left for its defense, and it was
+certain that the allied British and Indian army would easily take
+it on the morrow.  A demand for its surrender in the name of King
+George III of England had already been made, and, sitting at a
+little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett, the room
+lighted only by a single tallow wick, Colonel Butler and Colonel
+Dennison were writing an agreement that the fort be surrendered
+the next day, with what it should contain.  But Colonel Butler
+put his wife on a horse and escaped with her over the mountains.
+
+Stragglers, evading the tomahawk in the darkness, were coming in,
+only to be surrendered the next day; others were pouring forth in
+a stream, seeking the shelter of the mountains and the forest,
+preferring any dangers that might be found there to the mercies
+of the victors.
+
+When Shif'less Sol learned that the fort was to be given up, be
+said:
+
+"It looks ez ef we had escaped from the Iroquois jest in time to
+beg 'em to take us back."
+
+"I reckon I ain't goin' to stay 'roun' here while things are
+bein' surrendered," said Long Jim Hart.
+
+"I'll do my surrenderin' to Iroquois when they've got my hands
+an' feet tied, an' six or seven uv 'em are settin' on my back,"
+said Tom Ross.
+
+"We'll leave as soon as we can get arms for Sol and Paul," said
+Henry.  "Of course it would be foolish of us to stay here and be
+captured again.  Besides, we'll be needed badly enough by the
+women and children that are going."
+
+Good weapons were easily obtained in the fort.  It was far better
+to let Sol and Paul have them than to leave them for the Indians. 
+They were able to select two fine rifles of the Kentucky pattern,
+long and slender barreled, a tomahawk and knife for each, and
+also excellent double-barreled pistols.  The other three now had
+double-barreled pistols, too.  In addition they resupplied
+themselves with as much ammunition as scouts and hunters could
+conveniently carry, and toward morning left the fort.
+
+Sunrise found them some distance from the palisades, and upon the
+flank of a frightened crowd of fugitives.  It was composed of one
+hundred women and children and a single man, James Carpenter, who
+was doing his best to guide and protect them.  They were
+intending to flee through the wilderness to the Delaware and
+Lehigh settlements, chiefly Fort Penn, built by Jacob Stroud,
+where Stroudsburg now is.
+
+When the five, darkened by weather and looking almost like
+Indians themselves, approached, Carpenter stepped forward and
+raised his rifle.  A cry of dismay rose from the melancholy line,
+a cry so intensely bitter that it cut Henry to the very heart. 
+He threw up his hand, and exclaimed in a loud voice:
+
+"We are friends, not Indians or Tories!  We fought with you
+yesterday, and we are ready to fight for you now!"
+
+Carpenter dropped the muzzle of the rifle.  He had fought in the
+battle, too, and he recognized the great youth and his comrades
+who had been there with him.
+
+"What do you want of us?" asked he.
+
+"Nothing," replied Henry, "except to help you."
+
+Carpenter looked at them with a kind of sad pathos.
+
+"You don't belong here in Wyoming," he said, "and there's nothing
+to make you stick to us.  What are you meaning to do?"
+
+"We will go with you wherever you intend to go," replied Henry;
+"do fighting for you if you need it, and hunt game for you, which
+you are certain to need."
+
+The weather-beaten face of the farmer worked.
+
+"I thought God had clean deserted us," he said, "but I'm ready to
+take it back.  I reckon that he has sent you five to help me with
+all these women and little ones."
+
+It occurred to Henry that perhaps God, indeed, had sent them for
+this very purpose, but he replied simply:
+
+"You lead on, and we'll stay in the rear and on the sides to
+watch for the Indians.  Draw into the woods, where we'll be
+hidden."
+
+Carpenter, obscure hero, shouldered his rifle again, and led on
+toward the woods.  The long line of women and children followed. 
+Some of the women carried in their arms children too small to
+walk.  Yet they were more hopeful now when they saw that the five
+were friends.  These lithe, active frontiersmen, so quick, so
+skillful, and so helpful, raised their courage.  Yet it was a
+most doleful flight.  Most of these women had been made widows
+the day before, some of them had been made widows and childless
+at the same time, and wondered why they should seek to live
+longer.  But the very mental stupor of many of them was an aid. 
+They ceased to cry out, and some even ceased to be afraid.
+
+Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom dropped to the rear.  Paul and Long
+Jim were on either flank, while Carpenter led slowly on toward
+the mountains.
+
+"'Pears to me," said Tom, "that the thing fur us to do is to
+hurry 'em up ez much ez possible."
+
+"So the Indians won't see 'em crossing the plain," said Henry. 
+"We couldn't defend them against a large force, and it would
+merely be a massacre.  We must persuade them to walk faster."
+
+Shif'less Sol was invaluable in this crisis.  He could talk
+forever in his-placid way, and, with his gentle encouragement,
+mild sarcasm, and anecdotes of great feminine walkers that he had
+known, he soon had them moving faster.
+
+Henry and Tom dropped farther to the rear.  They could see ahead
+of them the long dark line, coiling farther into the woods, but
+they could also see to right and left towers of smoke rising in
+the clear morning sunlight.  These, they knew, came from burning
+houses, and they knew, also, that the valley would be ravaged
+from end to end and from side to side.  After the surrender of
+the fort the Indians would divide into small bands, going
+everywhere, and nothing could escape them.
+
+The sun rose higher, gilding the earth with glowing light, as if
+the black tragedy had never happened, but the frontiersmen
+recognized their greatest danger in this brilliant morning. 
+Objects could be seen at a great distance, and they could be seen
+vividly.
+
+Keen of sight and trained to know what it was they saw, Henry,
+Sol, and Tom searched the country with their eyes, on all sides. 
+They caught a distant glimpse of the Susquehanna, a silver spot
+among some trees, and they saw the sunlight glancing off the
+opposite mountains, but for the present they saw nothing that
+seemed hostile.
+
+They allowed the distance between them and the retreating file to
+grow until it was five or six hundred yards, and they might have
+let it grow farther, but Henry made a signal, and the three lay
+down in the grass.
+
+
+"You see 'em, don't you!" the youth whispered to his comrade.
+
+"Yes, down thar at the foot o' that hillock," replied Shif'less
+Sol; " two o' em, an' Senecas, I take it."
+
+"They've seen that crowd of women and children," said Henry.
+
+It was obvious that the flying column was discovered.  The two
+Indians stepped upon the hillock and gazed under their hands.  It
+was too far away for the three to see their faces, but they knew
+the joy that would be shown there.  The two could return with a
+few warriors and massacre them all.
+
+"They must never get back to the other Indians with their news,"
+whispered Henry.  "I hate to shoot men  from ambush, but it's got
+to be done.  Wait, they're coming a little closer."
+
+The two Senecas advanced about thirty yards, and stopped again.
+
+"S'pose you fire at the one on the right, Henry," said Tom, " an'
+me an' Sol will take the one to the left." " All right," said
+Henry.  "Fire!"
+
+They wasted no time, but pulled trigger.  The one at whom Henry
+had aimed fell, but the other, uttering a cry, made off, wounded,
+but evidently with plenty of strength left.
+
+"We mustn't let him escape!  We mustn't let him carry a
+warning!" cried Henry.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering
+the ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran.  Under
+ordinary circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a
+man running for his life, but here the necessity was vital.  If
+he lived, carrying the tale that he had to tell, a hundred
+innocent ones might perish.  Henry followed his comrades,
+reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed behind.  The Indian
+had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others were compelled
+to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and bullets in
+their rifles.  But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and
+Silent Tom to hear them exchange a few words.
+
+"How far away is that savage?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Hundred and eighty yards," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body."
+
+Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame
+leap from the muzzles.  The Indian fell forward and lay still. 
+They went up to him, and found that he was shot through the head
+and also through the body.
+
+"We may miss once, but we don't twice," said Tom Ross.
+
+The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the
+three felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing
+Indian.  It was but a trifle compared with what they had seen the
+day and night before.
+
+"We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,"
+said Sol.  "They may be needed, an' some o ' the women in that
+crowd kin shoot."
+
+They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little
+to see whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but
+there was no indication of the presence of more warriors, and the
+rejoined the fugitives.  Long Jim had dropped back to the end of
+the line, and when he saw that his comrades carried two extra
+rifles, he understood.
+
+"They didn't give no alarm, did they?" he asked in a tone so low
+that none of the fugitives could hear.
+
+"They didn't have any chance," replied Henry.  "We've brought
+away all their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women
+that we found them in an abandoned house."
+
+The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most
+stalwart of the women, and they promised to use them if the need
+came.  Meanwhile the flight went on, and the farther it went the
+sadder it became.  Children became exhausted, and had to be
+carried by people so tired that they could scarcely walk
+themselves.  There was nobody in the line who had not lost some
+beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed in battle, or
+tortured to death.  As they slowly ascended the green slope of
+the mountain that inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back
+upon ruin and desolation.  The whole black tragedy was being
+consummated.  They could see the houses in flames, and they knew
+that the Indian war parties were killing and scalping everywhere. 
+They knew, too, that other bodies of fugitives, as stricken as
+their own, were fleeing into the mountains, they scarcely knew
+whither.
+
+As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst
+from the weakest of the women and children.  Then it became a sad
+and terrible wail, and it was a long time before it ceased.  It
+was an awful sound, so compounded of despair and woe and of
+longing for what they had lost that Henry choked, and the tears
+stood in Paul's eyes.  But neither the five nor Carpenter made
+any attempt to check the wailing.  They thought it best for them
+to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as they
+could, often carrying some of the smaller children themselves. 
+Paul and Long Jim were the best as comforters.  The two knew how,
+each in his own way, to soothe and encourage.  Carpenter, who
+knew the way to Fort Penn, led doggedly on, scarcely saying a
+word.  Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom were the rear guard, which
+was, in this case, the one of greatest danger and responsibility.
+
+Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of
+July, the second anniversary of the Declaration of
+Independence-and that the foliage was heavy and green on the
+slopes of the mountain.  In this mass of greenery the desolate
+column was now completely hidden from any observer in the valley,
+and he believed that other crowds of fugitives would be hidden in
+the same manner.  He felt sure that no living human being would
+be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to end
+and then left to desolation, until new people, protected by
+American bayonets, should come in and settle it again.
+
+At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the
+valley, those emblems of destruction, were hidden.  Between them
+and Fort Penn, sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of
+mountain, forest, and swamp.  But the five welcomed the forest. 
+A foe might lie there in ambush, but they could not see the
+fugitives at a distance.  What the latter needed now was
+obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them. 
+Carpenter led on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost
+in single file now, while the five scouted in the woods on either
+flank and at the rear.  Henry and Shif'less Sol generally kept
+together, and they fully realized the overwhelming danger should
+an Indian band, even as small as ten or a dozen warriors, appear. 
+Should the latter scatter, it would be impossible to protect all
+the women and children from their tomahawks.
+
+The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as
+shelter.  Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could
+not see the end of the melancholy line, now moving slowly,
+overborne by weariness.  The shiftless one shook his head sadly.
+
+"No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these
+woods."
+
+His words came true all too soon.  Before the afternoon closed,
+two women, ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion,
+and were buried in shallow graves under the trees.  Before dark a
+halt was made at the suggestion of Henry, and all except
+Carpenter and the scouts sat in a close, drooping group.  Many of
+the children cried, though the women had all ceased to weep. 
+They had some food with them, taken in the hurried flight, and
+now the men asked them to eat.  Few could do it, and others
+insisted on saving what little they had for the children.  Long
+Jim found a spring near by, and all drank at it.
+
+The six men decided that, although night had not yet come, it
+would be best to remain there until the morning.  Evidently the
+fugitives were in no condition, either mental or physical, to go
+farther that day, and the rest was worth more than the risk.
+
+When this decision was announced to them, most of the women took
+it apathetically.  Soon they lay down upon a blanket, if one was
+to be had; otherwise, on leaves and branches.  Again Henry
+thanked God that it was summer, and that these were people of the
+frontier, who could sleep in the open.  No fire was needed, and,
+outside of human enemies, only rain was to be dreaded.
+
+And yet this band, desperate though its case, was more fortunate
+than some of the others that fled from the Wyoming Valley.  It
+had now to protect it six men Henry and Paul, though boys in
+years, were men in strength and ability - five of whom were the
+equals of any frontiersmen on the whole border.  Another crowd of
+women was escorted by a single man throughout its entire flight.
+
+Henry and his comrades distributed themselves in a circle about
+the group.  At times they helped gather whortleberries as food
+for the others, but they looked for Indians or game, intending to
+shoot in either case.  When Paul and Henry were together they
+once heard a light sound in a thicket, which at first they were
+afraid was made by an Indian scout, but it was a deer, and it
+bounded away too soon for either to get a shot.  They could not
+find other game of any kind, and they came back toward the
+camp-if a mere stop in the woods, without shelter of any kind,
+could be called a camp.
+
+The sun was now setting, blood red.  It tinged the forest with a
+fiery mist, reminding the unhappy group of all that they had
+seen.  But the mist was gone in a few moments, and then the
+blackness of night came with a weird moaning wind that told of
+desolation.  Most of the children, having passed through every
+phase of exhaustion and terror, had fallen asleep.  Some of the
+women slept, also, and others wept.  But the terrible wailing
+note, which the nerves of no man could stand, was heard no
+longer.
+
+The five gathered again at a point near by, and Carpenter came to
+them.
+
+"Men," he said simply, "don't know much about you, though I
+know you fought well in the battle that we lost, but for what
+you're doin' now nobody can ever repay you.  I knew that I never
+could get across the mountains with all these weak ones."
+
+The five merely said that any man who was a man would help at
+such a time.  Then they resumed their march in a perpetual circle
+about the camp.
+
+Some women did not sleep at all that night.  It is not easy to
+conceive what the frontier women of America endured so many
+thousands of times.  They had seen their husbands, brothers, and
+sons killed in the battle, and they knew that the worst of
+torture had been practiced in the Indian camp.  Many of them
+really did not want to live any longer.  They merely struggled
+automatically for life.  The darkness settled down thicker and
+thicker; the blackness in the forest was intense, and they could
+see the faces of one another only at a little distance.  The
+desolate moan of the wind came through the leaves, and, although
+it was July, the night grew cold.  The women crept closer
+together, trying to cover up and protect the children.  The wind,
+with its inexpressibly mournful note, was exactly fitted to their
+feelings.  Many of them wondered why a Supreme Being had
+permitted such things.  But they ceased to talk.  No sound at all
+came from the group, and any one fifty yards away, not
+forewarned, could not have told that they were there.
+
+Henry and Paul met again about midnight, and sat a long time on a
+little hillock.  Theirs had been the most dangerous of lives on
+the most dangerous of frontiers, but they had never been stirred
+as they were tonight.  Even Paul, the mildest of the five, felt
+something burning within him, a fire that only one thing could
+quench.
+
+"Henry," said he, "we're trying to get these people to Fort Penn,
+and we may get some of them there, but I don't think our work
+will be ended them.  I don't think I could ever be happy again if
+we went straight from Fort Penn to Kentucky."
+
+Henry understood him perfectly.
+
+"No, Paul," he said, "I don't want to go, either, and I know the
+others don't.  Maybe you are not willing to tell why we want to
+stay, but it is vengeance.  I know it's Christian to forgive your
+enemies, but I can't see what I have seen, and hear what I have
+heard, and do it."
+
+"When the news of these things spreads," said Paul, "they'll send
+an army from the east.  Sooner or later they'll just have to do
+it to punish the Iroquois and their white allies, and we've got
+to be here to join that army."
+
+"I feel that way, too, Paul," said Henry.
+
+They were joined later by the other three, who stayed a little
+while, and they were in accord with Henry and Paul.
+
+Then they began their circles about the camp again, always
+looking and always listening.  About two o'clock in the morning
+they heard a scream, but it was only the cry of a panther. 
+Before day there were clouds, a low rumble of distant thunder,
+and faint far flashes of lightning.  Henry was in dread of rain,
+but the lightning and thunder ceased, and the clouds went away. 
+Then dawn came, rosy and bright, and all but three rose from the
+earth.  The three-one woman and two children-had died in silence
+in the night, and they were buried, like the others, in shallow
+graves in the woods.  But there was little weeping or external
+mourning over them.  All were now heavy and apathetic, capable of
+but little more emotion.
+
+Carpenter resumed his position at the head of the column, which
+now moved slowly over the mountain through a thick forest matted
+with vines and bushes and without a path.  The march was now so
+painful and difficult that they did not make more than two miles
+an hour.  The stronger of them helped the men to gather more
+whortleberries, as it was easy to see that the food they had with
+them would never last until they reached Fort Penn, should they
+ever reach it.
+
+The condition of the country into which they had entered steadily
+grew worse.  They were well into the mountains, a region
+exceedingly wild and rough, but little known to the settlers, who
+had gone around it to build homes in the fertile and beautiful
+valley of Wyoming.  The heavy forest was made all the more
+difficult by the presence everywhere of almost impassable
+undergrowth.  Now and then a woman lay down under the bushes, and
+in two cases they died there because the power to live was no
+longer in them.  They grew weaker and weaker.  The food that they
+had brought from the Wyoming fort was almost exhausted, and the
+wild whortleberries were far from sustaining.  Fortunately there
+was plenty of water flowing tinder the dark woods and along the
+mountainside.  But they were compelled to stop at intervals of an
+hour or two to rest, and the more timid continually expected
+Indian ambush.
+
+The five met shortly after noon and took another reckoning of the
+situation.  They still realized to the full the dangers of Indian
+pursuit, which in this case might be a mere matter of accident. 
+Anybody could follow the broad trail left by the fugitives, but
+the Iroquois, busy with destruction in the valley, might not
+follow, even if they saw it.  No one could tell.  The danger of
+starvation or of death from exhaustion was more imminent, more
+pressing, and the five resolved to let scouting alone for the
+rest of the day and seek game.
+
+"There's bound to be a lot of it in these woods," said Shif'less
+Sol, "though it's frightened out of the path by our big crowd,
+but we ought to find it."
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol went in one direction, and Paul, Tom, and
+Long Jim in another.  But with all their hunting they succeeded
+in finding only one little deer, which fell to the rifle of
+Silent Tom.  It made small enough portions for the supper and
+breakfast of nearly a hundred people, but it helped wonderfully,
+and so did the fires which Henry and his comrades would now have
+built, even had they not been needed for the cooking.  They saw
+that light and warmth, the light and warmth of glowing coals,
+would alone rouse life in this desolate band.
+
+They slept the second night on the ground among the trees, and
+the next morning they entered that gloomy region of terrible
+memory, the Great Dismal Swamp of the North, known sometimes, to
+this day, as "The Shades of Death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SHADES OF DEATH
+
+
+"The Shades of Death" is a marsh on a mountain top, the great,
+wet, and soggy plain of the Pocono and Broad mountains.  When the
+fugitives from Wyoming entered it, it was covered with a dense
+growth of pines, growing mostly out of dark, murky water, which
+in its turn was thick with a growth of moss and aquatic plants. 
+Snakes and all kinds of creeping things swarmed in the ooze. 
+Bear and panther were numerous.
+
+Carpenter did not know any way around this terrible region, and
+they were compelled to enter it.  Henry was again devoutly
+thankful that it was summer.  In such a situation with winter on
+top of it only the hardiest of men could survive.
+
+But they entered the swamp, Carpenter silent and dogged, still
+leading.  Henry and his comrades kept close to the crowd.  One
+could not scout in such a morass, and it proved to be worse than
+they bad feared.  The day turned gray, and it was dark among the
+trees.  The whole place was filled with gloomy shadows.  It was
+often impossible to judge whether fairly solid soil or oozy murk
+lay before them.  Often they went down to their waists. 
+Sometimes the children fell and were dragged up again by the
+stronger.  Now and then rattle snakes coiled and hissed, and the
+women killed them with sticks.  Other serpents slipped away in
+the slime.  Everybody was plastered with mud, and they became
+mere images of human beings.
+
+In the afternoon they reached a sort of oasis in the terrible
+swamp, and there they buried two more of their number who had
+perished from exhaustion.  The rest, save a few, lay upon the
+ground as if dead.  On all sides of them stretched the pines and
+the soft black earth.  It looked to the fugitives like a region
+into which no human beings had ever come, or ever would come
+again, and, alas! to most of them like a region from which no
+human being would ever emerge.
+
+Henry sat upon a piece of fallen brushwood near the edge of the
+morass, and looked at the fugitives, and his heart sank within
+him.  They were hardly in the likeness of his own kind, and they
+seemed practically lifeless now.  Everything was dull, heavy, and
+dead.  The note of the wind among the leaves was somber.  A long
+black snake slipped from the marshy grass near his feet and
+disappeared soundlessly in the water.  He was sick, sick to death
+at the sight of so much suffering, and the desire for vengeance,
+slow, cold, and far more lasting than any hot outburst, grew
+within him.  A slight noise, and Shif'less Sol stood beside him.
+
+"Did you hear?" asked the shiftless one, in a significant tone.
+
+"Hear what?" asked Henry, who had been deep in thought.
+
+"The wolf howl, just a very little cry, very far away an' under
+the horizon, but thar all the same.  Listen, thar she goes
+ag'in!"
+
+Henry bent his ear and distinctly heard the faint, whining note,
+and then it came a third time.
+
+He looked tip at Shif'less Sol, and his face grew white -- but
+not for himself.
+
+"Yes," said Shif'less Sol.  He understood the look.  We are
+pursued.  Them wolves howlin' are the Iroquois.  What do you
+reckon we're goin' to do, Henry?"
+
+"Fight!" replied the youth, with fierce energy.  "Beat 'em off!"
+
+"How?"
+
+Henry circled the little oasis with the eye of a general, and his
+plan came.
+
+"You'll stand here, where the earth gives a footing," he said,
+"you, Solomon Hyde, as brave a man as I ever saw, and with you
+will be Paul Cotter, Tom Ross, Jim Hart, and Henry Ware, old
+friends of yours.  Carpenter will at once lead the women and
+children on ahead, and perhaps they will not hear the battle that
+is going to be fought here."
+
+A smile of approval, slow, but deep and comprehensive, stole over
+the face of Solomon Hyde, surnamed, wholly without fitness, the
+shiftless one.  "It seems to me," he said, "that I've heard o'
+them four fellers you're talkin' about, an' ef I wuz to hunt all
+over this planet an' them other planets that Paul tells of, I
+couldn't find four other fellers that I'd ez soon have with me."
+
+"We've got to stand here to the death," said Henry.
+
+"You're shorely right," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+The hands of the two comrades met in a grip of steel.
+
+The other three were called and were told of the plan, which met
+with their full approval.  Then the news was carried to
+Carpenter, who quickly agreed that their course was the wisest. 
+He urged all the fugitives to their feet, telling them that they
+must reach another dry place before night, but they were past
+asking questions now, and, heavy and apathetic, they passed on
+into the swamp.
+
+Paul watched the last of them disappear among the black bushes
+and weeds, and turned back to his friends on the oasis.  The five
+lay down behind a big fallen pine, and gave their weapons a last
+look.  They had never been armed better.  Their rifles were good,
+and the fine double-barreled pistols, formidable weapons, would
+be a great aid, especially at close quarters.
+
+"I take it," said Tom Ross, "that the Iroquois can't get through
+at all unless they come along this way, an' it's the same ez ef
+we wuz settin' on solid earth, poppin' em over, while they come
+sloshin' up to us."
+
+"That's exactly it," said Henry.  "We've a natural defense which
+we can hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold
+'em off, the nearer our people will be to Fort Penn."
+
+"I never felt more like fightin' in my life," said Tom Ross.
+
+It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among
+them was bloodthirsty.
+
+"Can any of you hear anything?" asked Henry.  "Nothin'," replied
+Shif'less Sol, after a little wait, "nothin' from the women
+goin', an' nothin' from the Iroquois comin'."
+
+"We'll just lie close," said Henry.  "This hard spot of ground
+isn't more than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get
+on it without our knowing it."
+
+The others did not reply.  All lay motionless upon their sides,
+with their shoulders raised a little, in order that they might
+take instant aim when the time came.  Some rays of the sun
+penetrated the canopy of pines, and fell across the brown,
+determined faces and the lean brown hands that grasped the long,
+slender-barreled Kentucky rifles.  Another snake slipped from the
+ground into the black water and swam away.  Some water animal
+made a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of these
+strange intruders.  Then they beard a sighing sound, as of a foot
+drawn from mud, and they knew that the Iroquois were approaching,
+savages in war, whatever they might be otherwise, and expecting
+an easy prey.  Five brown thumbs cocked their rifles, and five
+brown forefingers rested upon the triggers.  The eyes of woodsmen
+who seldom missed looked down the sights.
+
+The sound of feet in the mud came many times.  The enemy was
+evidently drawing near.
+
+"How many do you think are out thar?" whispered Shif'less Sol to
+Henry.
+
+"Twenty, at least, it seems to me by the sounds." "I s'pose the
+best thing for us to do is to shoot at the first head we see."
+
+"Yes, but we mustn't all fire at the same man."
+
+It was suggested that Henry call off the turns of the marksmen,
+and he agreed to do so.  Shif'less Sol was to fire first.  The
+sounds now ceased.  The Iroquois evidently had some feeling or
+instinct that they were approaching an enemy who was to be
+feared, not weak and unarmed women and children.
+
+The five were absolutely motionless, finger on trigger.  The
+American wilderness had heroes without number.  It was Horatius
+Cocles five times over, ready to defend the bridge with life. 
+Over the marsh rose the weird cry of an owl, and some water birds
+called in lonely fashion.
+
+Henry judged that the fugitives were now three quarters of a mile
+away, out of the sound of rifle shot.  He had urged Carpenter to
+marshal them on as far as be could.  But the silence endured yet
+a while longer.  In the dull gray light of the somber day and the
+waning afternoon the marsh was increasingly dreary and mournful. 
+It seemed that it must always be the abode of dead or dying
+things.
+
+The wet grass, forty yards away, moved a little, and between the
+boughs appeared the segment of a hideous dark face, the painted
+brow, the savage black eyes, and the hooked nose of the Mohawk. 
+Only Henry saw it, but with fierce joy-the tortures at Wyoming
+leaped up before him-he fired at the painted brow.  The Mohawk
+uttered his death cry and fell back with a splash into the mud
+and water of the swamp.  A half dozen bullets were instantly
+fired at the base of the smoke that came from Henry's rifle, but
+the youth and his comrades lay close and were unharmed. 
+Shif'less Sol and Tom were quick enough to catch glimpses of
+brown forms, at which they fired, and the cries coming back told
+that they had hit.
+
+"That's something," said Henry.  "One or two Iroquois at least
+will not wear the scalp of white woman or child at their belts."
+
+"Wish they'd try to rush us," said Shif'less Sol.  "I never felt
+so full of fight in my life before."
+
+"They may try it," said Henry.  "I understand that at the big
+battle of the Oriskany, farther up in the North, the Iroquois
+would wait until a white man behind a tree would fire, then they
+would rush up and tomahawk him before he could reload."
+
+"They don't know how fast we kin reload," said Long Jim, "an'
+they don't know that we've got these double-barreled pistols,
+either."
+
+"No, they don't," said Henry, "and it's a great thing for us to
+have them.  Suppose we spread out a little.  So long as we keep
+them from getting a lodging on the solid earth we hold them at a
+great disadvantage."
+
+Henry and Paul moved off a little toward the right, and the
+others toward the left.  They still had good cover, as fallen
+timber was scattered all over the oasis, and they were quite sure
+that another attack would be made soon.  It came in about fifteen
+minutes.  The Iroquois suddenly fired a volley at the logs and
+brush, and when the five returned the fire, but with more deadly
+effect, they leaped forward in the mud and attempted to rush the
+oasis, tomahawk in hand.
+
+But the five reloaded so quickly that they were able to send in a
+second volley before the foremost of the Iroquois could touch
+foot on solid earth.  Then the double barreled pistols came into
+play.  The bullets sent from short range drove back the savages,
+who were amazed at such a deadly and continued fire.  Henry
+caught sight of a white face among these assailants, and he knew
+it to be that of Braxton Wyatt.  Singularly enough he was not
+amazed to see it there.  Wyatt, sinking deeper and deeper into
+savagery and cruelty, was just the one to lead the Iroquois in
+such a pursuit.  He was a fit match for Walter Butler, the
+infamous son of the Indian leader, who was soon to prove himself
+worse than the worst of the savages, as Thayendanegea himself has
+written.
+
+Henry drew a bead once on Braxton Wyatt-he had no scruples now
+about shooting him-but just as he was about to pull the trigger
+Wyatt darted behind a bush, and a Seneca instead received the
+bullet.  He also saw the renegade, Blackstaffe, but he was not
+able to secure a shot at him, either.  Nevertheless, the Iroquois
+attack was beaten back.  It was a foregone conclusion that the
+result would be so, unless the force was in great numbers.  It is
+likely, also, that the Iroquois at first had thought only a
+single man was with the fugitives, not knowing that the five had
+joined them later.
+
+Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid
+ground, but their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others,
+retreating fast for their lives, could not carry them off.  Paul,
+with a kind of fascinated horror, watched the dead painted bodies
+sink deeper.  Then one was entirely gone.  The hand of the other
+alone was left, and then it, too, was gone.  But the five had
+held the island, and Carpenter was leading the fugitives on
+toward Fort Penn.  They had not only held it, but they believed
+that they could continue to hold it against anything, and their
+hearts became exultant.  Something, too, to balance against the
+long score, lay out there in the swamp, and all the five, bitter
+over Wyoming, were sorry that Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
+
+The stillness came again.  The sun did not break through the
+heavy gray sky, and the somber shadows brooded over "The Shades
+of Death."  They heard again the splash of water animals, and a
+swimming snake passed on the murky surface.  Then they heard the
+wolf's long cry, and the long cry of wolf replying.
+
+"More Iroquois coming," said Shif'less Sol." Well, we gave them a
+pretty warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled
+pistols I'm thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in."
+
+"We can, except in one case," said Henry, " if the new party
+brings their numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for
+night, they can surround us in the darkness.  Perhaps it would be
+better for us to slip away when twilight comes.  Carpenter and
+the train have a long lead now."
+
+"Yes," said Shif'less Sol," Now, what in tarnation is that?"
+
+"A white flag," said Paul.    A piece of cloth that had once been
+white had been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about
+sixty yards away.
+
+"They want a talk with us," said Henry.
+
+"If it's Braxton Wyatt," said Long Jim, "I'd like to take a shot
+at him, talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another."
+
+"We'll see what they have to say," said Henry, and he called
+aloud: "What do you want with us?"
+
+"To talk with you," replied a clear, full voice, not that of
+Braxton Wyatt.
+
+"Very well," replied Henry, "show yourself and we will not fire
+upon you."
+
+A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands
+were held aloft in sign of peace.  It was a splendid figure, at
+least six feet four inches in height.  At that moment some rays
+of the setting sun broke through the gray clouds and shone full
+upon it, lighting up the defiant scalp lock interwoven with the
+brilliant red feather, the eagle face with the curved Roman beak,
+and the mighty shoulders and chest of red bronze.  It was a
+genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the mighty
+Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
+
+"Ware," he said, "I would speak with you.  Let us talk as one
+chief to another."
+
+The five were amazed.  Timmendiquas there!  They were quite sure
+that he had come up with the second force, and he was certain to
+prove a far more formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or
+Moses Blackstaffe.  But his demand to speak with Henry Ware might
+mean something.
+
+"Are you going to answer him?" said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"Of course," replied Henry.
+
+"The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot."
+
+"Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not
+dare."
+
+Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height.  The same
+ruddy sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon
+another splendid figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the
+average height of man, his hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear
+blue, his body clothed in buckskin, and his whole attitude that
+of one without fear.  The two, the white and the red, kings of
+their kind, confronted each other across the marsh.
+
+"What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?" asked Henry.  In the
+presence of the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and
+revenge that had held his heart vanished.  He knew that Paul and
+Shif'less Sol would have sunk under the ruthless tomahawk of
+Queen Esther, if it had not been for White Lightning.  He himself
+had owed him his life on another and more distant occasion, and
+he was not ungrateful.  So there was warmth in his tone when he
+spoke.
+
+"Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground," said Timmendiquas,
+"I have things to say that are important and that you will be
+glad to hear."
+
+Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the
+young chief, coming forward, met him.  Henry held out his hand in
+white fashion, and the young chief took it.  There was no sound
+either from the swamp or from those who lay behind the logs on
+the island, but some of the eyes of those hidden in the swamps
+watched both with burning hatred.
+
+"I wish to tell you, Ware," said Timmendiquas, speaking with the
+dignity becoming a great chief, "that it was not I who led the
+pursuit of the white men's women and children.  I, and the
+Wyandots who came with me, fought as best we could in the great
+battle, and I will slay my enemies when I can.  We are warriors,
+and we are ready to face each other in battle, but we do not seek
+to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose in its birch-bark
+cradle."
+
+The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion,
+which impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of
+Timmendiquas was usually a mask.
+
+"I believe that you tell the truth," said Henry gravely.
+
+"I and my Wyandots," continued the chief, "followed a trail
+through the woods.  We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks,
+led by Wyatt and Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone
+before, and when we came up there had just been a battle.  The
+Mohawks and Senecas had been driven back.  It was then we learned
+that the trail was made by women and little children, save you
+and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect them."
+
+"You speak true words, Timmendiquas," said Henry.
+
+"The Wyandots have remained in the East to fight men, not to kill
+squaws and papooses," continued Timmendiquas.  "So I say to you,
+go on with those who flee across the mountains.  Our warriors
+shall not pursue you any longer.  We will turn back to the valley
+from which we come, and those of your race, Blackstaffe and
+Wyatt, shall go with us."
+
+The great chief spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his tone
+that told that every word was meant.  Henry felt a glow of
+admiration.  The true greatness of Timmendiquas spoke.
+
+"And the Iroquois?" he said, "will they go back with you?"
+
+"They will.  They have killed too much.  Today all the white
+people in the valley are killed or driven away.  Many scalps have
+been taken, those of women and children, too, and men have died
+at the stake.  I have felt shame for their deeds, Ware, and it
+will bring punishment upon my brethren, the Iroquois.  It will
+make so great a noise in the world that many soldiers will come,
+and the villages of the Iroquois will cease to be."
+
+"I think it is so, Timmendiquas," said Henry.  "But you will be
+far away then in your own land."
+
+The chief drew himself up a little.
+
+"I shall remain with the Iroquois," he said.  "I have promised to
+help them, and I must do so."
+
+"I can't blame you for that," said Henry, "but I am glad that you
+do not seek the scalps of women and children.  We are at once
+enemies and friends, Timmendiquas."
+
+White Lightning bowed gravely.  He and Henry touched hands again,
+and each withdrew, the chief into the morass, while Henry walked
+back toward his comrades, holding himself erect, as if no enemy
+were near.
+
+The four rose up to greet him.  They had heard part of what was
+said, and Henry quickly told them the rest.
+
+"He's shorely a great chief," said Shif'less Sol.  He'll keep his
+word, too.  Them people on ahead ain't got anything more to fear
+from pursuit."
+
+He's a statesman, too," said Henry.  "He sees what damage the
+deeds of Wyoming Valley will do to those who have done them.  He
+thinks our people will now send a great army against the
+Iroquois, and I think so, too."
+
+"No nation can stand a thing like that," said Paul, and I didn't
+dream it could happen."
+
+They now left the oasis, and went swiftly along the trail left by
+the fugitives.  All of them had confidence in the word of
+Timmendiquas.  There was a remote chance that some other band had
+entered the swamp at a different point, but it was remote,
+indeed, and it did not trouble them much.
+
+Night was now over the great swamp.  The sun no longer came
+through the gray clouds, but here and there were little flashes
+of flame made by fireflies.  Had not the trail been so broad and
+deep it could easily have been lost, but, being what it was, the
+skilled eyes of the frontiersmen followed it without trouble.
+
+"Some uv 'em are gittin' pow'ful tired," said Tom Ross, looking
+at the tracks in the mud.  Then he suddenly added: "Here's whar
+one's quit forever."
+
+A shallow grave, not an hour old, had been made under some
+bushes, and its length indicated that a woman lay there.  They
+passed it by in silence.  Henry now appreciated more fully than
+ever the mercy of Timmendiquas.  The five and Carpenter could not
+possibly have protected the miserable fugitives against the great
+chief, with fifty Wyandots and Iroquois at his back. 
+Timmendiquas knew this, and he had done what none of the Indians
+or white allies around him would have done.
+
+In another hour they saw a man standing among some vines, but
+watchful, and with his rifle in the hollow of his arm.  It was
+Carpenter, a man whose task was not less than that of the five. 
+They were in the thick of it and could see what was done, but he
+had to lead on and wait.  He counted the dusk figures as they
+approached him, one, two, three, four, five, and perhaps no man
+ever felt greater relief.  He advanced toward them and said
+huskily:
+
+"There was no fight!  They did not attack!"
+
+"There was a fight," said Henry, "and we beat them back; then a
+second and a larger force came up, but it was composed chiefly of
+Wyandots, led by their great chief, Timmendiquas.  He came
+forward and said that they would not pursue women and children,
+and that we could go in safety."
+
+Carpenter looked incredulous.
+
+"It is true," said Henry, "every word of it."
+
+"It is more than Brant would have done," said Carpenter, "and it
+saves us, with your help."
+
+"You were first, and the first credit is yours, Mr. Carpenter,"
+said Henry sincerely.
+
+They did not tell the women and children of the fight at the
+oasis, but they spread the news that there would be no more
+pursuit, and many drooping spirits revived.  They spent another
+day in the Great Dismal Swamp, where more lives were lost.  On
+the day after their emergence from the marsh, Henry and his
+comrades killed two deer, which furnished greatly needed food,
+and on the day after that, excepting those who had died by the
+way, they reached Fort Penn, where they were received into
+shelter and safety.
+
+The night before the fugitives reached Fort Penn, the Iroquois
+began the celebration of the Thanksgiving Dance for their great
+victory and the many scalps taken at Wyoming.  They could not
+recall another time when they had secured so many of these
+hideous trophies, and they were drunk with the joy of victory. 
+Many of the Tories, some in their own clothes, and some painted
+and dressed like Indians, took part in it. 
+
+According to their ancient and honored custom they held a grand
+council to prepare for it.  All the leading chiefs were present,
+Sangerachte, Hiokatoo, and the others.  Braxton Wyatt,
+Blackstaffe, and other white men were admitted.  After their
+deliberations a great fire was built in the center of the camp,
+the squaws who had followed the army feeding it with brushwood
+until it leaped and roared and formed a great red pyramid.  Then
+the chiefs sat down in a solemn circle at some distance, and
+waited.
+
+Presently the sound of a loud chant was heard, and from the
+farthest point of the camp emerged a long line of warriors,
+hundreds and hundreds of them, all painted in red and black with
+horrible designs.  They were naked except the breechcloth and
+moccasins, and everyone waved aloft a tomahawk as he sang.
+
+Still singing and brandishing the tomahawks, which gleamed in the
+red light, the long procession entered the open space, and danced
+and wheeled about the great fire, the flames casting a lurid
+light upon faces hideous with paint or the intoxication of
+triumph.  The glare of their black eyes was like those of Eastern
+eaters of hasheesh or opium, and they bounded to and fro as if
+their muscles were springs of steel.  They sang:
+
+  We have met the Bostonians* in battle,
+  We slew them with our rifles and tomahawks.
+  Few there are who escaped our warriors. 
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+[*Note: All the Americans were often called Bostonians by the
+Indians as late as the Revolutionary War.]
+
+  Mighty has been our taking of scalps,
+  They will fill all the lodges of the Iroquois.
+  We have burned the houses of the Bostonians.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  The wolf will prowl in their corn-fields,
+  The grass will grow where their blood has soaked;
+  Their bones will lie for the buzzard to pick.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+  We came upon them by river and forest;
+  As we smote Wyoming we will smite the others,
+  We will drive the Bostonians back to the sea.
+  Ever-victorious is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee.
+
+
+The monotonous chant with the refrain, "Ever-victorious is the
+League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee," went on for many verses. 
+Meanwhile the old squaws never ceased to feed the bonfire, and
+the flames roared, casting a deeper and more vivid light over the
+distorted faces of the dancers and those of the chiefs, who sat
+gravely beyond.
+
+Higher and higher leaped the warriors.  They seemed unconscious
+of fatigue, and the glare in their eyes became that of maniacs. 
+Their whole souls were possessed by the orgy.  Beads of sweat,
+not of exhaustion, but of emotional excitement, appeared upon
+their faces and naked bodies, and the red and black paint
+streaked together horribly.
+
+For a long time this went on, and then the warriors ceased
+suddenly to sing, although they continued their dance.  A moment
+later a cry which thrilled every nerve came from a far point in
+the dark background.  It was the scalp yell, the most terrible of
+all Indian cries, long, high-pitched, and quavering, having in it
+something of the barking howl of the wolf and the fiendish shriek
+of a murderous maniac.  The warriors instantly took it up, and
+gave it back in a gigantic chorus.
+
+A ghastly figure bounded into the circle of the firelight.  It
+was that of a woman, middle-aged, tall and powerful, naked to the
+waist, her body covered with red and black paint, her long black
+hair hanging in a loose cloud down her back.  She held a fresh
+scalp, taken from a white head, aloft in either band.  It was
+Catharine Montour, and it was she who had first emitted the scalp
+yell.  After her came more warriors, all bearing scalps.  The
+scalp yell was supposed to be uttered for every scalp taken, and,
+as they had taken more than three hundred, it did not cease for
+hours, penetrating every part of the forest.  All the time
+Catharine Montour led the dance.  None bounded higher than she. 
+None grimaced more horribly.
+
+While they danced, six men, with their hands tied behind them and
+black caps on their heads, were brought forth and paraded around
+amid hoots and yells and brandishing of tomahawks in their faces. 
+They were the surviving prisoners, and the black caps meant that
+they were to be killed and scalped on the morrow.  Stupefied by
+all through which they had gone, they were scarcely conscious
+now.
+
+Midnight came.  The Iroquois still danced and sang, and the calm
+stars looked down upon the savage and awful scene.  Now the
+dancers began to weary.  Many dropped unconscious, and the others
+danced about them where they lay.  After a while all ceased. 
+Then the chiefs brought forth a white dog, which Hiokatoo killed
+and threw on the embers of the fire.  When it was thoroughly
+roasted, the chiefs cut it in pieces and ate it.  Thus closed the
+Festival of Thanksgiving for the victory of Wyoming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A FOREST PAGE
+
+
+When the survivors of the band of Wyoming fugitives that the five
+had helped were behind the walls of Fort Penn, securing the food
+and rest they needed so greatly, Henry Ware and his comrades felt
+themselves relieved of a great responsibility.  They were also
+aware how much they owed to Timmendiquas, because few of the
+Indians and renegades would have been so forbearing. 
+Thayendanegea seemed to them inferior to the great Wyandot. 
+Often when Brant could prevent the torture of the prisoners and
+the slaughter of women and children, he did not do it. The five
+could never forget these things in after life, when Brant was
+glorified as a great warrior and leader.  Their minds always
+turned to Timmendiquas as the highest and finest of Indian types.
+
+While they were at Fort Penn two other parties came, in a fearful
+state of exhaustion, and also having paid the usual toll of death
+on the way.  Other groups reached the Moravian towns, where they
+were received with all kindness by the German settlers.  The five
+were able to give some help to several of these parties, but the
+beautiful Wyoming Valley lay utterly in ruins.  The ruthless fury
+of the savages and of many of the Tories, Canadians, and
+Englishmen, can scarcely be told.  Everything was slaughtered or
+burned.  As a habitation of human beings or of anything
+pertaining to human beings, the valley for a time ceased to be. 
+An entire population was either annihilated or driven out, and
+finally Butler's army, finding that nothing more was left to be
+destroyed, gathered in its war parties and marched northward with
+a vast store of spoils, in which scalps were conspicuous.  When
+they repassed Tioga Point, Timmendiquas and his Wyandots were
+still with them.  Thayendanegea was also with them here, and so
+was Walter Butler, who was destined shortly to make a reputation
+equaling that of his father, "Indian" Butler.  Nor had the
+terrible Queen Esther ever left them.  She marched at the head of
+the army, singing, horrid chants of victory, and swinging the
+great war tomahawk, which did not often leave her hand.
+
+The whole force was re-embarked upon the Susquehanna, and it was
+still full of the impulse of savage triumph.  Wild Indian songs
+floated along the stream or through the meadows, which were quiet
+now.  They advanced at their ease, knowing that there was nobody
+to attack them, but they were watched by five woodsmen, two of
+whom were boys.  Meanwhile the story of Wyoming, to an extent
+that neither Indians nor woodsmen themselves suspected, was
+spreading from town to town in the East, to invade thence the
+whole civilized world, and to stir up an indignation and horror
+that would make the name Wyoming long memorable.  Wyoming had
+been a victory for the flag under which the invaders fought, but
+it sadly tarnished the cause of that flag, and the consequences
+were to be seen soon.
+
+Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Sol Hyde, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart were
+thinking little of distant consequences, but they were eager for
+the present punishment of these men who had committed so much
+cruelty.  From the bushes they could easily follow the canoes,
+and could recognize some of their occupants.  In one of the rear
+boats sat Braxton Wyatt and a young man whom they knew to be
+Walter Butler, a pallid young man, animated by the most savage
+ferocity against the patriots.  He and Wyatt seemed to be on the
+best of terms, and faint echoes of their laughter came to the
+five who were watching among the bushes on the river bank. 
+Certainly Braxton Wyatt and he were a pair well met.
+
+"Henry," said Shif'less Sol longingly, "I think I could jest
+about reach Braxton Wyatt with a bullet from here.  I ain't over
+fond o' shootin' from ambush, but I done got over all scruples so
+fur ez he's concerned.  Jest one bullet, one little bullet,
+Henry, an' ef I miss I won't ask fur a second chance."
+
+"No, Sol, it won't do," said Henry.  "They'd get off to hunt us. 
+The whole fleet would be stopped, and we want 'em to go on as
+fast as possible."
+
+"I s'pose you're right, Henry," said the shiftless one sadly,
+"but I'd jest like to try it once.  I'd give a month's good
+huntin' for that single trial."
+
+After watching the British-Indian fleet passing up the river,
+they turned back to the site of the Wyoming fort and the houses
+near it.  Here everything had been destroyed.  It was about dusk
+when they approached the battlefield, and they heard a dreadful
+howling, chiefly that of wolves.
+
+I think we'd better turn away," said Henry.  " We couldn't do
+anything with so many."
+
+They agreed with him, and, going back, followed the Indians up
+the Susquehanna.  A light rain fell that night, but they slept
+under a little shed, once attached to a house which had been
+destroyed by fire.  In some way the shed had escaped the flames,
+and it now came into timely use.  The five, cunning in forest
+practice, drew up brush on the sides, and half-burned timber
+also, and, spreading their blankets on ashes which had not long
+been cold, lay well sheltered from the drizzling rain, although
+they did not sleep for a long time.
+
+It was the hottest period of the year in America, but the night
+had come on cool, and the rain made it cooler.  The five,
+profiting by experience, often carried with them two light
+blankets instead of one heavy one.  With one blanket beneath the
+body they could keep warmer in case the weather was cold.
+
+Now they lay in a row against the standing wall of the old
+outhouse, protected by a six- or seven-foot slant of board roof. 
+They had eaten of a deer that they had shot in the morning, and
+they had a sense of comfort and rest that none of them had known
+before in many days.  Henry's feelings were much like those that
+he had experienced when he lay in the bushes in the little canoe,
+wrapped up from the storm and hidden from the Iroquois.  But here
+there was an important increase of pleasure, the pattering of the
+rain on the board roof, a pleasant, soothing sound to which
+millions of boys, many of them afterwards great men, have
+listened in America.
+
+It grew very dark about them, and the pleasant patter, almost
+musical in its rhythm, kept up.  Not much wind was blowing, and
+it, too, was melodious.  Henry lay with his head on a little heap
+of ashes, which was covered by his under blanket, and, for the
+first time since he had brought the warning to Wyoming, he was
+free from all feeling of danger.  The picture itself of the
+battle, the defeat, the massacre, the torture, and of the savage
+Queen Esther cleaving the heads of the captives, was at times as
+vivid as ever, and perhaps would always return now and then in
+its original true colors, but the periods between, when youth,
+hope, and strength had their way, grew longer and longer.
+
+Now Henry's eyelids sank lower and lower.  Physical comfort and
+the presence of his comrades caused a deep satisfaction that
+permeated his whole being.  The light wind mingled pleasantly
+with the soft summer rain.  The sound of the two grew strangely
+melodious, almost piercingly sweet, and then it seemed to be
+human.  They sang together, the wind and rain, among the leaves,
+and the note that reached his heart, rather than his ear,
+thrilled him with courage and hope.  Once more the invisible
+voice that had upborne him in the great valley of the Ohio told
+him, even here in the ruined valley of Wyoming, that what was
+lost would be regained.        The chords ended, and the echoes,
+amazingly clear, floated far away in the darkness and rain. 
+Henry roused himself, and came from the imaginative borderland. 
+He stirred a little, and said in a quiet voice to Shif'less Sol:
+
+"Did you hear anything, Sol?"
+
+"Nothin' but the wind an' the rain."
+
+Henry knew that such would be the answer.
+
+"I guess you didn't hear anything either, Henry," continued the
+shiftless one, "'cause it looked to me that you wuz 'bout ez near
+sleep ez a feller could be without bein' ackshooally so."
+
+"I was drifting away," said Henry.
+
+He was beginning to realize that he had a great power, or rather
+gift.  Paul was the sensitive, imaginative boy, seeing everything
+in brilliant colors, a great builder of castles, not all of air,
+but Henry's gift went deeper.  It was the power to evoke the
+actual living picture of the event that bad not yet occurred,
+something akin in its nature to prophecy, based perhaps upon the
+wonderful power of observation, inherited doubtless, from
+countless primitive ancestors.  The finest product of the
+wilderness, he saw in that wilderness many things that others did
+not see, and unconsciously he drew his conclusions from superior
+knowledge.
+
+The song had ceased a full ten minutes, and then came another
+note, a howl almost plaintive, but, nevertheless, weird and full
+of ferocity.  All knew it at once.  They had heard the cry of
+wolves too often in their lives, but this had an uncommon note
+like the yell of the Indian in victory.  Again the cry arose,
+nearer, haunting, and powerful.  The five, used to the darkness,
+could see one another's faces, and the look that all gave was the
+same, full of understanding and repulsion.
+
+"It has been a great day for the wolf in this valley," whispered
+Paul, "and striking our trail they think they are going to find
+what they have been finding in such plenty before."
+
+"Yes," nodded Henry, "but do you remember that time when in the
+house we took the place of the man, his wife and children, just
+before the Indians came?"
+
+"Yes," said Paul.
+
+"We'll treat them wolves the same way," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I'm glad of the chance," said Long Jim.
+
+"Me, too," said Tom Ross.
+
+The five rose up to sitting positions against the board wall, and
+everyone held across his knees a long, slender barreled rifle,
+with the muzzle pointing toward the forest.  All accomplished
+marksmen, it would only be a matter of a moment for the stock to
+leap to the shoulder, the eye to glance down the barrel, the
+finger to pull the trigger, and the unerring bullet to leap
+forth.
+
+"Henry, you give the word as usual," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+Presently in the darkness they heard the pattering of light feet,
+and they saw many gleaming eyes draw near.  There must have been
+at least thirty of the wolves, and the five figures that they saw
+reclining, silent and motionless, against the unburned portion of
+the house might well have been those of the dead and scalped,
+whom they had found in such numbers everywhere.  They drew near
+in a semicircular group, its concave front extended toward the
+fire, the greatest wolves at the center.  Despite many feastings,
+the wolves were hungry again.  Nothing had opposed them before,
+but caution was instinctive.  The big gray leaders did not mind
+the night or the wind or the rain, which they had known all their
+lives, and which they counted as nothing, but they always had
+involuntary suspicion of human figures, whether living or not,
+and they approached slowly, wrinkling back their noses and
+sniffing the wind which blew from them instead of the five
+figures.  But their confidence increased as they advanced.  They
+had found many such burned houses as this, but they had found
+nothing among the ruins except what they wished.
+
+The big leaders advanced more boldly, glaring straight at the
+human figures, a slight froth on their lips, the lips themselves
+curling back farther from the strong white teeth.  The outer ends
+of the concave semicircle also drew in.  The whole pack was about
+to spring upon its unresisting prey, and it is, no doubt, true
+that many a wolfish pulse beat a little higher in anticipation.   
+ With a suddenness as startling as it was terrifying the five
+figures raised themselves, five long, dark tubes leaped to their
+shoulders, and with a suddenness that was yet more terrifying, a
+gush of flame shot from five muzzles.  Five of the wolves-and
+they were the biggest and the boldest, the leaders-fell dead upon
+the ashes of the charred timbers, and the others, howling their
+terror to the dark, skies, fled deep into the forest.
+
+Henry strode over and pushed the body of the largest wolf with
+his foot.
+
+"I suppose we only gratified a kind of sentiment in shooting
+those wolves," he said, " but I for one am glad we did it."
+
+"So am I," said Paul.
+
+"Me, too," said the other three together.
+
+They went back to their positions near the wall, and one by one
+fell asleep.  No more wolves howled that night anywhere near
+them.
+
+When the five awakened the next morning the rain had ceased, and
+a splendid sun was tinting a blue sky with gold.  Jim Hart built
+a fire among the blackened logs, and cooked venison.  They had
+also brought from Fort Penn a little coffee, which Long Jim
+carried with a small coffee pot in his camp kit, and everyone had
+a small tin cup.  He made coffee for them, an uncommon wilderness
+luxury, in which they could rarely indulge, and they were
+heartened and strengthened by it.
+
+Then they went again up the valley, as beautiful as ever, with
+its silver river in the center, and its green mountain walls on
+either side.  But the beauty was for the eye only.  It did not
+reach the hearts of those who had seen it before.  All of the
+five loved the wilderness, but they felt now how tragic silence
+and desolation could be where human life and all the daily ways
+of human life had been.
+
+It was mid-summer, but the wilderness was already reclaiming its
+own.  The game knew that man was gone, and it had come back into
+the valley.  Deer ate what had grown in the fields and gardens,
+and the wolves were everywhere.  The whole black tragedy was
+written for miles.  They were never out of sight of some trace of
+it, and their anger grew again as they advanced in the blackened
+path of the victorious Indians.
+
+It was their purpose now to hang on the Indian flank as scouts
+and skirmishers, until an American army was formed for a campaign
+against the Iroquois, which they were sure must be conducted
+sooner or later.  Meanwhile they could be of great aid, gathering
+news of the Indian plans, and, when that army of which they
+dreamed should finally march, they could help it most of all by
+warning it of ambush, the Indian's deadliest weapon.
+
+Everyone of the five had already perceived a fact which was
+manifest in all wars with the Indians along the whole border from
+North to South, as it steadily shifted farther West.  The
+practical hunter and scout was always more than a match for the
+Indian, man for man, but, when the raw levies of settlers were
+hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were invariably at a
+great disadvantage.  They were likely to be caught in ambush by
+overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened at
+Wyoming.  The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois
+country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and
+his comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it.  An
+army needed eyes, and it could have none better than those five
+pairs.  So they went swiftly up the valley and northward and
+eastward, into the country of the Iroquois.  They had a plan of
+approaching the upper Mohawk village of Canajoharie, where one
+account says  that Thayendanegea was born, although another
+credits his birthplace to the upper banks of the Ohio.
+
+They turned now from the valley to the deep woods.  The trail
+showed that the great Indian force, after disembarking again,
+split into large parties, everyone loaded with spoil and bound
+for its home village.  The five noted several of the trails, but
+one of them consumed the whole attention of Silent Tom Ross.
+
+He saw in the soft soil near a creek bank the footsteps of about
+eight Indians, and, mingled with them, other footsteps, which he
+took to be those of a white woman and of several children,
+captives, as even a tyro would infer.  The soul of Tom, the good,
+honest, and inarticulate frontiersman, stirred within him.  A
+white woman and her children being carried off to savagery, to be
+lost forevermore to their kind!  Tom, still inarticulate, felt
+his heart pierced with sadness at the tale that the tracks in the
+soft mud told so plainly.  But despair was not the only emotion
+in his heart.  The silent and brave man meant to act.
+
+"Henry," he said, "see these tracks here in the soft spot by the
+creek."
+
+The young leader read the forest page, and it told him exactly
+the same tale that it had told Tom Ross.
+
+"About a day old, I think," he said.
+
+"Just about," said Tom; "an' I reckon, Henry, you know what's in
+my mind."
+
+"I think I do," said Henry, " and we ought to overtake them by
+to-morrow night.  You tell the others, Tom."
+
+Tom informed Shif'less Sol, Paul, and Long Jim in a few words,
+receiving from everyone a glad assent, and then the five followed
+fast on the trail.  They knew that the Indians could not go very
+fast, as their speed must be that of the slowest, namely, that of
+the children, and it seemed likely that Henry's prediction of
+overtaking them on the following night would come true.
+
+It was an easy trail.  Here and there were tiny fragments of
+cloth, caught by a bush from the dress of a captive.  In one
+place they saw a fragment of a child's shoe that had been dropped
+off and abandoned.  Paul picked up the worn piece of leather and
+examined it.
+
+"I think it was worn by a girl," he said, "and, judging from its
+size, she could not have been more than eight years old.  Think
+of a child like that being made to walk five or six hundred miles
+through these woods!"
+
+"Younger ones still have had to do it," said Shif'less Sol
+gravely, "an' them that couldn't-well, the tomahawk."
+
+The trail was leading them toward the Seneca country, and they
+had no doubt that the Indians were Senecas, who had been more
+numerous than any others of the Six Nations at the Wyoming
+battle.  They came that afternoon to a camp fire beside which the
+warriors and captives had slept the night before.
+
+"They ate bar meat an' wild turkey," said Long Jim, looking at
+some bones on the ground.
+
+"An' here," said Tom Ross, "on this pile uv bushes is whar the
+women an' children slept, an' on the other side uv the fire is
+whar the warriors lay anywhars.  You can still see how the bodies
+uv some uv 'cm crushed down the grass an' little bushes."
+
+"An' I'm thinkin'," said Shif'less Sol, as he looked at the trail
+that led away from the camp fire,  "that some o' them little ones
+wuz gittin' pow'ful tired.  Look how these here little trails are
+wobblin' about."
+
+"Hope we kin come up afore the Injuns begin to draw thar
+tomahawks," said Tom Ross.
+
+The others were silent, but they knew the dreadful significance
+of Tom's remark, and Henry glanced at them all, one by one.
+
+"It's the greatest danger to be feared," he said, "and we must
+overtake them in the night when they are not suspecting.  If we
+attack by day they will tomahawk the captives the very first
+thing."
+
+"Shorely,', said the shiftless one.
+
+"Then," said Henry, " we don't need to hurry.  "We'll go on until
+about midnight, and then sleep until sunrise."
+
+They continued at a fair pace along a trail that frontiersmen far
+less skillful than they could have followed.  But a silent dread
+was in the heart of every one of them.  As they saw the path of
+the small feet staggering more and more they feared to behold
+some terrible object beside the path.
+
+"The trail of the littlest child is gone," suddenly announced
+Paul.
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "but the mother has picked it up and is
+carrying it.  See how her trail has suddenly grown more uneven."
+
+"Poor woman," said Paul.  "Henry, we're just bound to overtake
+that band."
+
+"We'll do it," said Henry.
+
+At the appointed time they sank down among the thickest bushes
+that they could find, and slept until the first upshot of dawn. 
+Then they resumed the trail, haunted always by that fear of
+finding something terrible beside it.  But it was a trail that
+continually grew slower.  The Indians themselves were tired, or,
+feeling safe from pursuit, saw no need of hurry.  By and by the
+trail of the smallest child reappeared.
+
+"It feels a lot better now," said Tom Ross.  "So do I."
+
+They came to another camp fire, at which the ashes were not yet
+cold.  Feathers were scattered about, indicating that the Indians
+had taken time for a little side hunt, and had shot some birds.
+
+"They can't be more than two or three hours ahead," said Henry,
+"and we'll have to go on now very cautiously."
+
+They were in a country of high hills, well covered with forests,
+a region suited to an ambush, which they feared but little on
+their own account; but, for the sake of extreme caution, they now
+advanced slowly.  The afternoon was long and warm, but an hour
+before sunset they looked over a hill into a glade, and saw the
+warriors making camp for the night.
+
+The sight they beheld made the pulses of the five throb heavily. 
+The Indians had already built their fire, and two of them were
+cooking venison upon it.  Others were lying on the grass,
+apparently resting, but a little to one side sat a woman, still
+young and of large, strong figure, though now apparently in the
+last stages of exhaustion, with her feet showing through the
+fragments of shoes that she wore.  Her head was bare, and her
+dress was in strips.  Four children lay beside her' the youngest
+two with their heads in her lap.  The other two, who might be
+eleven and thirteen each, had pillowed their heads on their arms,
+and lay in the dull apathy that comes from the finish of both
+strength and hope.  The woman's face was pitiful.  She had more
+to fear than the children, and she knew it.  She was so worn that
+the skin hung loosely on her face, and her eyes showed despair
+only.  The sad spectacle was almost more than Paul could stand.
+
+"I don't like to shoot from ambush," he said, "but we could cut
+down half of those warriors at our firs fire and rush in on the
+rest."
+
+"And those we didn't cut down at our first volley would tomahawk
+the woman and children in an instant," replied Henry.  " We
+agreed, you know, that it would be sure to happen.  We can't do
+anything until night comes, and then we've got to be mighty
+cautious."
+
+Paul could not dispute the truth of his words, and they withdrew
+carefully to the crest of a hill, where they lay in the
+undergrowth, watching the Indians complete their fire and their
+preparations for the night.  It was evident to Henry that they
+considered themselves perfectly safe.  Certainly they had every
+reason for thinking so.  It was not likely that white enemies
+were within a hundred miles of them, and, if so, it could only be
+a wandering hunter or two, who would flee from this fierce band
+of Senecas who bad taken revenge for the great losses that they'
+had suffered the year before at the Oriskany.
+
+They kept very little watch and built only a small fire, just
+enough for broiling deer meat which they carried.  They drank at
+a little spring which ran from under a ledge near them, and gave
+portions of the meat to the woman and children.  After the woman
+had eaten, they bound her hands, and she lay back on the grass,
+about twenty feet from the camp fire.  Two children lay on either
+side of her, and they were soon sound asleep.  The warriors, as
+Indians will do when they are free from danger and care, talked a
+good deal, and showed all the signs of having what was to them a
+luxurious time.  They ate plentifully, lolled on the grass, and
+looked at some hideous trophies, the scalps that they carried at
+their belts.  The woman could not keep from seeing these, too,
+but her face did not change from its stony aspect of despair. 
+Then the light of the fire went out, the sun sank behind the
+mountains, and the five could no longer see the little group of
+captives and captors.
+
+They still waited, although eagerness and impatience were tugging
+at the hearts of every one of them.  But they must give the
+Indians time to fall asleep if they would secure rescue, and not
+merely revenge.  They remained in the bushes, saying but little
+and eating of venison that they carried in their knapsacks.
+
+They let a full three hours pass, and the night remained dark,
+but with a faint moon showing.  Then they descended slowly into
+the valley, approaching by cautious degrees the spot where they
+knew the Indian camp lay.  This work required at least three
+quarters of an hour, and they reached a point where they could
+see the embers of the fire and the dark figures lying about it. 
+The Indians, their suspicions lulled, had put out no sentinels,
+and all were asleep.  But the five knew that, at the first shot,
+they would be as wide awake as if they had never slept, and as
+formidable as tigers.  Their problem seemed as great as ever.  So
+they lay in the bushes and held a whispered conference.
+
+"It's this," said Henry.  " We want to save the woman and the
+children from the tomahawks, and to do so we must get them out of
+range of the blade before the battle begins."    "How?" said Tom
+Ross.
+
+"I've got to slip up, release the woman, arm her, tell her to run
+for the woods with the children, and then you four must do the
+most of the rest."
+
+"Do you think you can do it, Henry ?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+I can, as I will soon show you.  I'm going to steal forward to
+the woman, but the moment you four hear an alarm open with your
+rifles and pistols.  You can come a little nearer without being
+heard."
+
+All of them moved up close to the Indian camp, and lay hidden in
+the last fringe of bushes except Henry.  He lay almost flat upon
+the ground, carrying his rifle parallel with his side, and in his
+right hand.  He was undertaking one of the severest and most
+dangerous tests known to a frontiersman.  He meant to crawl into
+the very midst of a camp of the Iroquois, composed of the most
+alert woodsmen in the world, men who would spring up at the
+slightest crackle in the brush.  Woodmen who, warned by some
+sixth sense, would awaken at the mere fact of a strange presence.
+
+The four who remained behind in the bushes could not keep their
+hearts from beating louder and faster.  They knew the tremendous
+risk undertaken by their comrade, but there was not one of them
+who would have shirked it, had not all yielded it to the one whom
+they knew to be the best fitted for the task.
+
+Henry crept forward silently, bringing to his aid all the years
+of skill that he had acquired in his life in the wilds.  His body
+was like that of a serpent, going forward, coil by coil.  He was
+near enough now to see the embers of the fire not yet quite dead,
+the dark figures scattered about it, sleeping upon the grass with
+the long ease of custom, and then the outline of the woman apart
+from the others with the children about her.  Henry now lay
+entirely flat, and his motions were genuinely those of a serpent. 
+It was by a sort of contraction and relaxation of the body that
+he moved himself, and his progress was absolutely soundless.
+
+The object of his advance was the woman.  He saw by the faint
+light of the moon that she was not yet asleep.  Her face, worn
+and weather beaten, was upturned to the skies, and the stony look
+of despair seemed to have settled there forever.  She lay upon
+some pine boughs, and her hands were tied behind her for the
+night with deerskin.
+
+Henry contorted himself on, inch by inch, for all the world like
+a great snake.  Now he passed the sleeping Senecas, hideous with
+war paint, and came closer to the woman.  She was not paying
+attention to anything about her, but was merely looking up at the
+pale, cold stars, as if everything in the world had ceased for
+her.
+
+Henry crept a little nearer.  He made a slight noise, as of a
+lizard running through the grass, but the woman took no notice. 
+He crept closer, and. there he lay flat upon the grass within six
+feet of her, his figure merely a slightly darker blur against the
+dark blur of the earth.  Then, trusting to the woman's courage
+and strength of mind, he emitted a hiss very soft and low, like
+the warning of a serpent, half in fear and half in anger.
+
+The woman moved a little, and looked toward the point from which
+the sound had come.  It might have been the formidable hiss of a
+coiling rattlesnake that she heard, but she felt no fear.  She
+was too much stunned, too near exhaustion to be alarmed by
+anything, and she did not look a second time.  She merely settled
+back on the pine boughs, and again looked dully up at the pale,
+cold stars that cared so little for her or hers.
+
+Henry crept another yard nearer, and then he uttered that low
+noise, sibilant and warning, which the woman, the product of the
+border, knew to be made by a human being.  She raised herself a
+little, although it was difficult with her bound hands to sit
+upright, and saw a dark shadow approaching her.  That dark shadow
+she knew to he the figure of a man.  An Indian would not be
+approaching in such a manner, and she looked again, startled into
+a sudden acute attention, and into a belief that the incredible,
+the impossible, was about to happen.  A voice came from the
+figure, and its quality was that of the white voice, not the red.
+
+"Do not move," said that incredible voice out of the unknown.  "I
+have come for your rescue, and others who have come for the same
+purpose are near.  Turn on one side, and I will cut the bonds
+that hold your arms."
+
+The voice, the white voice, was like the touch of fire to Mary
+Newton.  A sudden fierce desire for life and for the lives of her
+four children awoke within her just when hope had gone the call
+to life came.  She had never heard before a voice so full of
+cheer and encouragement.  It penetrated her whole being. 
+Exhaustion and despair fled away.        
+
+"Turn a little on your side," said the voice.
+
+She turned obediently, and then felt the sharp edge of cold steel
+as it swept between her wrists and cut the thongs that held them
+together.  Her arms fell apart, and strength permeated every vein
+of her being.
+
+"We shall attack in a few moments," said the voice, "but at the
+first shots the Senecas will try to tomahawk you and your
+children.  Hold out your hands."
+
+She held out both hands obediently.  The handle of a tomahawk was
+pressed into one, and the muzzle of a double-barreled pistol into
+the other.  Strength flowed down each hand into her body.
+
+"If the time comes, use them; you are strong, and you know how,"
+said the voice.  Then she saw the dark figure creeping away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE PURSUIT ON THE RIVER
+
+
+The story of the frontier is filled with heroines, from the far
+days of Hannah Dustin down to the present, and Mary Newton, whom
+the unknown figure in the dark had just aroused, is one of them. 
+It had seemed to her that God himself had deserted her, but at
+the last moment he had sent some one.  She did not doubt, she
+could not doubt, because the bonds had been severed, and there
+she lay with a deadly weapon in either hand.  The friendly
+stranger who had come so silently was gone as he had come, but
+she was not helpless now.  Like many another frontier woman, she
+was naturally lithe and powerful, and, stirred by a great hope,
+all her strength had returned for the present.
+
+Nobody who lives in the wilderness can wholly escape
+superstition, and Mary Newton began to believe that some
+supernatural creature had intervened in her behalf.  She raised
+herself just a little on one elbow and surveyed the surrounding
+thicket.  She saw only the dead embers of the fire, and the dark
+forms of the Indians lying upon the bare ground.  Had it not been
+for the knife and pistol in her hand, she could have believed
+that the voice was only a dream.
+
+There was a slight rustling in the thicket, and a Seneca rose
+quickly to his knees, grasping his rifle in both hands.  The
+woman's fingers clutched the knife and pistol more tightly, and
+her whole gaunt figure trembled.  The Seneca listened only a
+moment.  Then he gave a sharp cry, and all the other warriors
+sprang up.  But three of them rose only to fall again, as the
+rifles cracked in the bushes, while two others staggered from
+wounds.
+
+The triumphant shout of the frontiersmen came from the thicket,
+and then they rushed upon the camp.  Quick as a flash two of the
+Senecas started toward the woman and children with their
+tomahawks, but Mary Newton was ready.  Her heart had leaped at
+the shots when the Senecas fell, and she kept her courage.  Now
+she sprang to her full height, and, with the children screaming
+at her feet, fired one barrel of the pistol directly into the
+face of the first warrior, and served the second in the same way
+with the other barrel when he was less than four feet away. 
+Then, tomahawk in hand, she rushed forward.  In judging Mary
+Newton, one must consider time and place.
+
+But happily there was no need for her to use her tomahawk.  As
+the five rushed in, four of them emptied their double-barreled
+pistols, while Henry swung his clubbed rifle with terrible
+effect.  It was too much for the Senecas.  The apparition of the
+armed woman, whom they had left bound, and the deadly fire from
+the five figures that sprang upon them, was like a blow from the
+hand of Aieroski.  The unhurt and wounded fled deep into the
+forest, leaving their dead behind.  Mary Newton, her great deed
+done, collapsed from emotion and weakness.  The screams of the
+children sank in a few moments to frightened whimpers.  But the
+oldest, when they saw the white faces, knew that rescue had come.
+
+Paul brought water from the brook in his cap, and Mary Newton was
+revived; Jim was reassuring the children, and the other three
+were in the thickets, watching lest the surviving Senecas return
+for attack.
+
+"I don't know who you are, but I think the good God himself must
+have sent you to our rescue," said Mary Newton reverently.
+
+"We don't know," said Paul, "but we are doing the best we can. 
+Do you think you can walk now?"
+
+"Away from the savages?  Yes!" she said passionately.  She looked
+down at the dead figures of the Senecas, and she did not feel a
+single trace of pity for them.  Again it is necessary to consider
+time and place.
+
+"Some of my strength came back while I was lying here," she said,
+"and much more of it when you drove away the Indians."
+
+"Very well," said Henry, who had returned to the dead camp fire
+with his comrades, "we must start on the back trail at once.  The
+surviving Senecas, joined by other Iroquois, will certainly
+pursue, and we need all the start that we can get."
+
+Long Jim picked up one of the two younger children and flung him
+over his shoulder; Tom Ross did as much for the other, but the
+older two scorned help.  They were full of admiration for the
+great woodsmen, mighty heroes who had suddenly appeared out of
+the air, as it were, and who had swept like a tornado over the
+Seneca band.  It did not seem possible now that they, could be
+retaken.
+
+But Mary Newton, with her strength and courage, had also
+recovered her forethought.
+
+"Maybe it will not be better to go on the back trail," she said. 
+"One of the Senecas told me to-day that six or seven miles
+farther on was a river flowing into the Susquehanna, and that
+they would cross this river on a boat now concealed among bushes
+on the bank.  The crossing was at a sudden drop between high
+banks.  Might not we go on, find the boat, and come back in it
+down the river and into the Susquehanna?"
+
+"That sounds mighty close to wisdom to me," said Shif'less Sol. 
+"Besides, it's likely to have the advantage o' throwin' the
+Iroquois off our track.  They'll think, o' course, that we've
+gone straight back, an' we'll pass 'em ez we're going forward."
+
+"It's certainly the best plan," said Henry, "and it's worth our
+while to try for that hidden boat of the Iroquois.  Do you know
+the general direction?"
+
+"Almost due north."
+
+"Then we'll make a curve to the right, in order to avoid any
+Iroquois who may be returning to this camp, and push for it."
+
+Henry led the way over hilly, rough ground, and the others
+followed in a silent file, Long Jim and Tom still carrying the
+two smallest children, who soon fell asleep on their shoulders. 
+Henry did not believe that the returning Iroquois could follow
+their trail on such a dark night, and the others agreed with him.
+
+After a while they saw the gleam of water.  Henry knew that it
+must be very near, or it would have been wholly invisible on such
+a dark night.
+
+"I think, Mrs. Newton," he said, "that this is the river of which
+you spoke, and the cliffs seem to drop down just as you said they
+would."
+
+The woman smiled.
+
+"Yes," she said, "you've done well with my poor guess, and the
+boat must be hidden somewhere near here."
+
+Then she sank down with exhaustion, and the two  older children,
+unable to walk farther, sank down beside her.  But the two who
+slept soundly on the shoulders of Long Jim and Tom Ross did not
+awaken.  Henry motioned to Jim and Tom to remain there, and
+Shif'less Sol bent upon them a quizzical and approving look.
+
+"Didn't think it was in you, Jim Hart, you old horny-handed
+galoot," he said, "carryin' a baby that tender.  Knew Jim could
+sling a little black bar 'roun' by the tail, but I didn't think
+you'd take to nussin' so easy."
+
+"I'd luv you to know, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart in a tone of high
+condescension, "that Tom Ross an' me are civilized human bein's. 
+In face uv danger we are ez brave ez forty thousand lions, but
+with the little an' the weak we're as easy an' kind an' soft ez
+human bein's are ever made to be."
+
+"You're right, old hoss," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Well," said the shiftless one, "I can't argify with you now, ez
+the general hez called on his colonel, which is me, an' his
+major, which is Paul, to find him a nice new boat like one o'
+them barges o' Clepatry that Paul tells about, all solid silver,
+with red silk sails an' gold oars, an' we're meanin' to do it."
+
+Fortune was with them, and in a quarter of an hour they
+discovered, deep among bushes growing in the shallow water, a
+large, well-made boat with two pairs of oars and with small
+supplies of parched corn and venison hidden in it.
+
+"Good luck an' bad luck come mixed," said the shift-less one,
+"an' this is shorely one o' our pieces o' good luck.  The woman
+an' the children are clean tuckered out, an' without this boat we
+could never hev got them back.  Now it's jest a question o'
+rowin' an' fightin'."
+
+"Paul and I will pull her out to the edge of the clear water,"
+said Henry, "while you can go back and tell the others, Sol."
+
+"That just suits a lazy man," said Sol, and he walked away
+jauntily.  Under his apparent frivolity he concealed his joy at
+the find, which he knew to be of such vast importance.  He
+approached the dusky group, and his really tender heart was
+stirred with pity for the rescued captives.  Long Jim and Silent
+Tom held the smaller two on their shoulders, but the older ones
+and the woman, also, had fallen asleep.  Sol, in order to conceal
+his emotion, strode up rather roughly.  Mary Newton awoke.
+
+"Did you find anything?" she asked.
+
+"Find anything?" repeated Shif'less Sol. "Well, Long Jim an' Tom
+here might never hev found anything, but Henry an' Paul an' me,
+three eddicated men, scholars, I might say, wuz jest natcherally
+bound to find it whether it wuz thar or not.  Yes, we've
+unearthed what Paul would call an argosy, the grandest craft that
+ever floated on this here creek, that I never saw before, an'
+that I don't know the name uv.  She's bein' floated out now, an'
+I, the Gran' Hidalgo an' Majordomo, hev come to tell the princes
+and princesses, an' the dukes and dukesses, an' all the other
+gran' an' mighty passengers, that the barge o' the Dog o' Venice
+is in the stream, an' the Dog, which is Henry Ware, is waitin',
+settin' on the Pup to welcome ye."
+
+"Sol," said Long Jim, "you do talk a power uv foolishness, with
+your Dogs an' Pups."
+
+"It ain't foolishness," rejoined the shiftless one.  "I heard
+Paul read it out o' a book oncet, plain ez day.  They've been
+ruled by Dogs at Venice for more than a thousand years, an' on
+big 'casions the Dog comes down a canal in a golden barge,
+settin' on the Pup.  I'll admit it 'pears strange to me, too, but
+who are you an' me, Jim Hart, to question the ways of foreign
+countries, thousands o' miles on the other side o' the sea?"
+
+"They've found the boat," said Tom Ross, "an' that's enough!"     
+
+"Is it really true?" asked Mrs. Newton.
+
+"It is," replied Shif'less Sol, "an' Henry an' Paul are in it,
+waitin' fur us.  We're thinkin', Mrs.  Newton, that the roughest
+part of your trip is over."
+
+In another five minutes all were in the boat, which was a really
+fine one, and they were delighted.  Mary Newton for the first
+time broke down and wept, and no one disturbed her.  The five
+spread the blankets on the bottom of the boat, where the children
+soon went to sleep once more, and Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol took
+the oars.
+
+"Back in a boat ag'in," said the shiftless one exultantly. 
+"Makes me feel like old times.  My fav'rite mode o' travelin'
+when Jim Hart, 'stead o' me, is at the oars."
+
+"Which is most o' the time," said Long Jim.
+
+It was indeed a wonderful change to these people worn by the
+wilderness.  They lay at ease now, while two pairs of powerful
+arms, with scarcely an effort, propelled the boat along the
+stream.  The woman herself lay down on the blankets and fell
+asleep with the children.  Henry at the prow, Tom Ross at the
+stern, and Paul amidships watched in silence, but with their
+rifles across their knees.  They knew that the danger was far
+from over.  Other Indians were likely to use this stream, unknown
+to them, as a highway, and those who survived of their original
+captors could pick up their trail by daylight.  And the Senecas,
+being mad for revenge, would surely get help and follow.       
+Henry believed that the theory of returning toward the Wyoming
+Valley was sound.  That region had been so thoroughly ravaged now
+that all the Indians would be going northward.  If they could
+float down a day or so without molestation, they would probably
+be safe.  The creek, or, rather, little river, broadened, flowing
+with a smooth, fairly swift current.  The forest on either side
+was dense with oak, hickory, maple, and other splendid trees,
+often with a growth of underbrush.  The three riflemen never
+ceased to watch intently.  Henry always looked ahead.  It would
+have been difficult for any ambushed marksman to have escaped his
+notice.  But nothing occurred to disturb them.  Once a deer came
+down to drink, and fled away at sight of the phantom boat gliding
+almost without noise on the still waters.  Once the far scream of
+a panther came from the woods, but Mary Newton and her children,
+sleeping soundly, did not hear it.  The five themselves knew the
+nature of the sound, and paid no attention.  The boat went
+steadily on, the three riflemen never changing their position,
+and soon the day began to come.  Little arrows of golden light
+pierced through the foliage of the trees, and sparkled on the
+surface of the water.  In the cast the red sun was coming from
+his nightly trip.  Henry looked down at the sleepers.  They were
+overpowered by exhaustion, and would not awake of their own
+accord for a long time.
+
+Shif'less Sol caught his look.
+
+"Why not let 'em sleep on?" he said.
+
+Then he and Jim Hart took the oars, and the shiftless one and Tom
+Ross resumed their rifles.  The day was coming fast, and the
+whole forest was soon transfused with light.
+
+No one of the five had slept during the night.  They did not feel
+the need of sleep, and they were upborne, too, by a great
+exaltation.  They had saved the prisoners thus far from a
+horrible fate, and they were firmly resolved to reach, with them,
+some strong settlement and safety.  They felt, too, a sense of
+exultation over Brant, Sangerachte, Hiokatoo, the Butlers, the
+Johnsons, Wyatt, and all the crew that had committed such
+terrible devastation in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere.
+
+The full day clothed the earth in a light that turned from silver
+to gold, and the woman and the children still slept.  The five
+chewed some strips of venison, and looked rather lugubriously at
+the pieces they were saving for Mary Newton and the children.
+
+"We ought to hev more'n that," said Shif'less Sol.  Ef the worst
+comes to the worst, we've got to land somewhar an' shoot a deer."
+
+"But not yet," said Henry in a whisper, lest he wake the
+sleepers.  "I think we'll come into the Susquehanna pretty soon,
+and its width will be a good thing for us.  I wish we were there
+now.  I don't like this narrow stream.  Its narrowness affords
+too good an ambush."
+
+"Anyway, the creek is broadenin' out fast," said the shiftless
+one, "an' that is a good sign., What's that you see ahead,
+Henry-ain't it a river?"
+
+"It surely is," replied Henry, who caught sight of a broad
+expanse of water, "and it's the Susquehanna.  Pull hard, Sol!  In
+five more minutes we'll be in the river."
+
+It was less than five when they turned into the current of the
+Susquehanna, and less than five more when they heard a shout
+behind them, and saw at least a dozen canoes following.  The
+canoes were filled with Indians and Tories, and they had spied
+the fugitives.
+
+"Keep the women and the children down, Paul," cried Henry.
+
+All knew that Henry and Shif'less Sol were the best shots, and,
+without a word, Long Jim and Tom, both powerful and skilled
+watermen, swung heavily on the oars, while Henry and Shif'less
+Sol sat in the rear with their rifles ready.  Mary Newton awoke
+with a cry at the sound of the shots, and started to rise, but
+Paul pushed her down.
+
+"We're on the Susquehanna now, Mrs. Newton," he said, " and we
+are pursued.  The Indians and Tories have just seen us, but don't
+be afraid.  The two who are watching there are the best shots in
+the world."
+
+He looked significantly at Henry and Shif'less Sol, crouching in
+the stern of the boat like great warriors from some mighty past,
+kings of the forest whom no one could overcome, and her courage
+came back.  The children, too, had awakened with frightened
+cries, but she and Paul quickly soothed them, and, obedient to
+commands, the four, and Mary Newton with them, lay flat upon the
+bottom of the boat, which was now being sent forward rapidly by
+Jim Hart and Tom.  Paul took up his rifle and sat in a waiting
+attitude, either to relieve one of the men at the oars or to
+shoot if necessary.
+
+The clear sun made forest and river vivid in its light.  The
+Indians, after their first cry, made no sound, but so powerful
+were Long Jim and Tom that they were gaining but little, although
+some of the boats contained six or eight rowers.
+
+As the light grew more intense Henry made out the two white faces
+in the first boat.  One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the other,
+he was quite sure, belonged to the infamous Walter Butler.  Hot
+anger swept through all his veins, and the little pulses in his
+temples began to beat like trip hammers.  Now the picture of
+Wyoming, the battle, the massacre, the torture, and Queen Esther
+wielding her great tomahawk on the bound captives, grew
+astonishingly vivid, and it was printed blood red on his brain. 
+The spirit of anger and defiance, of a desire to taunt those who
+had done such things, leaped up in his heart.
+
+"Are you there, Braxton Wyatt?" he called clearly across the
+intervening water.  "Yes, I see that it is you, murderer of women
+and children, champion of the fire and stake, as savage as any of
+the savages.  And it is you, too, Walter Butler, wickeder son of
+a wicked father.  Come a little closer, won't you?  We've
+messengers here for both of you!"
+
+He tapped lightly the barrel of his own rifle and that of
+Shif'less Sol, and repeated his request that they come a little
+closer.
+
+They understood his words, and they understood, also, the
+significant gesture when he patted the barrel of the rifles.  The
+hearts of both Butler and Wyatt were for the moment afraid, and
+their boat dropped back to third place.  Henry laughed aloud when
+he saw.  The Viking rage was still upon him.  This was the
+primeval wilderness, and these were no common foes.
+
+"I see that you don't want to receive our little messengers," he
+cried.  "Why have you dropped back to third place in the line,
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler, when you were first only a
+moment ago?  Are you cowards as well as murderers of women and
+children?"
+
+"That's pow'ful good talk," said Shif'less Sol admiringly. 
+"Henry, you're a real orator.  Give it to 'em, an' mebbe I'll get
+a chance at one o' them renegades."
+
+It seemed that Henry's words had an effect, because the boat of
+the renegades pulled up somewhat, although it did not regain
+first place.  Thus the chase proceeded down the Susquehanna.
+
+The Indian fleet was gaining a little, and Shif'less Sol called
+Henry's attention to it.
+
+"Don't you think I'd better take a shot at one o' them rowers in
+the first boat?" he said to Henry.  "Wyatt an' Butler are a
+leetle too fur away."
+
+"I think it would give them a good hint, Sol!" said Henry.  "Take
+that fellow on the right who is pulling so hard."
+
+The shiftless one raised his rifle, lingered but a little over
+his aim, and pulled the trigger.  The rower whom Henry had
+pointed out fell back in the boat, his hands slipping from the
+handles of his oars.  The boat was thrown into confusion, and
+dropped back in the race.  Scattering shots were fired in return,
+but all fell short, the water spurting up in little jets where
+they struck.
+
+Henry, who had caught something of the Indian nature in his long
+stay among them in the northwest, laughed in loud irony.
+
+"That was one of our little messengers, and it found a listener!"
+he shouted.  "And I see that you are afraid, Braxton Wyatt and
+Walter Butler, murderers of women and children!  Why don't you
+keep your proper places in the front?"
+
+"That's the way to talk to 'em," whispered Shif'less Sol, as he
+reloaded.  "Keep it up, an' mebbe we kin git a chance at Braxton
+Wyatt hisself.  Since Wyoming I'd never think o' missin' sech a
+chance."
+
+"Nor I, either," said Henry, and he resumed in his powerful
+tones: "The place of a leader is in front, isn't it?  Then why
+don't you come up?"
+
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler did not come up.  They were not
+lacking in courage, but Wyatt knew what deadly marksmen the
+fugitive boat contained, and he had also told Butler.  So they
+still hung back, although they raged at Henry Ware's taunts, and
+permitted the Mohawks and Senecas to take the lead in the chase.
+
+"They're not going to give us a chance," said Henry.  "I'm
+satisfied of that.  They'll let redskins receive our bullets,
+though just now I'd rather it were the two white ones.  What do
+you think, Sol, of that leading boat?  Shouldn't we give another
+hint?"
+
+"I agree with you, Henry," said the shiftless one.  They're
+comin' much too close fur people that ain't properly interduced
+to us.  This promiskus way o' meetin' up with strangers an'
+lettin' 'em talk to you jest ez ef they'd knowed you all their
+lives hez got to be stopped.  It's your time, Henry, to give 'em
+a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you take the big fellow in
+the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk."
+
+Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more. 
+Again confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a
+decline of enthusiasm.  Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and
+swore, but, as they showed no great zeal for the lead themselves,
+the Iroquois did not gain on the fugitive boat.  They, too, were
+fast learning that the two who crouched there with their rifles
+ready were among the deadliest marksmen in existence.  They fired
+a dozen shots, perhaps, but their rifles did not have the long
+range of the Kentucky weapons, and again the bullets fell short,
+causing little jets of water to spring up.
+
+"They won't come any nearer, at least not for the present," said
+Henry, "but will hang back just out of rifle range, waiting for
+some chance to help them."
+
+Shif'less Sol looked the other way, down the Susquehanna, and
+announced that he could see no danger.  There was probably no
+Indian fleet farther down the river than the one now pursuing
+them, and the danger was behind them, not before.
+
+Throughout the firing, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart had not
+said a word, but they rowed with a steadiness and power that
+would have carried oarsmen of our day to many a victory. 
+Moreover, they had the inducement not merely of a prize, but of
+life itself, to row and to row hard.  They had rolled up their
+sleeves, and the mighty muscles on those arms of woven steel rose
+and fell as they sent the boat swiftly with the silver current of
+the Susquehanna.
+
+Mary Newton still lay on the bottom of the boat.  The children
+had cried out in fright once or twice at the sound of the firing,
+but she and Paul bad soothed them and kept them down.  Somehow
+Mary Newton had become possessed of a great faith.  She noticed
+the skill, speed, and success with which the five always worked,
+and, so long given up to despair, she now went to the other
+extreme.  With such friends as these coming suddenly out of the
+void, everything must succeed.  She had no doubt of it, but lay
+peacefully on the bottom of the boat, not at all disturbed by the
+sound of the shots.
+
+Paul and Sol after a while relieved Long Jim and Tom at the oars. 
+The Iroquois thought it a chance to creep up again, but they were
+driven back by a third bullet, and once more kept their distance. 
+Shif'less Sol, while he pulled as powerfully as Tom Ross, whose
+place he had taken, nevertheless was not silent.
+
+"I'd like to know the feelin's o' Braxton Wyatt an' that feller
+Butler," he said.  " Must be powerful tantalizin' to them to see
+us here, almost where they could stretch out their hands an' put
+'em on us.  Like reachn' fur ripe, rich fruit, an' failin' to git
+it by half a finger's length."
+
+"They are certainly not pleased," said Henry," but this must end
+some way or other, you know."
+
+"I say so, too, now that I'm a-rowin'," rejoined the shiftless
+one, "but when my turn at the oars is finished I wouldn't care. 
+Ez I've said more'n once before, floatin' down a river with
+somebody else pullin' at the oars is the life jest suited to me."
+
+Henry looked up.  "A summer thunderstorm is coming," he said, "
+and from the look of things it's going to be pretty black. 
+Then's when we must dodge 'em."
+
+He was a good weather prophet.  In a half hour the sky began to
+darken rapidly.  There was a great deal of thunder and lightning,
+but when the rain came the air was almost as dark as night.  Mary
+Newton and her children were covered as much as possible with the
+blankets, and then they swung the boat rapidly toward the eastern
+shore.  They had already lost sight of their pursuers in the
+darkness, and as they coasted along the shore they found a large
+creek flowing into the river from the east.
+
+They ran up the creek, and were a full mile from its mouth when
+the rain ceased.  Then the sun came out bright and warm, quickly
+drying everything.
+
+They pulled about ten miles farther, until the creek grew too
+shallow for them, when they hid the boat among bushes and took to
+the land.  Two days later they arrived at a strong fort and
+settlement, where Mary Newton and her four children, safe and
+well, were welcomed by relatives who had mourned them as dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"THE ALCOVE"
+
+
+They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as
+food was served to them the five sought sleep.  The frontiersmen
+usually slept soundly and for a long time after prodigious
+exertions, and Henry and his comrades were too wise to make an
+exception.  They secured a single room inside the fort, one given
+to them gladly, because Mary Newton had already spread the fame
+of their exploits, and, laying aside their hunting shirts and
+leggins, prepared for rest.
+
+"Jim," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture,
+flat and broad, in one corner of the room, "that's a bed.  Mebbe
+you don't think it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep
+thar."
+
+Long Jim grinned.
+
+"Mebbe you're right, Sol," he said.  "I hev seen sech things ez
+that, an' mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old
+tales Paul tells us about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin'
+in beds.  I guess the ground wuz good 'nough for A-killus,
+Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong, an' all the rest uv that fightin'
+crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man myself I'll jest roll down
+here on the floor.  Bein' as you're tender, Sol Hyde, an' not
+used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed yourself,
+an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in a
+silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a
+ruffled red silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green
+satin breeches jest comin' to the knee, where they meet yellow
+silk stockin's risin' out uv purple satin slippers, an' then
+he'll clap on your head a big wig uv snow-white hair, fallin' all
+about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a silver sword to your
+side, an' he'll say: "Gentlemen, him that hez long been known ez
+Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in reality is the
+King o' France, is now before you.  Down on your knees an' say
+your prayers!"
+
+Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
+
+"You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim?  Now, what under
+the sun is a wally ?"
+
+"I heard all about 'em from Paul," replied Long Jim in a tone of
+intense satisfaction.  "A wally is a man what does fur you what
+you ought to do fur yourself."
+
+"Then I want one," said Shif'less Sol emphatically.  "He'd jest
+suit a lazy man like me.  An' ez fur your makin' me the King o'
+France, mebbe you're more'n half right about that without knowin'
+it.  I hev all the instincts uv a king.  I like to be waited on,
+I like to eat when I'm hungry, I like to drink when I'm thirsty,
+I like to rest when I'm tired, an' I like to sleep when I'm
+sleepy.  You've heard o' children changed at birth by fairies an'
+sech like.  Mebbe I'm the real King o' France, after all, an' my
+instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royal ancestors."
+
+"Mebbe it's so," rejoined Long Jim.  "I've heard that thar hev
+been a pow'ful lot uv foolish kings."
+
+With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon
+them, and was sound asleep in five minutes.  But Shif'less Sol
+beat him to slumberland by at least a minute, and the others were
+not more than two minutes behind Sol.
+
+Henry was the first up the next morning.  A strong voice shouted
+in his ear: "Henry Ware, by all that's glorious," and a hand
+pressed his fingers together in an iron grasp.  Henry beheld the
+tall, thin figure and smiling brown face of Adam Colfax, with
+whom he had made that adventurous journey up the Mississippi and
+Ohio.
+
+"And the others?" was the first question of Adam Colfax.
+
+"They're all here asleep inside.  We've been through a lot of
+things, but we're as sound as ever."
+
+"That's always a safe prediction to make," said Adam Colfax,
+smiling.  "I never saw five other human beings with such a
+capacity for getting out of danger."
+
+"We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live."
+
+The face of the New Englander darkened.
+
+"Wyoming!" he exclaimed.  "I cannot hear of it without every vein
+growing hot within me."
+
+"We saw things done there," said Henry gravely, the telling of
+which few men can bear to hear."
+
+"I know!  I know!" exclaimed Adam Colfax.  "The news of it has
+spread everywhere!"
+
+"What we want," said Henry, "is revenge.  It is a case in which
+we must strike back, and strike hard.  If this thing goes on, not
+a white life will be safe on the whole border from the St.
+Lawrence to the Mississippi." 
+
+"It is true," said Adam Colfax, "and we would send an army now
+against the Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our
+fortunes are at their lowest there in the East, where the big
+armies are fighting.  That is the reason why nobody has been sent
+to protect our rear guard, which has suffered so terribly.  You
+may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will strike in this region
+again as often and as hard as they can.  I make more than half a
+guess that you and your comrades are here because you know this."
+
+He looked shrewdly at the boy.
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "that is so.  Somehow we were drawn into it,
+but being here we are glad to stay.  Timmendiquas, the great
+chief who fought us so fiercely on the Ohio, is with the
+Iroquois, with a detachment of his Wyandots, and while he, as I
+know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he means to help
+Thayendanegea to the end."
+
+Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
+
+"That is bad," he said.  "Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and
+leader, but there is also another way of looking at it.  His
+presence here will relieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky.  I
+ought to tell you, Henry, that we got through safely with our
+supplies to the Continental army, and they could not possibly
+have been more welcome.  They arrived just in time."
+
+The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same
+warmth by Adam Colfax.
+
+"It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax,"
+said Shif'less Sol, "an' it's a good sign.  Our people won when
+you were on the Mississippi an' the Ohio' - an' now that you're
+here, they're goin' to win again."
+
+"I think we are going to win here and everywhere," said Adam
+Colfax, "but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. 
+It is because our people will not give up, and because our
+quarrel is just."
+
+The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points
+farther east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid
+the patriot cause, and the five, on the day after that, received
+a message written on a piece of paper which was found fastened to
+a tree on the outskirts of the settlement.  It was addressed to
+"Henry Ware and Those with Him," and it read:
+
+
+     "You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
+     the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky. 
+     There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
+     Indians and the soldiers of the king.  You have seen at
+     Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
+     on a greater scale what we will do.
+
+     "I find my own position perfect.  It is true that
+     Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here.  I
+     am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte,
+     Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me.  I am thick with
+     Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the
+     valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel
+     Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent
+     men and brave soldiers.
+
+     "I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your 
+     comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over
+     yours.  I do not doubt that when you read this you will try
+     to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything
+     along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall
+     come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
+
+     "I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in
+     which you can hide where we cannot reach you.  With my
+     respects, BRAXTON WYATT."
+
+Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
+
+"A renegade catches something of the Indian nature," he said,
+"and always likes to threaten and boast."
+
+But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
+
+"Sometimes I think," he said, "that the invention o' writin' wuz
+a mistake.  You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an'
+talk mighty big when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've
+got to stan' up to him face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change
+your tune an' sing a pow'ful sight milder.  You ain't gen'ally
+any roarin' lion then."
+
+"I think I'll keep this letter," said Henry, "an' we five will
+give an answer to it later on."
+
+He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four
+gravely tapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him.  It was a
+significant action.  Nothing more was needed.
+
+The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton
+and her children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition,
+chiefly ammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the
+deep forest.  It was their intention to do as much damage as they
+could to the Iroquois, until some great force, capable of dealing
+with the whole Six Nations, was assembled.  Meanwhile, five
+redoubtable and determined borderers could achieve something.
+
+It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of
+the great heats.  But it was a period favoring Indian activity,
+which was now at its highest pitch.  Since Wyoming, loaded with
+scalps, flushed with victory, and aided by the king's men, they
+felt equal to anything.  Only the strongest of the border
+settlements could hold them back.  The colonists here were so
+much reduced, and so little help could be sent them from the
+East, that the Iroquois were able to divide into innumerable
+small parties and rake the country as with a fine tooth comb. 
+They never missed a lone farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitive
+in the woods able to evade them.  And they were constantly fed
+from the North with arms, ammunition, rewards for scalps,
+bounties, and great promises.
+
+But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a
+silent and invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and
+that struck hard.  There were battles of small forces in which
+sometimes not a single Iroquois escaped.  Captives were retaken
+in a half-dozen instances, and the warriors who escaped reported
+that their assailants were of uncommon size and power.  They had
+all the cunning of the Indian and more, and they carried rifles
+that slew at a range double that of those served to them at the
+British posts.  It was a certainty that they were guided by the
+evil spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed
+miserably.  No one could find where they slept, unless it was
+those who never came back again.
+
+The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and
+Braxton Wyatt.  This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British
+and Tories saw, also, that it was beginning to affect the
+superstitions of their red allies.  Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd
+guess as to the identity of the raiders, but he kept quiet.  It
+is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew, but be, too, said
+nothing.  So the influence of the raiders grew.  While their acts
+were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powers
+manifold.  And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. 
+They were heard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and
+its branches, on the Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as
+Lackawaxen Creek, and as far north as Oneida Lake.  It is likely
+that nobody ever accomplished more for a defense than did those
+five in the waning months of the summer.  Late in September the
+most significant of all these events occurred.  A party of eight
+Tories, who had borne a terrible part in the Wyoming affair, was
+attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with such deadly fierceness
+that only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir John Johnson. 
+Brant sent out six war parties, composed of not less than twenty
+warriors apiece, to seek revenge, but they found nothing.
+
+Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of
+one of the beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. 
+The cliff at that point was high, but a creek entered into it
+through a ravine.  At the entrance of the creek into the river
+they found a deep alcove, or, rather, cave in the rock.  It ran
+so far back that it afforded ample shelter from the rain, and
+that was all they wanted.  It was about halfway between the top
+and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult of approach both from
+below and above.  Unless completely surprised-a very unlikely
+thing with them-the five could hold it against any force as long
+as their provisions lasted.  They also built a boat large enough
+for five, which they hid among the bushes at the lake's edge. 
+They were thus provided with a possible means of escape across
+the water in case of the last emergency.
+
+Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers,
+took great delight in fitting up this forest home, which the
+fittingly called " The Alcove." The floor of solid stone was
+almost smooth, and with the aid of other heavy stones they broke
+off all projections, until one could walk over it in the dark in
+perfect comfort.  They hung the walls with skins of deer which
+they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls furnished many
+nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities.  They also,
+with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long
+Jim was to use for his cooking.  He built his little fireplace of
+stones so near the mouth of "The Alcove" that the smoke would
+pass out and be lost in the thick forest all about.  If the wind
+happened to be blowing toward the inside of the cave, the smoke,
+of course, would come in on them all, but Jim would not be
+cooking then.
+
+Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied "The
+Alcove" plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although
+there was no way in which they could store water, and for that
+they had to take their chances.  But their success, the product
+of skill and everlasting caution, was really remarkable.  Three
+times they were trapped within a few miles of "The Alcove," but
+the pursuers invariably went astray on the hard, rocky ground,
+and the pursued would also take the precaution to swim down the
+creek before climbing up to "The Alcove."  Nobody could follow a
+trail in the face of such difficulties.
+
+It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time,
+but they easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was
+coming, half waded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to
+"The Alcove," where the others were waiting for them with cooked
+food and clear cold water.  When they had eaten and were
+refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouth of "The Alcove," where
+a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage that hid the
+entrance.  The shiftless one was in an especially happy mood.
+
+"It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',"he said,"to set up in a nice
+safe place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin'
+heathen, seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone
+to.  Thar's a heap in knowin' how to pick your home.  I've
+thought more than once 'bout that old town, Troy, that Paul tells
+us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind that it wuzn't destroyed
+'cause Helen eat too many golden apples. but 'cause old King
+Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a plain.  That
+wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing.  Now, ef he'd built it on a
+mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev
+been enough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the
+miserable weepins they used in them times.  Why, Hector could hev
+set tight on the walls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in
+the plain an' gittin' killed by A-killus, fur which I've always
+been sorry."
+
+"It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in
+them ancient times that Paul tells about," said Long Jim.  "Now,
+thar wuz 'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. 
+Allus runnin' his ship on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with
+four-legged giants, one-eyed women, an' sech like.  Why didn't he
+walk home through the woods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin'
+the best time he ever knowed?  Then thar wuz the keerlessness of
+A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that river so no arrow could enter
+him, but holdin' him by the heel an' keepin' it out o' the water,
+which caused his death the very first time Paris shot it off with
+his little bow an' arrer.  Why didn't she hev sense enough to let
+the heel go under, too.  She could hev dragged it out in two
+seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'
+on the part of A-killus."
+
+"I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,"
+said Tom Ross.  "I used to think Paris was the name uv a town,
+not a man, an' I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been
+in the East, 'cause I know now that's whar the French come from."
+
+"But Paris was the name of a man," persisted Paul.  "Maybe the
+French named their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars."
+
+"Then they showed mighty poor jedgment," said Shif'less Sol.  "Ef
+I'd named my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called
+it Hector."
+
+"You can have danger enough ,when you're on the tops of hills,"
+said Henry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave.  "Come
+here, you fellows, and see what's passing down the lake."
+
+They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes
+being rowed slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite
+long.  Each canoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed
+that one of them contained two white faces, evidently those of
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler.
+
+"Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Quite likely," said Henry, "and at the same time they may be
+engaged in some general movement.  See, they will pass within
+fifty feet of the base of the cliff."
+
+The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and
+foliage, and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute
+security.  The six long war canoes moved slowly.  The moonlight
+came out more brightly, and flooded all the bronze faces of the
+Iroquois.  Henry now saw that he was not mistaken, and that
+Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in the first boat. 
+From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off either with
+a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful.  But he knew
+that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might
+not escape, and which at least would check their activities and
+plans for a long time.  Similar impulses flitted through the
+minds of the other four, but all kept still, although fingers
+flitted noiselessly along rifle stocks until they touched
+triggers.
+
+The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never
+dreaming of the danger that had threatened them.  An unusually
+bright ray of moonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he
+paused, and Henry's finger played with the trigger of his rifle. 
+It was hard, very hard, to let such an opportunity go by, but it
+must be done.
+
+The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close
+together.  They turned into mere dots upon the water, became
+smaller and smaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.
+
+"I'm thinkin'," said Shif'less Sol, "that thar's some kind uv a
+movement on foot.  While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it
+ain't likely that they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a
+purpose.  I heard something three or four days ago from a hunter
+about an attack upon the Iroquois town of Oghwaga."
+
+"It's most likely true," said Henry, "and it seems to me that
+it's our business to join that expedition.  What do you fellows
+think?"
+
+"Just as you do," they replied with unanimity.
+
+"Then we leave this place and start in the morning," said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE FIRST BLOW
+
+
+Summer was now waning, the foliage was taking on its autumn hues,
+and Indian war parties still surged over the hills and mountains,
+but the five avoided them all.  On one or two occasions they
+would have been willing to stop and fight, but they had bigger
+work on hand.  They had received from others confirmation of the
+report that Long Jim had heard from the hunters, and they were
+quite sure that a strong force was advancing to strike the first
+blow in revenge for Wyoming.  Curiously enough, this body was
+commanded by a fourth Butler, Colonel William Butler, and
+according to report it was large and its leaders capable.
+
+When the avenging force lay at the Johnstown settlement on the
+Delaware, it was joined by the five.  They were introduced to the
+colonel by the celebrated scout and hunter, Tini Murphy, whom
+they had met several times in the woods, and they were received
+warmly.
+
+"I've heard of you," said Colonel Butler with much warmth," both
+from hunters and scouts, and also from Adam Colfax.  Two of you
+were to have been tomahawked by Queen Esther at Wyoming."
+
+Henry indicated the two.
+
+"What you saw at Wyoming is not likely to decrease your zeal
+against the Indians and their white allies," continued Colonel
+Butler.
+
+"Anyone who was there," said Henry, " would feel all his life,
+the desire to punish those who did it."
+
+"I think so, too, from all that I have heard," continued Colonel
+Butler.  "It is the business of you young men to keep ahead of
+our column and warn us of what lies before us.  I believe you
+have volunteered for that duty."
+
+The five looked over Colonel Butler's little army, which numbered
+only two hundred and fifty men, but they were all strong and
+brave, and it was the best force that could yet be sent to the
+harassed border.  It might, after all, strike a blow for Wyoming
+if it marched into no ambush, and Henry and his comrades were
+resolved to guard it from that greatest of all dangers.
+
+When the little column moved from the Johnstown settlement, the
+five were far ahead, passing through the woods, up the
+Susquehanna, toward the Indian villages that lay on its banks,
+though a great distance above Wyoming.  The chief of these was
+Oghwaga, and, knowing that it was the destination of the little
+army, they were resolved to visit it, or at least come so near it
+that they could see what manner of place it was.
+
+"If it's a big village," said Colonel Butler, "it will be too
+strong to attack, but it may be that most of the warriors are
+absent on expeditions."
+
+They had obtained before starting very careful descriptions of
+the approaches to the village, and toward the close of an October
+evening they knew that they were near Oghwaga, the great base of
+the Iroquois supplies.  They considered it very risky and unwise
+to approach in the daytime, and accordingly they lay in the woods
+until the dark should come.
+
+The appearance of the wilderness had changed greatly. in the
+three months since Wyoming.  All the green was now gone, and it
+was tinted red and yellow and brown.  The skies were a mellow
+blue, and there was a slight haze over the forest, but the air
+had the wonderful crispness and freshness of the American autumn. 
+It inspired every one of the five with fresh zeal and energy,
+because they believed the first blow was about to be struck.
+
+About ten o'clock at night they approached Oghwaga, and the
+reports of its importance were confirmed.  They had not before
+seen an Indian village with so many signs of permanence.  They
+passed two or three orchards of apple and peach trees, and they
+saw other indications of cultivation like that of the white
+farmer.
+
+"It ain't a bad-lookin' town," said Long Jim Hart.  "But it'll
+look wuss," said Shif'less Sol, "onless they've laid an ambush
+somewhar.  I don't like to see houses an' sech like go up in fire
+an' smoke, but after what wuz done at Wyomin' an' all through
+that valley, burnin' is a light thing."
+
+"We're bound to strike back with all our might," said Paul, who
+had the softest heart of them all.
+
+"Now, I wonder who's in this here town," said Tom Ross.  "Mebbe
+Timmendiquas an' Brant an' all them renegades."
+
+"It may be so," said Henry.  "This is their base and store of
+supplies.  Oh, if Colonel Butler were only here with all his men,
+what a rush we could make!"
+
+So great was their eagerness that they crept closer to the
+village, passing among some thick clusters of grapevines.  Henry
+was in the lead, and he heard a sudden snarl.  A large cur of the
+kind that infest Indian villages leaped straight at him.
+
+The very suddenness of the attack saved Henry and his comrades
+from the consequences of an alarm.  He dropped his rifle
+instinctively, and seized the dog by the throat with both hands. 
+A bark following the snarl had risen to the animal's throat, but
+it was cut short there.  The hands of the great youth pressed
+tighter and tighter, and the dog was lifted from the earth.  The
+four stood quietly beside their comrade, knowing that no alarm
+would be made now.
+
+The dog kicked convulsively, then hung without motion or noise. 
+Henry cast the dead body aside, picked up his rifle, and then all
+five of them sank softly down in the shelter of the grapevines. 
+About fifteen yards away an Indian warrior was walking cautiously
+along and looking among the vines.  Evidently he had heard the
+snarl of the dog, and was seeking the cause.  But it had been
+only a single sound, and he would not look far.  Yet the hearts
+of the five beat a little faster as he prowled among the vines,
+and their nerves were tense for action should the need for it
+come.
+
+The Indian, a Mohawk, came within ten yards of them, but he did
+not see the five figures among the vines, blending darkly with
+the dark growth, and presently, satisfied that the sound he had
+heard was of no importance, he walked in another direction, and
+passed out of sight.
+
+The five, not daunted at all by this living proof of risk, crept
+to the very edge of the clusters of grapevines, and looked upon
+an open space, beyond which stood some houses made of wood; but
+their attention was centered upon a figure that stood in the
+open.
+
+Although the distance was too great and the light too poor to
+disclose the features, every one of the scouts recognized the
+figure.  It could be none other than that of Timmendiquas, the
+great White Lightning of the Wyandots.  He was pacing back and
+forth, somewhat in the fashion of the white man, and his manner
+implied thought.
+
+"I could bring him down from here with a bullet," said Shif'less
+Sol, "but I ain't ever goin' to shoot at the chief, Henry."
+
+"No," said Henry, "nor will I.  But look, there's another."
+
+A second figure came out of the dark and joined the first.  It
+was also that of a chief, powerful and tall, though not as tall
+as Timmendiquas.  It was Thayendanegea.  Then three white figures
+appeared.  One was that of Braxton Wyatt, and the others they
+took to be those of "Indian" Butler and his son, Walter Butler. 
+After a talk of a minute or two they entered one of the wooden
+houses.
+
+"It's to be a conference of some kind," whispered Henry.  "I wish
+I could look in on it."
+
+"And I," said the others together.
+
+"Well, we know this much," continued Henry.  "No great force of
+the Iroquois is present, and if Colonel Butler's men come up
+quickly, we can take the town."
+
+"It's a chance not to be lost," said Paul.
+
+They crept slowly away from the village, not stopping until they
+reached the crest of a hill, from which they could see the roofs
+of two or three of the Indian houses.
+
+"I've a feeling in me," said Paul, "that the place is doomed. 
+We'll strike the first blow for Wyoming."
+
+They neither slept nor rested that night, but retraced their
+trail with the utmost speed toward the marching American force,
+going in Indian file through the wilderness.  Henry, as usual,
+led; Shif'less Sol followed, then came Paul, and then Long Jim,
+while Silent Tom was the rear guard.  They traveled at great
+speed, and, some time after daylight, met the advance of the
+colonial force under Captain William Gray.
+
+William Gray was a gallant young officer, but he was startled a
+little when five figures as silent as phantoms appeared.  But he
+uttered an exclamation of delight when he recognized the leader,
+Henry.
+
+"What have you found?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"We've been to Oghwaga," replied the youth, "and we went all
+about the town.  They do not suspect our coming.  At least, they
+did not know when we left.  We saw Brant, Timmendiquas, the
+Butlers, and Wyatt enter the house for a conference."
+
+"And now is our chance," said eager young William Gray.  "What if
+we should take the town, and with it these men, at one blow."
+
+"We can scarcely hope for as much as that," said Henry, who knew
+that men like Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea were not likely to
+allow themselves to be seized by so small a force, "but we can
+hope for a good victory."
+
+The young captain rode quickly back to his comrades with the
+news, and, led by the five, the whole force pushed forward with
+all possible haste.  William Gray was still sanguine of a
+surprise, but the young riflemen did not expect it.  Indian
+sentinels were sure to be in the forest between them and Oghwaga. 
+Yet they said nothing to dash this hope.  Henry had already seen
+enough to know the immense value of enthusiasm, and the little
+army full of zeal would accomplish much if the chance came. 
+Besides the young captain, William Gray, there was a lieutenant
+named Taylor, who had been in the battle at Wyoming, but who had
+escaped the massacre.  The five had not met him there, but the
+common share in so great a tragedy proved a tie between them. 
+Taylor's name was Robert, but all the other officers, and some of
+the men for that matter, who had known him in childhood called
+him Bob.  He was but little older than Henry, and his earlier
+youth, before removal to Wyoming, had been passed in Connecticut,
+a country that was to the colonials thickly populated and
+containing great towns, such as Hartford and New Haven.
+
+A third close friend whom they soon found was a man unlike any
+other that they had ever seen.  His name was Cornelius Heemskerk. 
+Holland was his birthplace, but America was his nation.  He was
+short and extremely fat, but he had an agility that amazed the
+five when they first saw it displayed.  He talked much, and his
+words sounded like grumbles, but the unctuous tone and the smile
+that accompanied them indicated to the contrary.  He formed for
+Shif'less Sol an inexhaustible and entertaining study in
+character.
+
+
+"I ain't quite seen his like afore," said the shiftless one to
+Paul.  "First time I run acrost him I thought he would tumble
+down among the first bushes he met.  'Stead o' that, he sailed
+right through 'em, makin' never a trip an' no noise at all, same
+ez Long Jim's teeth sinkin' into a juicy venison steak."
+
+"I've heard tell," said Long Jim, who also contemplated the
+prodigy," that big, chunky, awkward-lookin' things are sometimes
+ez spry ez you.  They say that the Hipperpotamus kin outrun the
+giraffe across the sands uv Afriky, an' I know from pussonal
+experience that the bigger an' clumsier a b'ar is the faster he
+kin make you scoot fur your life.  But he's the real Dutch, ain't
+he, Paul, one uv them fellers that licked the Spanish under the
+Duke uv Alivy an' Belisarry?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Paul, who did not consider it necessary to
+correct Long Jim's history, "and I'm willing to predict to you,
+Jim Hart, that Heemskerk will be a mighty good man in any fight
+that we may have."
+
+Heemskerk rolled up to them.  He seemed to have a sort of
+circular motion like that of a revolving tube, but he kept pace
+with the others, nevertheless, and he showed no signs of
+exertion.
+
+"Don't you think it a funny thing that I, Cornelius Heemskerk, am
+here?" he said to Paul.
+
+"Why so, Mr. Heemskerk?" replied Paul politely.  "Because I am a
+Dutchman.  I have the soul of an artist and the gentleness of a
+baby.  I, Cornelius Heemskerk, should be in the goot leetle
+country of Holland in a goot leetle house, by the side of a goot
+leetle canal, painting beautiful blue china, dishes, plates,
+cups, saucers, all most beautiful, and here I am running through
+the woods of this vast America, carrying on my shoulder a rifle
+that is longer than I am, hunting the red Indian and hunted by
+him.  Is it not most rediculous, Mynheer Paul?"
+
+"I think you are here because you are a brave man, Mr.
+Heemskerk," replied Paul, "and wish to see punishment inflicted
+upon those who have committed great crimes."
+
+"Not so!  Not so! replied the Dutchman with energy.  "It is
+because I am one big fool.  I am not really a big enough man to
+be as big a fool as I am, but so it is! so it is!"   Shif'less
+Sol regarded him critically, and then spoke gravely and with
+deliberation:  " It ain't that, Mr. Heemskerk, an' Paul ain't
+told quite all the truth, either.  I've heard that the Dutch was
+the most powerfullest fightin' leetle nation on the globe; that
+all you had to do wuz to step on the toe uv a Dutchman's wooden
+shoe, an' all the men, women, an' children in Holland would jump
+right on top o' you all at once.  Lookin' you up an' lookin' you
+down, an' sizin' you up, an' sizin you down, all purty careful,
+an' examinin' the corners O' your eyes oncommon close, an' also
+lookin' at the way you set your feet when you walk, I'm
+concludin' that you just natcherally love a fight, an' that you
+are lookin' fur one."
+
+But Cornelius Heemskerk sighed, and shook his head.
+
+"It is flattery that you give me, and you are trying to make me
+brave when I am not," he said.  "I only say once more that I
+ought to be in Holland painting blue plates, and not here in the
+great woods holding on to my scalp, first with one hand and then
+with the other."
+
+He sighed deeply, but Solomon Hyde, reader of the hearts of men,
+only laughed.
+
+Colonel Butler's force stopped about three o'clock for food and a
+little rest, and the five, who had not slept since the night
+before, caught a few winks.  But in less than an hour they were
+up and away again.  The five riflemen were once more well in
+advance, and with them were Taylor and Heemskerk, the Dutchman,
+grumbling over their speed, but revolving along, nevertheless,
+with astonishing ease and without any sign of fatigue.  They
+discovered no indications of Indian scouts or trails, and as the
+village now was not many miles away, it confirmed Henry in his
+belief that the Iroquois, with their friends, the Wyandots, would
+not stay to give battle.  If Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were
+prepared for a strong resistance, the bullets of the skirmishers
+would already be whistling through the woods.
+
+The waning evening grew colder, twilight came, and the autumn
+leaves fell fast before the rising wind.  The promise of the
+night was dark, which was not bad for their design, and once more
+the five-now the seven approached Oghwaga.  From the crest of the
+very same hill they looked down once more upon the Indian houses.
+
+"It is a great base for the Iroquois," said Henry to Heemskerk,"
+and whether the Indians have laid an ambush or not, Colonel
+Butler must attack."
+
+"Ah," said Heemskerk, silently moving his round body to a little
+higher point for a better view, "now I feel in all its fullness
+the truth that I should be back in Holland, painting blue
+plates."
+
+Nevertheless, Cornelius Heemskerk made a very accurate survey of
+the Iroquois village, considering the distance and the brevity of
+the time, and when the party went back to Colonel Butler to tell
+him the way was open, he revolved along as swiftly as any of
+them.  There were also many serious thoughts in the back of his
+head.
+
+At nine o'clock the little colonial force was within half a mile
+of Oghwaga, and nothing had yet occurred to disclose whether the
+Iroquois knew of their advance.  Henry and his comrades, well in
+front, looked down upon the town, but saw nothing.  No light came
+from an Indian chimney, nor did any dog howl. just behind them
+were the troops in loose order, Colonel Butler impatiently
+striking his booted leg with a switch, and William Gray seeking
+to restrain his ardor, that he might set a good example to the
+men.
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Ware?" asked Colonel Butler.
+
+"I think we ought to rush the town at once."
+
+"It is so!" exclaimed Heemskerk, forgetting all about painting
+blue plates.
+
+"The signal is the trumpet; you blow it, Captain Gray, and then
+we'll charge."
+
+William Gray took the trumpet from one of the men and blew a
+long, thrilling note.  Before its last echo was ended, the little
+army rushed upon the town.  Three or four shots came from the
+houses, and the soldiers fired a few at random in return, but
+that was all.  Indian scouts had brought warning of the white
+advance, and the great chiefs, gathering up all the people who
+were in the village, had fled.  A retreating warrior or two had
+fired the shots, but when the white men entered this important
+Iroquois stronghold they did not find a single human being. 
+Timmendiquas, the White Lightning of the Wyandots, was gone;
+Thayendanegea, the real head of the Six Nations, had slipped
+away; and with them had vanished the renegades.  But they had
+gone in haste.  All around them were the evidences.  The houses,
+built of wood, were scores in number, and many of them contained
+furniture such as a prosperous white man of the border would buy
+for himself.  There were gardens and shade trees about these, and
+back of them, barns, many of them filled with Indian corn. 
+Farther on were clusters of bark lodges, which had been inhabited
+by the less progressive of the Iroquois.
+
+Henry stood in the center of the town and looked at the houses
+misty in the moonlight.  The army had not yet made much noise,
+but he was beginning to hear behind him the ominous
+word,"Wyoming," repeated more than once.  Cornelius Heemskerk had
+stopped revolving, and, standing beside Henry, wiped his
+perspiring, red face.
+
+"Now that I am here, I think again of the blue plates of Holland,
+Mr. Ware," he said.  "It is a dark and sanguinary time.  The men
+whose brethren were scalped or burned alive at Wyoming will not
+now spare the town of those who did it.  In this wilderness they
+give blow for blow, or perish."
+
+Henry knew that it was true, but he felt a certain sadness.  His
+heart had been inflamed against the Iroquois, he could never
+forget Wyoming or its horrors; but in the destruction of an
+ancient town the long labor of man perished, and it seemed waste. 
+Doubtless a dozen generations of Iroquois children had played
+here on the grass.  He walked toward the northern end of the
+village, and saw fields there from which recent corn had been
+taken, but behind him the cry, "Wyoming!" was repeated louder and
+oftener now.  Then he saw men running here and there with
+torches, and presently smoke and flame burst from the houses.  He
+examined the fields and forest for a little distance to see if
+any ambushed foe might still lie among them, but all the while
+the flame and smoke behind him were rising higher.
+
+Henry turned back and joined his comrades.  Oghwaga was
+perishing.  The flames leaped from house to house, and then from
+lodge to lodge.  There was no need to use torches any more.  The
+whole village was wrapped in a mass of fire that grew and swelled
+until the flames rose above the forest, and were visible in the
+clear night miles away.
+
+So great was the heat that Colonel Butler and the soldiers and
+scouts were compelled to withdraw to the edge of the forest.  The
+wind rose and the flames soared.  Sparks flew in myriads, and
+ashes fell dustily on the dry leaves of the trees.  Bob Taylor,
+with his hands clenched tightly, muttered under his breath,
+"Wyoming!  Wyoming!"
+
+"It is the Iroquois who suffer now," said Heemskerk, as he
+revolved slowly away from a heated point.
+
+Crashes came presently as the houses fell in, and then the sparks
+would leap higher and the flames roar louder.  The barns, too,
+were falling down, and the grain was destroyed.  The grapevines
+were trampled under foot, and the gardens were ruined.  Oghwaga,
+a great central base of the Six Nations, was vanishing forever. 
+For four hundred years, ever since the days of Hiawatha, the
+Iroquois had waxed in power.  They had ruled over lands larger
+than great empires.  They had built up political and social
+systems that are the wonder of students.  They were invincible in
+war, because every man had been trained from birth to be a
+warrior, and now they were receiving their first great blow.
+
+From a point far in the forest, miles away, Thayendanegea,
+Timmendiquas, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, "Indian" Butler, Walter
+Butler, Braxton Wyatt, a low, heavybrowed Tory named Coleman,
+with whom Wyatt had become very friendly, and about sixty
+Iroquois and twenty Tories were watching a tower of light to the
+south that had just appeared above the trees.  It was of an
+intense, fiery color, and every Indian in that gloomy band knew
+that it was Oghwaga, the great, the inviolate, the sacred, that
+was burning, and that the men who were doing it were the white
+frontiersmen, who, his red-coated allies had told him, would soon
+be swept forever from these woods.  And they were forced to stand
+and see it, not daring to attack so strong and alert a force.
+
+They sat there in the darkness among the trees, and watched the
+column of fire grow and grow until it seemed to pierce the skies. 
+Timmendiquas never said a word.  In his heart, Indian though he
+was, he felt that the Iroquois had gone too far.  In him was the
+spirit of the farseeing Hiawatha.  He could perceive that great
+cruelty always brought retaliation; but it was not for him,
+almost an alien, to say these things to Thayendanegea, the mighty
+war chief of the Mohawks and the living spirit of the Iroquois
+nation.
+
+Thayendanegea sat on the stump of a tree blown down by winter
+storms.  His arms were folded across his breast, and he looked
+steadily toward that red threatening light off there in the
+south.  Some such idea as that in the mind of Timmendiquas may
+have been passing in his own.  He was an uncommon Indian, and he
+had had uncommon advantages.  He had not believed that the
+colonists could make head against so great a kingdom as England,
+aided by the allied tribes, the Canadians, and the large body of
+Tories among their own people.  But he saw with his own eyes the
+famous Oghwaga of the Iroquois going down under their torch.
+
+"Tell me, Colonel John Butler," he said bitterly, where is your
+great king now?  Is his arm long enough to reach from London to
+save our town of Oghwaga, which is perhaps as much to us as his
+great city of London is to him?"
+
+The thickset figure of "Indian" Butler moved, and his swart face
+flushed as much as it could.
+
+"You know as much about the king as I do, Joe Brant," he replied. 
+"We are fighting here for your country as well as his, and you
+cannot say that Johnson's Greens and Butler's Rangers and the
+British and Canadians have not done their part."
+
+"It is true," said Thayendanegea, "but it is true, also, that one
+must fight with wisdom.  Perhaps there was too much burning of
+living men at Wyoming.  The pain of the wounded bear makes him
+fight the harder, and it, is because of Wyoming that Oghwaga
+yonder burns.  Say, is it not so, Colonel John Butler ?"
+
+"Indian" Butler made no reply, but sat, sullen and lowering.  The
+Tory, Coleman, whispered to Braxton Wyatt, but Timmendiquas was
+the only one who spoke aloud.
+
+"Thayendanegea," he said, "I, and the Wyandots who are with me,
+have come far.  We expected to return long ago to the lands on
+the Ohio, but we were with you in your village, and now, when
+Manitou has turned his face from you for the time, we will not
+leave you.  We stay and fight by your side."
+
+Thayendanegea stood up, and Timmendiquas stood up, also.
+
+"You are a great chief, White Lightning of the Wyandots " he
+said, " and you and I are brothers.  I shall be proud and happy
+to have such a mighty leader fighting with me.  We will have
+vengeance for this.  The power of the Iroquois is as great as
+ever."
+
+He raised himself to his full height, pointing to the fire, and
+the flames of hate and resolve burned in his eyes.  Old Hiokatoo,
+the most savage of all the chiefs, shook his tomahawk, and a
+murmur passed through the group of Indians.
+
+Braxton Wyatt still talked in whispers to his new friend,
+Coleman, the Tory, who was more to his liking than the morose and
+savage Walter Butler, whom he somewhat feared.  Wyatt was perhaps
+the least troubled of all those present.  Caring for himself
+only, the burning of Oghwaga caused him no grief.  He suffered
+neither from the misfortune of friend nor foe.  He was able to
+contemplate the glowing tower of light with curiosity only.       
+Braxton Wyatt knew that the Iroquois and their allies would
+attempt revenge for the burning of Oghwaga, and he saw profit for
+himself in such adventures.  His horizon had broadened somewhat
+of late. The renegade, Blackstaffe, had returned to rejoin Simon
+Girty, but be had found a new friend in Coleman.  He was coming
+now more into touch with the larger forces in the East, nearer to
+the seat of the great war, and he hoped to profit by it.
+
+"This is a terrible blow to Brant," Coleman whispered to him. 
+"The Iroquois have been able to ravage the whole frontier, while
+the rebels, occupied with the king's troops, have not been able
+to send help to their own.  But they have managed to strike at
+last, as you see."
+
+"I do see," said Wyatt, "and on the whole, Coleman, I'm not
+sorry.  Perhaps these chiefs won't be so haughty now, and they'll
+soon realize that they need likely chaps such as you and me, eh,
+Coleman."
+
+"You're not far from the truth," said Coleman, laughing a little,
+and pleased at the penetration of his new friend.  They did not
+talk further, although the agreement between them was well
+established.  Neither did the Indian chiefs or the Tory leaders
+say any more.  They watched the tower of fire a long time, past
+midnight, until it reached its zenith and then began to sink. 
+They saw its crest go down behind the trees, and they saw the
+luminous cloud in the south fade and go out entirely, leaving
+there only the darkness that reined everywhere else.
+
+Then the Indian and Tory leaders rose and silently marched
+northward.  It was nearly dawn when Henry and his comrades lay
+down for the rest that they needed badly.  They spread their
+blankets at the edge of the open, but well back from the burned
+area, which was now one great mass of coals and charred timbers,
+sending up little flame but much smoke.  Many of the troops were
+already asleep, but Henry, before lying down, begged William Gray
+to keep a strict watch lest the Iroquois attack from ambush.  He
+knew that the rashness and confidence of the borderers,
+especially when drawn together in masses, had often caused them
+great losses, and he was resolved to prevent a recurrence at the
+present time if he could.  He had made these urgent requests of
+Gray, instead of Colonel Butler, because of the latter's youth
+and willingness to take advice.
+
+"I'll have the forest beat up continually all about the town," he
+said.  "We must not have our triumph spoiled by any afterclap."
+
+Henry and his comrades, wrapped in their blankets, lay in a row
+almost at the edge of the forest.  The heat from the fire was
+still great, but it would die down after a while, and the October
+air was nipping.  Henry usually fell asleep in a very few
+minutes, but this time, despite his long exertions and lack of
+rest, he remained awake when his comrades were sound asleep. 
+Then he fell into a drowsy state, in which be saw the fire rising
+in great black coils that united far above.  It seemed to Henry,
+half dreaming and forecasting the future, that the Indian spirit
+was passing in the smoke.
+
+When he fell asleep it was nearly daylight, and in three or four
+hours be was up again, as the little army intended to march at
+once upon another Indian town.  The hours while he slept had
+passed in silence, and no Indians had come near.  William Gray
+had seen to that, and his best scout had been one Cornelius
+Heemskerk, a short, stout man of Dutch birth.
+
+"It was one long, long tramp for me, Mynheer Henry," said
+Heemskerk, as he revolved slowly up to the camp fire where Henry
+was eating his breakfast," and I am now very tired.  It was like
+walking four or five times around Holland, which is such a fine
+little country, with the canals and the flowers along them, and
+no great, dark woods filled with the fierce Iroquois."
+
+"Still, I've a notion, Mynheer Heemskerk, that you'd rather be
+here, and perhaps before the day is over you will get some
+fighting hot enough to please even you."
+
+Mynheer Heemskerk threw up his hands in dismay, but a half hour
+later he was eagerly discussing with Henry the possibility of
+overtaking some large band of retreating Iroquois.
+
+Urged on by all the scouts and by those who had suffered at
+Wyoming, Colonel Butler gathered his forces and marched swiftly
+that very morning up the river against another Indian town,
+Cunahunta.  Fortunately for him, a band of riflemen and scouts
+unsurpassed in skill led the way, and saw to it that the road was
+safe.  In this band were the five, of course, and after them
+Heemskerk, young Taylor, and several others.
+
+"If the Iroquois do not get in our way, we'll strike Cunahunta
+before night," said Heemskerk, who knew the way.
+
+"It seems to me that they will certainly try to save their
+towns," said Henry.  "Surely Brant and the Tories will not let us
+strike so great a blow without a fight."
+
+"Most of their warriors are elsewhere, Mynheer Henry," said
+Heemskerk, " or they would certainly give us a big battle.  We've
+been lucky in the time of our advance.  As it is, I think we'll
+have something to do."
+
+It was now about noon, the noon of a beautiful October day of the
+North, the air like life itself, the foliage burning red on the
+hills, the leaves falling softly from the trees as the wind blew,
+but bringing with them no hint of decay.  None of the vanguard
+felt fatigue, but when they crossed a low range of hills and saw
+before them a creek flowing down to the Susquehanna, Henry, who
+was in the lead, stopped suddenly and dropped down in the grass. 
+The others, knowing without question the significance of the
+action, also sank down.
+
+"What is it, Henry ?" asked Shif'less Sol.
+
+"You see how thick the trees are on the other side of that bank. 
+Look a little to the left of a big oak, and you will see the
+feathers in the headdress of an Iroquois.  Farther on I think I
+can catch a glimpse of a green coat, and if I am right that coat
+is worn by one of Johnson's Royal Greens.  It's an ambush, Sol,
+an ambush meant for us."
+
+"But it's not an ambush intended for our main force, Mynheer
+Henry," said Heemskerk, whose red face began to grow redder with
+the desire for action.  "I, too, see the feather of the
+Iroquois."
+
+"As good scouts and skirmishers it's our duty, then, to clear
+this force out of the way, and not wait for the main body to come
+up, is it not?" asked Henry, with a suggestive look at the
+Dutchman.
+
+"What a goot head you have, Mynheer Henry!" exclaimed Heemskerk. 
+"Of course we will fight, and fight now!"
+
+"How about them blue plates?" said Shif'less Sol softly.  But
+Heemskerk did not hear him.
+
+They swiftly developed their plan of action.  There could be no
+earthly doubt of the fact that the Iroquois and some Tories were
+ambushed on the far side of the creek.  Possibly Thayendanegea
+himself, stung by the burning of Oghwaga and the advance on
+Cunahunta, was there.  But they were sure that it was not a large
+band.
+
+The party of Henry and Heemskerk numbered fourteen, but every one
+was a veteran, full of courage, tenacity, and all the skill of
+the woods.  They had supreme confidence in their ability to beat
+the best of the Iroquois, man for man, and they carried the very
+finest arms known to the time.
+
+It was decided that four of the men should remain on the hill. 
+The others, including the five, Heemskerk, and Taylor, would make
+a circuit, cross the creek a full mile above, and come down on
+the flank of the ambushing party.  Theirs would be the main
+attack, but it would be preceded by sharpshooting from the four,
+intended to absorb the attention of the Iroquois.  The chosen ten
+slipped back down the hill, and as soon as they were sheltered
+from any possible glimpse by the warriors, they rose and ran
+rapidly westward.  Before they had gone far they heard the crack
+of a rifle shot, then another, then several from another point,
+as if in reply.
+
+"It's our sharpshooters," said Henry.  " They've begun to disturb
+the Iroquois, and they'll keep them busy."
+
+"Until we break in on their sport and keep them still busier,"
+exclaimed Heemskerk, revolving swiftly through the bushes, his
+face blazing red.
+
+It did not take long for such as they to go the mile or so that
+they intended, and then they crossed the creek, wading in the
+water breast high, but careful to keep their ammunition dry. 
+Then they turned and rapidly descended the stream on its northern
+bank.  In a few minutes they heard the sound of a rifle shot, and
+then of another as if replying.
+
+"The Iroquois have been fooled," exclaimed Heemskerk.  "Our four
+good riflemen have made them think that a great force is there,
+and they have not dared to cross the creek themselves and make an
+attack."
+
+In a few minutes more, as they ran noiselessly through the
+forest, they saw a little drifting smoke, and now and then the
+faint flash of rifles.  They were coming somewhere near to the
+Iroquois band, and they practiced exceeding caution.  Presently
+they caught sight of Indian faces, and now and then one of
+Johnson's Greens or Butler's Rangers.  They stopped and held a
+council that lasted scarcely more than half a minute.  They all
+agreed there was but one thing to do, and that was to attack in
+the Indian's own way-that is, by ambush and sharpshooting.
+
+Henry fired the first shot, and an Iroquois, aiming at a foe on
+the other side of the creek, fell.  Heemskerk quickly followed
+with a shot as good, and the surprised Iroquois turned to face
+this new foe.  But they and the Tories were a strong band, and
+they retreated only a little.  Then they stood firm, and the
+forest battle began.  The Indians numbered not less than thirty,
+and both Braxton Wyatt and Coleman were with them, but the value
+of skill was here shown by the smaller party, the one that
+attacked.  The frontiersmen, trained to every trick and wile of
+the forest, and marksmen such as the Indians were never able to
+become, continually pressed in and drove the Iroquois from tree
+to tree.  Once or twice the warriors started a rush, but they
+were quickly driven back by sharpshooting such as they had never
+faced before.  They soon realized that this was no band of border
+farmers, armed hastily for an emergency, but a foe who knew
+everything that they knew, and more.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his friend Coleman fought with the Iroquois,
+and Wyatt in particular was hot with rage.  He suspected that the
+five who had defeated him so often were among these marksmen, and
+there might be a chance now to destroy them all.  He crept to the
+side of the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo, and suggested that
+a part of their band slip around and enfold the enemy.
+
+Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most
+terrifying aspect.  He was naked save the waist cloth, his great
+body was covered with scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he
+held cocked and ready in his hands a fine rifle that had been
+presented to him by his good friend, the king.  The Senecas, it
+may be repeated, had suffered terribly at the Battle of the
+Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout these years of
+border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois.  In this respect
+Hiokatoo led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he
+was to savage scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this
+was the most terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld.  He
+was old, but age in him seemed merely to add to his strength and
+ferocity.  The path of a deep cut, healed long since, but which
+the paint even did not hide, lay across his forehead.  Others
+almost as deep adorned his right cheek, his chin, and his neck. 
+He was crouched much like a panther, with his rifle in his hands
+and the ready tomahawk at his belt.  But it was the extraordinary
+expression of his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder.  He read
+there no mercy for anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt,
+if he should stand in the way, and it was this last fact that
+brought the shudder.
+
+Hiokatoo thought it a good plan.  Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas
+and Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole
+off toward the right.  Henry had suspected some such diversion,
+and, as he had been joined now by the four men from the other
+side of the creek, he disposed his little force to meet it.  Both
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught sight of figures slipping
+away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew back a little. 
+While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting in the front,
+he waited for the attack.  It came in half an hour, the flanking
+force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white
+riflemen was so swift and deadly that they were driven back
+again.  But they had come very near, and a Tory rushed directly
+at young Taylor.   The  Tory, like Taylor, had come from Wyoming,
+and he had been one of the most ruthless on that terrible day. 
+When they were less than a dozen feet apart they recognized each
+other.  Henry saw the look that passed between them, and,
+although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some reason he
+did not use it.  The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the
+bullet missed, and the Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his
+unloaded rifle and brought the stock down with all his force upon
+the head of his enemy.  The man, uttering a single sound, a sort
+of gasp, fell dead, and Taylor stood over him, still trembling
+with rage.  In an instant Henry seized him and dragged him down,
+and then a Seneca bullet whistled where he had been.
+
+"He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!" exclaimed young
+Taylor, still trembling all over with passion.
+
+"He'll never massacre anybody else.  You've seen to that," said
+Henry, and in a minute or two Taylor was quiet.  The
+sharpshooting continued, but here as elsewhere, the Iroquois had
+the worst of it.  Despite their numbers, they could not pass nor
+flank that line of deadly marksmen who lay behind trees almost in
+security, and who never missed.  Another Tory and a chief, also,
+were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted.  Nor did he feel any
+better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.
+
+"We have failed here," he said.  "They shoot too well for us to
+rush them.  We have lost good men." Hiokatoo frowned, and the
+scars on his face stood out in livid red lines.
+
+"It is so," he said.  " These who fight us now are of their best,
+and while we fight, the army that destroyed Oghwaga is coming up. 
+Come, we will go."
+
+The little white band soon saw that the Indians were gone
+from their front.  They scouted some distance, and, finding no
+enemy, hurried back to Colonel Butler.  The troops were pushed
+forward, and before night they reached Cunahunta, which they
+burned also.  Some farther advance was made into the Indian
+country, and more destruction was done, but now the winter was
+approaching, and many of the men insisted upon returning home to
+protect their families.  Others were to rejoin the main
+Revolutionary army, and the Iroquois campaign was to stop for the
+time.  The first blow had been struck, and it was a hard one, but
+the second blow and third and fourth and more, which the five
+knew were so badly needed, must wait.
+
+Henry and his comrades were deeply disappointed.  They had hoped
+to go far into the Iroquois country, to break the power of the
+Six Nations, to hunt down the Butlers and the Johnsons and Brant
+himself, but they could not wholly blame their commander.  The
+rear guard, or, rather, the forest guard of the Revolution, was a
+slender and small force indeed.
+
+Henry and his comrades said farewell to Colonel Butler with much
+personal regret, and also to the gallant troops, some of whom
+were Morgan's riflemen from Virginia.  The farewells to William
+Gray, Bob Taylor, and Cornelius Heemskerk were more intimate.
+
+"I think we'll see more of one another in other campaigns," said
+Gray.
+
+"We'll be on the battle line, side by side, once more," said
+Taylor, "and we'll strike another blow for Wyoming."
+
+"I foresee," said Cornelius Heemskerk, "that I, a peaceful man,
+who ought to be painting blue plates in Holland, will be drawn
+into danger in the great, dark wilderness again, and that you
+will be there with me, Mynheer Henry, Mynheer Paul, Mynheer the
+Wise Solomon, Mynheer the Silent Tom, and Mynheer the Very Long
+James.  I see it clearly.  I, a man of peace, am always being
+pushed in to war."
+
+"We hope it will come true," said the five together.
+
+"Do you go back to Kentucky?" asked William Gray.
+
+"No," replied Henry, speaking for them all, " we have entered
+upon this task here, and we are going to stay in it until it is
+finished."
+
+"It is dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world," said
+Heemskerk.  "I still have my foreknowledge that I shall stand by
+your side in some great battle to come, but the first thing I
+shall do when I see you again, my friends, is to look around at
+you, one, two, three, four, five, and see if you have upon your
+heads the hair which is now so rich, thick, and flowing."
+
+"Never fear, my friend," said Henry, "we have fought with the
+warriors all the way from the Susquehanna to New Orleans and not
+one of us has lost a single lock of hair."
+
+"It is one Dutchman's hope that it will always be so," said
+Heemskerk, and then he revolved rapidly away lest they see his
+face express emotion.
+
+The five received great supplies of powder and bullets from
+Colonel Butler, and then they parted in the forest.  Many of the
+soldiers looked back and saw the five tall figures in a line,
+leaning upon the muzzles of their long-barreled Kentucky rifles,
+and regarding them in silence.  It seemed to the soldiers that
+they had left behind them the true sons of the wilderness, who,
+in spite of all dangers, would be there to welcome them when they
+returned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DESERTED CABIN
+
+
+When the last soldier had disappeared among the trees, Henry
+turned to the others.  "Well, boys," he asked, "what are you
+thinking about?"
+
+"I?" asked Paul.  "I'm thinking about a certain place I know, a
+sort of alcove or hole in a cliff above a lake."
+
+"An' me?" said Shif'less Sol.  "I'm thinkin' how fur that alcove
+runs back, an' how it could be fitted up with furs an' made warm
+fur the winter."
+
+"Me?" said Tom Ross.  "I'm thinkin' what a snug place that alcove
+would be when the snow an' hail were drivin' down the creek in
+front of you."
+
+"An' ez fur me," said Long Jim Hart, "I wuz thinkin' I could run
+a sort uv flue from the back part uv that alcove out through the
+front an' let the smoke pass out.  I could cook all right.  It
+wouldn't be ez good a place fur cookin' ez the one we hed that
+time we spent the winter on the island in the lake, but 'twould
+serve."
+
+"It's strange," said Henry, " but I've been thinking of all the
+things that all four of you have been thinking about, and, since
+we are agreed, we are bound to go straight to 'The Alcove' and
+pass the winter there."
+
+Without another word he led the way, and the others followed.  It
+was apparent to everyone that they must soon find a winter base,
+because the cold had increased greatly in the last few days.  The
+last leaves had fallen from the trees, and a searching wind
+howled among the bare branches.  Better shelter than blankets
+would soon be needed.
+
+On their way they passed Oghwaga, a mass of blackened ruins,
+among which wolves howled, the same spectacle that Wyoming now
+afforded, although Oghwaga had not been stained by blood.
+
+It was a long journey to "The Alcove," but they did not hurry,
+seeing no need of it, although they were warned of the wisdom of
+their decision by the fact that the cold was increasing.  The
+country in which the lake was situated lay high, and, as all of
+them were quite sure that the cold was going to be great there,
+they thought it wise to make preparations against it, which they
+discussed as they walked in, leisurely fashion through the woods. 
+They spoke, also, of greater things.  All felt that they had been
+drawn into a mightier current than any in which they had swam
+before.  They fully appreciated the importance to the Revolution
+of this great rearguard struggle, and at present they did not
+have the remotest idea of returning to Kentucky under any
+circumstances.
+
+"We've got to fight it out with Braxton Wyatt and the Iroquois,"
+said Henry.  "I've heard that Braxton is organizing a band of
+Tories of his own, and that he is likely to be as dangerous as
+either of the Butlers."
+
+"Some day we'll end him for good an' all," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+It was four or five days before they reached their alcove, and
+now all the forest was bare and apparently lifeless.  They came
+down the creek, and found their boat unharmed and untouched still
+among the foliage at the base of the cliff.
+
+"That's one thing safe," said Long Jim, "an' I guess we'll find
+'The Alcove' all right, too."
+
+"Unless a wild animal has taken up its abode there," said Paul.
+
+"'Tain't likely," replied Long Jim.  "We've left the human smell
+thar, an' even after all this time it's likely to drive away any
+prowlin' bear or panther that pokes his nose in."
+
+Long Jim was quite right.  Their snug nest, like that of a
+squirrel in the side of a tree, had not been disturbed.  The
+skins which they had rolled up tightly and placed on the higher
+shelves of stone were untouched, and several days' hunting
+increased the supply.  The hunting was singularly easy, and,
+although the five did not know it, the quantity of game was much
+greater in that region than it had been for years.  It had been
+swept of human beings by the Iroquois and Tory hordes, and deer,
+bear, and panther seemed to know instinctively that the woods
+were once more safe for them.
+
+In their hunting they came upon the ruins of charred houses, and
+more than once they saw something among the coals that caused
+them to turn away with a shudder.  At every place where man had
+made a little opening the wilderness was quickly reclaiming its
+own again.  Next year the grass and the foliage would cover up
+the coals and the hideous relics that lay among them.
+
+They jerked great quantities of venison on the trees on the cliff
+side, and stored it in "The Alcove." They also cured some bear
+meat, and, having added a further lining of skins, they felt
+prepared for winter.  They had also added to the comfort of the
+place.  They had taken the precaution of bringing with them two
+axes, and with the heads of these they smoothed out more of the
+rough places on the floor and sides of "The Alcove." They thought
+it likely, too, that they would need the axes in other ways later
+on.
+
+Only once during these arrangements did they pass the trail of
+Indians, and that was made by a party of about twenty, at least
+ten miles from "The Alcove." They seemed to be traveling north,
+and the five made no investigations.  Somewhat later they met a
+white runner in the forest, and he told them of the terrible
+massacre of Cherry Valley.  Walter Butler, emulating his father's
+exploit at Wyoming, had come down with a mixed horde of Iroquois,
+Tories, British, and Canadians.  He had not been wholly
+successful, but he had slaughtered half a hundred women and
+children, and was now returning northward with prisoners.  Some
+said, according to the runner, that Thayendanegea had led the
+Indians on this occasion, but, as the five learned later, he had
+not come up until the massacre was over.  The runner added
+another piece of information that interested them deeply.  Butler
+had been accompanied to Cherry Valley by a young Tory or renegade
+named Wyatt, who had distinguished himself by cunning and
+cruelty.  It was said that Wyatt had built up for himself a
+semi-independent command, and was becoming a great scourge.
+
+"That's our Braxton," said Henry.  "He is rising to his
+opportunities.  He is likely to become fully the equal of Walter
+Butler."
+
+But they could do nothing at present to find Wyatt, and they went
+somewhat sadly back to "The Alcove." They had learned also from
+the runner that Wyatt had a lieutenant, a Tory named Coleman, and
+this fact increased their belief that Wyatt was undertaking to
+operate on a large scale.
+
+"We may get a chance at him anyhow," said Henry.  "He and his
+band may go too far away from the main body of the Indians and
+Tories, and in that case we can strike a blow if we are
+watchful."
+
+Every one of the five, although none of them knew it, received an
+additional impulse from this news about Braxton Wyatt.  He had
+grown up with them.  Loyalty to the king had nothing to do with
+his becoming a renegade or a Tory; he could not plead lost lands
+or exile for taking part in such massacres as Wyoming or Cherry
+Valley, but, long since an ally of the Indians, he was now at the
+head of a Tory band that murdered and burned from sheer pleasure.
+
+"Some day we'll get him, as shore as the sun rises an' sets,"
+said Shif'less Sol, repeating Henry's prediction.
+
+But for the present they "holed up," and now their foresight was
+justified.  To such as they, used to the hardships of forest
+life, "The Alcove" was a cheery nest.  From its door they watched
+the wild fowl streaming south, pigeons, ducks, and others
+outlined against the dark, wintry skies.  So numerous were these
+flocks that there was scarcely a time when they did not see one
+passing toward the warm South.
+
+Shif'less Sol and Paul sat together watching a great flock of
+wild geese, arrow shaped, and flying at almost incredible speed. 
+A few faint honks came to them, and then the geese grew misty on
+the horizon.  Shif'less Sol followed them with serious eyes.
+
+"Do you ever think, Paul," he said, "that we human bein's ain't
+so mighty pow'ful ez we think we are.  We kin walk on the groun',
+an' by hard learnin' an' hard work we kin paddle through the
+water a little.  But jest look at them geese flyin' a mile high,
+right over everything, rivers, forests any mountains, makin' a
+hundred miles an hour, almost without flappin' a wing.  Then they
+kin come down on the water an' float fur hours without bein'
+tired, an' they kin waddle along on the groun', too.  Did you
+ever hear of any men who had so many 'complishments?  Why, Paul,
+s'pose you an' me could grow wings all at once, an' go through
+the air a mile a minute fur a month an' never git tired."
+
+"We'd certainly see some great sights," said Paul, "but do you
+know, Sol, what would be the first thing I'd do if I had the gift
+of tireless wings?"
+
+"Fly off to them other continents I've heard you tell about."
+
+"No, I'd swoop along over the forests up here until I picked out
+all the camps of the Indians and Tories.  I'd pick out the
+Butlers and Braxton Wyatt and Coleman, and see what mischief they
+were planning.  Then I'd fly away to the East and look down at
+all the armies, ours in buff and blue, and the British redcoats. 
+I'd look into the face of our great commander-in-chief.  Then I'd
+fly away back into the West and South, and I'd hover over
+Wareville.  I'd see our own people, every last little one of
+them.  They might take a shot at me, not knowing who I was, but
+I'd be so high up in the air no bullet could reach me.  Then I'd
+come soaring back here to you fellows."
+
+"That would shorely be a grand trip, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "
+an' I wouldn't mind takin' it in myself.  But fur the present
+we'd better busy our minds with the warnin's the wild fowl are
+givin' us, though we're well fixed fur a house already.  It's
+cu'rus what good homes a handy man kin find in the wilderness."
+
+The predictions of the wild fowl were true.  A few days later
+heavy clouds rolled up in the southwest, and the five watched
+them, knowing what they would bring them.  They spread to the
+zenith and then to the other horizon, clothing the whole circle
+of the earth.  The great flakes began to drop down, slowly at
+first, then faster.  Soon all the trees were covered with white,
+and everything else, too, except the dark surface of the lake,
+which received the flakes into its bosom as they fell.
+
+It snowed all that day and most of the next, until it lay about
+two feet on the ground.  After that it turned intensely cold, the
+surface of the snow froze, and ice, nearly a foot thick, covered
+the lake.  It was not possible to travel under such circumstances
+without artificial help, and now Tom Ross, who had once hunted in
+the far North, came to their help.  He showed them how to make
+snowshoes, and, although all learned to use them, Henry, with his
+great strength and peculiar skill, became by far the most expert.
+
+As the snow with its frozen surface lay on the ground for weeks,
+Henry took many long journeys on the snowshoes.  Sometimes be
+hunted, but oftener his role was that of scout.  He cautioned his
+friends that he might be out-three or four days at a time, and
+that they need take no alarm about him unless his absence became
+extremely long.  The winter deepened, the snow melted, and
+another and greater storm came, freezing the surface, again
+making the snowshoes necessary.  Henry decided now to take a
+scout alone to the northward, and, as the others bad long since
+grown into the habit of accepting his decisions almost without
+question, be started at once.  He was well equipped with his
+rifle, double barreled pistol, hatchet, and knife, and he carried
+in addition a heavy blanket and some jerked venison.  He put on
+his snowshoes at the foot of the cliff, waved a farewell to the
+four heads thrust from "The Alcove" above, and struck out on the
+smooth, icy surface of the creek.  From this he presently passed
+into the woods, and for a long time pursued a course almost due
+north.
+
+It was no vague theory that had drawn Henry forth.  In one of his
+journeyings be had met a hunter who told him of a band of Tories
+and Indians encamped toward the north, and he had an idea that it
+was the party led by Braxton Wyatt.  Now he meant to see.
+
+His information was very indefinite, and he began to discover
+signs much earlier than he had expected.  Before the end of the
+first day he saw the traces of other snowshoe runners on the icy
+snow, and once he came to a place where a deer had been slain and
+dressed.  Then he came to another where the snow had been
+hollowed out under some pines to make a sleeping place for
+several men.  Clearly he was in the land of the enemy again, and
+a large and hostile camp might be somewhere near.
+
+Henry felt a thrill of joy when he saw these indications.  All
+the primitive instincts leaped up within him.  A child of the
+forest and of elemental conditions, the warlike instinct was
+strong within him.  He was tired of hunting wild animals, and now
+there was promise of a' more dangerous foe.  For the purposes
+that he had in view he was glad that be was alone.  The wintry
+forest, with its two feet of snow covered with ice, contained no
+terrors for him.  He moved on his snowshoes almost like a skater,
+and with all the dexterity of an Indian of the far North, who is
+practically born on such shoes.
+
+As he stood upon the brow of a little hill, elevated upon his
+snowshoes, he was, indeed, a wonderful figure.  The added height
+and the white glare from the ice made him tower like a great
+giant.  He was clad completely in soft, warm deerskin, his hands
+were gloved in the same material, and the fur cap was drawn
+tightly about his head and ears.  The slender-barreled rifle lay
+across his shoulder, and the blanket and deer meat made a light
+package on his back.  Only his face was uncovered, and that was
+rosy with the sharp but bracing cold.  But the resolute blue eyes
+seemed to have grown more resolute in the last six months, and
+the firm jaw was firmer than ever.
+
+It was a steely blue sky, clear, hard, and cold, fitted to the
+earth of snow and ice that it inclosed.  His eyes traveled the
+circle of the horizon three times, and at the end of the third
+circle he made out a dim, dark thread against that sheet of blue
+steel.  It was the light of a camp fire, and that camp fire must
+belong to an enemy.  It was not likely that anybody else would be
+sending forth such a signal in this wintry wilderness.
+
+Henry judged that the fire was several miles away, and apparently
+in a small valley hemmed in by hills of moderate height.  He made
+up his mind that the band of Braxton Wyatt was there, and he
+intended to make a thorough scout about it.  He advanced until
+the smoke line became much thicker and broader, and then he
+stopped in the densest clump of bushes that he could find.  He
+meant to remain there until darkness came, because, with all
+foliage gone from the forest, it would be impossible to examine
+the hostile camp by day.  The bushes, despite the lack of leaves,
+were so dense that they hid him well, and, breaking through the
+crust of ice, he dug a hole.  Then, having taken off his
+snowshoes and wrapped his blanket about his body, he thrust
+himself into the hole exactly like a rabbit in its burrow.  He
+laid his shoes on the crust of ice beside him.  Of course, if
+found there by a large party of warriors on snowshoes he would
+have no chance to flee, but he was willing to take what seemed to
+him a small risk.  The dark would not be long in coming, and it
+was snug and warm in the hole.  As he sat, his head rose just
+above the surrounding ice, but his rifle barrel rose much higher. 
+He ate a little venison for supper, and the weariness in the
+ankles that comes from long traveling on snowshoes disappeared.
+
+He could not see outside the bushes, but he listened with those
+uncommonly keen ears of his.  No sound at all came.  There was
+not even a wind to rustle the bare boughs.  The sun hung a huge
+red globe in the west, and all that side of the earth was tinged
+with a red glare, wintry and cold despite its redness.  Then, as
+the earth turned, the sun was lost behind it, and the cold dark
+came.
+
+Henry found it so comfortable in his burrow that all his muscles
+were soothed, and he grew sleepy.  It would have been very
+pleasant to doze there, but he brought himself round with an
+effort of the will, and became as wide awake as ever.  He was
+eager to be off on his expedition, but he knew how much depended
+on waiting, and he waited.  One hour, two hours, three hours,
+four hours, still and dark, passed in the forest before he roused
+himself from his covert.  Then, warm, strong, and tempered like
+steel for his purpose, he put on his snowshoes, and advanced
+toward the point from which the column of smoke had risen.
+
+He had never been more cautious and wary than he was now.  He was
+a formidable figure in the darkness, crouched forward, and moving
+like some spirit of the wilderness, half walking, half gliding.
+
+Although the night had come out rather clear, with many cold
+stars twinkling in the blue, the line of smoke was no longer
+visible.  But Henry did not expect it to be, nor did he need it. 
+He had marked its base too clearly in his mind to make any
+mistake, and he advanced with certainty.  He came presently into
+an open space, and he stopped with amazement.  Around him were
+the stumps of a clearing made recently, and near him were some
+yards of rough rail fence.
+
+He crouched against the fence, and saw on the far side of the
+clearing the dim outlines of several buildings, from the chimneys
+of two of which smoke was rising.  It was his first thought that
+he had come upon a little settlement still held by daring
+borderers, but second thought told him that it was impossible. 
+Another and more comprehensive look showed many signs of ruin. 
+He saw remains of several burned houses, but clothing all was the
+atmosphere of desolation and decay that tells when a place is
+abandoned.  The two threads of smoke did not alter this
+impression.
+
+Henry divined it all.  The builders of this tiny village in the
+wilderness bad been massacred or driven away.  A part of the
+houses had been destroyed, some were left standing, and now there
+were visitors.  He advanced without noise, keeping behind the
+rail fence, and approaching one of the houses from the chimneys
+of which the smoke came.  Here be crouched a long time, looking
+and listening attentively; but it seemed that the visitors had no
+fears.  Why should they, when there was nothing that they need
+fear in this frozen wilderness?
+
+Henry stole a little nearer.  It had been a snug, trim little
+settlement.  Perhaps twenty-five or thirty people had lived
+there, literally hewing a home out of the forest.  His heart
+throbbed with a fierce hatred and, anger against those who had
+spoiled all this, and his gloved finger crept to the hammer of
+his rifle.
+
+The night was intensely cold.  The mercury was far below zero,
+and a wind that had begun to rise cut like the edge of a knife. 
+Even the wariest of Indians in such desolate weather might fail
+to keep a watch.  But Henry did not suffer.  The fur cap was
+drawn farther over chin and ears, and the buckskin gloves kept
+his fingers warm and flexible.  Besides, his blood was uncommonly
+hot in his veins.
+
+His comprehensive eye told him that, while some of the buildings
+had not been destroyed, they were so ravaged and damaged that
+they could never be used again, save as a passing shelter, just
+as they were being used now.  He slid cautiously about the
+desolate place.  He crossed a brook, frozen almost solidly in its
+bed, and he saw two or three large mounds that had been
+haystacks, now covered with snow.
+
+Then he slid without noise back to the nearest of the houses from
+which the smoke came.  It was rather more pretentious than the
+others, built of planks instead of logs, and with shingles for a
+roof.  The remains of a small portico formed the approach to the
+front door.  Henry supposed that the house had been set on fire
+and that perhaps a heavy rain had saved a part of it.
+
+A bar of light falling across the snow attracted his attention. 
+He knew that it was the glow of a fire within coming through a
+window.  A faint sound of voices reached his ears, and he moved
+forward slowly to the window.  It was an oaken shutter originally
+fastened with a leather strap, but the strap was gone, and now
+some one had tied it, though not tightly, with a deer tendon. 
+The crack between shutter and wall was at least three inches, and
+Henry could see within very well.
+
+He pressed his side tightly to the wall and put his eyes to the
+crevice.  What he saw within did not still any of those primitive
+feelings that had risen so strongly in his breast.
+
+A great fire had been built in the log fireplace, but it was
+burning somewhat low now, having reached that mellow period of
+least crackling and greatest heat.  The huge bed of coals threw a
+mass of varied and glowing colors across the floor.  Large holes
+had been burned in the side of the room by the original fire, but
+Indian blankets had been fastened tightly over them.
+
+In front of the fire sat Braxton Wyatt in a Loyalist uniform, a
+three-cornered hat cocked proudly on his head, and a small sword
+by his side.  He had grown heavier, and Henry saw that the face
+had increased much in coarseness and cruelty.  It had also
+increased in satisfaction.  He was a great man now, as he saw
+great men, and both face and figure radiated gratification and
+pride as he lolled before the fire.  At the other corner, sitting
+upon the floor and also in a Loyalist uniform, was his
+lieutenant, Levi Coleman, older, heavier, and with a short,
+uncommonly muscular figure.  His face was dark and cruel, with
+small eyes set close together.  A half dozen other white men and
+more than a dozen Indians were in the room.  All these lay upon
+their blankets on the floor, because all the furniture had been
+destroyed.  Yet they had eaten, and they lay there content in the
+soothing glow of the fire, like animals that had fed well.  Henry
+was so near that he could hear every word anyone spoke.
+
+"It was well that the Indians led us to this place, eh, Levi?"
+said Wyatt.
+
+"I'm glad the fire spared a part of it," said Coleman.  "Looks as
+if it was done just for us, to give us a shelter some cold winter
+night when we come along.  I guess the Iroquois Aieroski is
+watching over us."
+
+Wyatt laughed.
+
+"You're a man that I like, Levi," he said.  "You can see to the
+inside of things.  It would be a good idea to use this place as a
+base and shelter, and make a raid on some of the settlements east
+of the hills, eh, Levi?"
+
+"It could be done," said Coleman.  "But just listen to that wind,
+will you!  On a night like this it must cut like a saber's edge. 
+Even our Iroquois are glad to be under a roof."
+
+Henry still gazed in at the crack with eyes that were lighted up
+by an angry fire.  So here was more talk of destruction and
+slaughter!  His gaze alighted upon an Indian who sat in a corner
+engaged upon a task.  Henry looked more closely, and saw that he
+was stretching a blonde-haired scalp over a small hoop.  A
+shudder shook his whole frame.  Only those who lived amid such
+scenes could understand the intensity of his feelings.  He felt,
+too, a bitter sense of injustice.  The doers of these deeds were
+here in warmth and comfort, while the innocent were dead or
+fugitives.  He turned away from the window, stepping gently upon
+the snowshoes.  He inferred that the remainder of Wyatt's band
+were quartered in the other house from which he had seen the
+smoke rising.  It was about twenty rods away, but he did not
+examine it, because a great idea had been born suddenly in his
+brain.  The attempt to fulfill the idea would be accompanied by
+extreme danger, but he did not hesitate a moment.  He stole
+gently to one of the half-fallen outhouses and went inside.  Here
+he found what he wanted, a large pine shelf that had been
+sheltered from rain and that was perfectly dry.  He scraped off a
+large quantity of the dry pine until it formed almost a dust, and
+he did not cease until he had filled his cap with it.  Then he
+cut off large splinters, until he had accumulated a great number,
+and after that he gathered smaller pieces of half-burned pine. 
+
+He was fully two hours doing this work, and the night advanced
+far, but he never faltered.  His head was bare, but he was
+protected from the wind by a fragment of the outhouse wall. 
+Every two or three minutes he stopped and listened for the sound
+of a creaking, sliding footstep on the snow, but, never hearing
+any, he always resumed his work with the same concentration.  All
+the while the wind rose and moaned through the ruins of the
+little village.  When Henry chanced to raise his head above the
+sheltering wall, it was like the slash of a knife across his
+cheek.
+
+Finally he took half of the pine dust in his cap and a lot of the
+splinters under his arm, and stole back to the house from which
+the light had shone.  He looked again through the crevice at the
+window.  The light had died down much more, and both Wyatt and
+Coleman were asleep on the floor.  But several of the Iroquois
+were awake, although they sat as silent and motionless as stones
+against the wall.
+
+Henry moved from the window and selected a sheltered spot beside
+the plank wall.  There he put the pine dust in a little heap on
+the snow and covered it over with pine splinters, on top of which
+he put larger pieces of pine.  Then he went back for the
+remainder of the pine dust, and built a similar pyramid against a
+sheltered side of the second house.
+
+The most delicate part of his task had now come, one that good
+fortune only could aid him in achieving, but the brave youth, his
+heart aflame with righteous anger against those inside, still
+pursued the work.  His heart throbbed, but hand and eye were
+steady.
+
+Now came the kindly stroke of fortune for which he had hoped. 
+The wind rose much higher and roared harder against the house. 
+It would prevent the Iroquois within, keen of ear as they were,
+from hearing a light sound without.  Then he drew forth his flint
+and steel and struck them together with a hand so strong and
+swift that sparks quickly leaped forth and set fire to the pine
+tinder.  Henry paused only long enough to see the flame spread to
+the splinters, and then he ran rapidly to the other house, where
+the task was repeated-he intended that his job should be
+thorough.
+
+Pursuing this resolve to make his task complete, he came back to
+the first house and looked at his fire.  It had already spread to
+the larger pieces of pine, and it could not go out now.  The
+sound made by the flames blended exactly with the roaring of the
+wind, and another minute or two might pass before the Iroquois
+detected it.
+
+Now his heart throbbed again, and exultation was mingled with his
+anger.  By the time the Iroquois were aroused to the danger the
+flames would be so high that the wind would reach them.  Then no
+one could put them out.
+
+It might have been safer for him to flee deep into the forest at
+once, but that lingering desire to make his task complete and,
+also, the wish to see the result kept him from doing it.  He
+merely walked across the open space and stood behind a tree at
+the edge of the forest.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his Tories and Iroquois were very warm, very
+snug, in the shelter of the old house with the great bed of coals
+before them.  They may even have been dreaming peaceful and
+beautiful dreams, when suddenly an Iroquois sprang to his feet
+and uttered a cry that awoke all the rest.
+
+"I smell smoke!" he exclaimed in his tongue, "and there is fire,
+too!  I hear it crackle outside!"
+
+Braxton Wyatt ran to the window and jerked it open.  Flame and
+smoke blew in his face.  He uttered an angry cry, and snatched at
+the pistol in his belt.
+
+"The whole side of the house is on fire!" he exclaimed.  "Whose
+neglect has done this?"
+
+Coleman, shrewd and observing, was at his elbow.
+
+"The fire was set on the outside," he said.  "It was no
+carelessness of our men.  Some enemy has done this!"
+
+"It is true!" exclaimed Wyatt furiously.  "Out, everybody!  The
+house burns fast!"
+
+There was a rush for the door.  Already ashes and cinders were
+falling about their heads.  Flames leaped high, were caught by
+the roaring winds, and roared with them.  The shell of the house
+would soon be gone, and when Tories and Iroquois were outside
+they saw the remainder of their band pouring forth from the other
+house, which was also in flames.
+
+No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in
+a sort of stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest
+heights by the wind.
+
+All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments
+nothing whatever would be left of the tiny village.  Braxton
+Wyatt and his band must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could
+never use this place as a basis for attack upon settlements.
+
+"How under the sun could it have happened?" exclaimed Wyatt.
+
+"It didn't happen.  It was done," said Coleman.  "Somebody set
+these houses on fire while we slept within.  Hark to that!"
+
+An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the
+snow where it was not yet melted by the heat.  He saw there the
+track of snowshoes, and suddenly, looking toward the forest,
+whither they led, he saw a dark figure flit away among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+HENRY'S SLIDE
+
+
+Henry Ware, lingering at the edge of the clearing, his body
+hidden behind one of the great tree trunks, had been watching the
+scene with a fascinated interest that would not let him go.  He
+knew that his work there was done already.  Everything would be
+utterly destroyed by the flames which, driven by the wind, leaped
+from one half-ruined building to another.  Braxton Wyatt and his
+band would have enough to do sheltering themselves from the
+fierce winter, and the settlements could rest for a while at
+least.  Undeniably he felt exultation as be witnessed the
+destructive work of his hand.  The border, with its constant
+struggle for-life and terrible deeds, bred fierce passions.
+
+In truth, although he did not know it himself, he stayed there to
+please his eye and heart.  A new pulse beat triumphantly every
+time a timber, burned through, fell in, or a crash came from a
+falling roof.  He laughed inwardly as the flames disclosed the
+dismay on the faces of the Iroquois and Tories, and it gave him
+deep satisfaction to see Braxton Wyatt, his gaudy little sword at
+his thigh, stalking about helpless.  It was while he was looking,
+absorbed in such feelings, that the warrior of the alert eye saw
+him and gave the warning shout.
+
+Henry turned in an instant, and darted away among the trees, half
+running, half sliding over the smooth, icy covering of the snow. 
+After him came warriors and some Tories who had put on their
+snowshoes preparatory to the search through the forest for
+shelter.  Several bullets were fired, but he was too far away for
+a good aim.  He heard one go zip against a tree, and another cut
+the surface of the ice near him, but none touched him, and he
+sped easily on his snowshoes through the frozen forest.  But
+Henry was fully aware of one thing that constituted his greatest
+danger.  Many of these Iroquois had been trained all their lives
+to snowshoes, while he, however powerful and agile, was
+comparatively a beginner.  He glanced back again and saw their
+dusky figures running among the trees, but they did not seem to
+be gaining.  If one should draw too near, there was his rifle,
+and no man, white or red, in the northern or southern forests,
+could use it better.  But for the present it was not needed.  He
+pressed it closely, almost lovingly, to his side, this best
+friend of the scout and frontiersman.
+
+He had chosen his course at the first leap.  It was southward,
+toward the lake, and he did not make the mistake of diverging
+from his line, knowing that some part of the wide half circle of
+his pursuers would profit by it.
+
+Henry felt a great upward surge.  He had been the victor in what
+he meant to achieve, and he was sure that he would escape.  The
+cold wind, whistling by, whipped his blood and added new strength
+to his great muscles.  His ankles were not chafed or sore, and he
+sped forward on the snowshoes, straight and true.  Whenever he
+came to a hill the pursuers would gain as he went up it, but when
+he went down the other side it was he who gained.  He passed
+brooks, creeks, and once a small river, but they were frozen
+over, many inches deep, and he did not notice them.  Again it was
+a lake a mile wide, but the smooth surface there merely increased
+his speed.  Always he kept a wary look ahead for thickets through
+which he could not pass easily, and once he sent back a shout of
+defiance, which the Iroquois answered with a yell of anger.
+
+He was fully aware that any accident to his snowshoes would prove
+fatal, the slipping of the thongs on his ankles or the breaking
+of a runner would end his flight, and in a long chase such an
+accident might happen.  It might happen, too, to one or more of
+the Iroquois, but plenty of them would be left.  Yet Henry had
+supreme confidence in his snowshoes.  He had made them himself,
+he had seen that every part was good, and every thong had been
+fastened with care.
+
+The wind which bad been roaring so loudly at the time of the fire
+sank to nothing.  The leafless trees stood up, the branches
+unmoving.  The forest was bare and deserted.  All the animals,
+big and little, had gone into their lairs.  Nobody witnessed the
+great pursuit save pursuers and pursued.  Henry kept his
+direction clear in his mind, and allowed the Iroquois to take no
+advantage of a curve save once.  Then he came to a thicket so
+large that he was compelled to make a considerable circle to pass
+it.  He turned to the right, hence the Indians on the right
+gained, and they sent up a yell of delight.  He replied defiantly
+and increased his speed.
+
+But one of the Indians, a flying Mohawk, had come dangerously
+near-near enough, in fact, to fire a bullet that did not miss the
+fugitive much.  It aroused Henry's anger.  He took it as an
+indignity rather than a danger, and he resolved to avenge it.  So
+far as firing was concerned, he was at a disadvantage.  He must
+stop and turn around for his shot, while the Iroquois, without
+even checking speed, could fire straight at the flying target,
+ahead.
+
+Nevertheless, he took the chance.  He turned deftly on the
+snowshoes, fired as quick as lightning at the swift Mohawk, saw
+him fall, then Whirled and resumed his flight.  He had lost
+ground, but he had inspired respect.  A single man could not
+afford to come too near to a marksman so deadly, and the three or
+four who led dropped back with the main body.
+
+Now Henry made his greatest effort.  He wished to leave the foe
+far behind, to shake off his pursuit entirely.  He bounded over
+the ice and snow with great leaps, and began to gain.  Yet he
+felt at last the effects of so strenuous a flight.  His breath
+became shorter; despite the intense cold, perspiration stood upon
+his face, and the straps that fastened the snowshoes were chafing
+his ankles.  An end must come even to such strength as his. 
+Another backward look, and he saw that the foe was sinking into
+the darkness.  If he could only increase his speed again, be
+might leave the Iroquois now.  He made a new call upon the will,
+and the body responded.  For a few minutes his speed became
+greater.  A disappointed shout arose behind him, and several
+shots were fired.  But the bullets fell a hundred yards short,
+and then, as he passed over a little hill and into a wood beyond,
+he was hidden from the sight of his pursuers.
+
+Henry knew that the Iroquois could trail him over the snow, but
+they could not do it at full speed, and he turned sharply off at
+an angle.  Pausing a second or two for fresh breath, he continued
+on his new course, although not so fast as before.  He knew that
+the Iroquois would rush straight ahead, and would not discover
+for two or three minutes that they were off the trail.  It would
+take them another two or three minutes to recover, and he would
+make a gain of at least five minutes.  Five minutes had saved the
+life of many a man on the border.
+
+How precious those five minutes were!  He would take them all. 
+He ran forward some distance, stopped where the trees grew thick,
+and then enjoyed the golden five, minute by minute.  He had felt
+that he was pumping the very lifeblood from his heart.  His
+breath had come painfully, and the thongs of the snowshoes were
+chafing his ankles terribly.  But those minutes were worth a
+year.  Fresh air poured into his lungs, and the muscles became
+elastic once more.  In so brief a space be had recreated himself.
+
+Resuming his flight, he went at a steady pace, resolved not to do
+his utmost unless the enemy came in sight.  About ten minutes
+later he heard a cry far behind him, and he believed it to be a
+signal from some Indian to the others that the trail was found
+again.  But with so much advantage he felt sure that he was now
+quite safe.  He ran, although at decreased speed, for about two
+hours more, and then he sat down on the upthrust root of a great
+oak.  Here he depended most upon his ears.  The forest was so
+silent that he could hear any noise at a great distance, but
+there was none.  Trusting to his ears to warn him, he would
+remain there a long time for a thorough rest.  He even dared to
+take off his snowshoes that he might rub his sore ankles, but he
+wrapped his heavy blanket about his body, lest he take deep cold
+in cooling off in such a temperature after so long a flight.
+
+He sat enjoying a half hour, golden like the five minutes, and
+then he saw, outlined against the bright, moonlit sky, something
+that told him he must be on the alert again.  It was a single
+ring of smoke, like that from a cigar, only far greater.  It rose
+steadily, untroubled by wind until it was dissipated.  It meant
+"attention!" and presently it was followed by a column of such
+rings, one following another beautifully.  The column said: " The
+foe is near."  Henry read the Indian signs perfectly.  The rings
+were made by covering a little fire with a blanket for a moment
+and then allowing the smoke to ascend.  On clear days such
+signals could be seen a distance of thirty miles or more, and he
+knew that they were full of significance.
+
+Evidently the Iroquois party had divided into two or more bands. 
+One had found his trail, and was signaling to the other.  The
+party sending up the smoke might be a half mile away, but the
+others, although his trail was yet hidden from them, might be
+nearer.  It was again time for flight.
+
+He swiftly put on the snowshoes, neglecting no thong or lace,
+folded the blanket on his back again, and, leaving the friendly
+root, started once more.  He ran forward at moderate speed for
+perhaps a mile, when he suddenly heard triumphant yells on both
+right and left.  A strong party of Iroquois were coming up on
+either side, and luck had enabled them to catch him in a trap.
+
+They were so near that they fired upon him, and one bullet nicked
+his glove, but he was hopeful that after his long rest he might
+again stave them off.  He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling
+into determined silence, ran at his utmost speed.  The forest
+here was of large trees, with no undergrowth, and he noticed that
+the two parties did not join, but kept on as they had come, one
+on the right and the other on the left.  This fact must have some
+significance, but he could not fathom it.  Neither could he guess
+whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but apparently they made
+no effort to come within range of his rifle.
+
+Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out,
+and then both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the
+kind that savages utter only when they see their triumph
+complete.
+
+Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse.  He
+had come to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high
+like a mountain, and steep like a wall.  The surface of the lake
+was so far down that it was misty white like a cloud.  Now he
+understood the policy of the Indian bands in not uniting.  They
+knew that they would soon reach the lofty cliffs of the lake, and
+if he turned to either right or left there was a band ready to
+seize him.
+
+Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in
+his life.  It seemed that he could not escape from so complete a
+trap, and Braxton Wyatt was not one who would spare a prisoner. 
+That was perhaps the bitterest thing of all, to be taken and
+tortured by Braxton Wyatt.  He was there.  He could hear his
+voice in one of the bands, and then the courage that never failed
+him burst into fire again.
+
+The Iroquois were coming toward him, shutting him out from
+retreat to either right or left, but not yet closing in because
+of his deadly rifle.  He gave them a single look, put forth his
+voice in one great cry of defiance, and, rushing toward the edge
+of the mighty cliff, sprang boldly over.
+
+As Henry plunged downward he heard behind him a shout of
+amazement and chagrin poured forth from many Iroquois throats,
+and, taking a single glance backward, he caught a glimpse of
+dusky faces stamped with awe.  But the bold youth had not made a
+leap to destruction.  In the passage of a second he had
+calculated rapidly and well.  While the cliff at first glance
+seemed perpendicular, it could not be so.  There was a slope
+coated with two feet of snow, and swinging far back on the heels
+of his snowshoes, he shot downward like one taking a tremendous
+slide on a toboggan.  Faster and faster he went, but deeper and
+deeper he dug his shoes into the snow, until he lay back almost
+flat against its surface.  This checked his speed somewhat, but
+it was still very great, and, preserving his self-control
+perfectly, he prayed aloud to kindly Providence to save him from
+some great boulder or abrupt drop.
+
+The snow from his runners flew in a continuous shower behind him
+as he descended.  Yet he drew himself compactly together, and
+held his rifle parallel with his body.  Once or twice, as he went
+over a little ridge, he shot clear of the snow, but he held his
+body rigid, and the snow beyond saved him from a severe bruise. 
+Then his speed was increased again, and all the time the white
+surface of the lake below, seen dimly through the night and his
+flight, seemed miles away.
+
+He might never reach that surface alive, but of one thing lie was
+sure.  None of the Iroquois or Tories had dared to follow. 
+Braxton Wyatt could have no triumph over him.  He was alone in
+his great flight.  Once a projection caused him to turn a little
+to one side.  He was in momentary danger of turning entirely, and
+then of rolling head over heels like a huge snowball, but with a
+mighty effort he righted himself, and continued the descent on
+the runners, with the heels plowing into the ice and the snow.
+
+Now that white expanse which had seemed so far away came miles
+nearer.  Presently he would be there.  The impossible had become
+possible, the unattainable was about to be attained.  He gave
+another mighty dig with his shoes, the last reach of the slope
+passed behind him, and he shot out on the frozen surface of the
+lake, bruised and breathless, but without a single broken bone.
+
+The lake was covered with ice a foot thick, and over this lay
+frozen snow, which stopped Henry forty or fifty yards from the
+cliff.  There he lost his balance at last, and fell on his side,
+where he lay for a few moments, weak, panting, but triumphant.
+
+When he stood upright again he felt his body, but he had suffered
+nothing save some bruises, that would heal in their own good
+time.  His deerskin clothing was much torn, particularly on the
+back, where he had leaned upon the ice and snow, but the folded
+blanket had saved him to a considerable extent.  One of his shoes
+was pulled loose, and presently he discovered that his left ankle
+was smarting and burning at a great rate.  But he did not mind
+these things at all, so complete was his sense of victory.  He
+looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him
+fifteen hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous
+exploit.  The wall ran away for miles, and the Iroquois could not
+reach him by any easier path.  He tried to make out figures on
+the brink looking down at him, but it was too far away, and he
+saw only a black line.
+
+He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake.  He
+was far away from "The Alcove," and he did not intend to go
+there, lest the Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and
+follow it to the refuge.  But as it was no more than two miles
+across the lake at that point, and the Iroquois would have to
+make a great curve to reach the other side, he felt perfectly
+safe.  He walked slowly across, conscious all the time of an
+increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly
+swollen, and he did not stop until he penetrated some distance
+among low bills.  Here, under an overhanging cliff with thick
+bushes in front, he found a  partial shelter, which he cleared
+out yet further.  Then with infinite patience he built a fire
+with splinters that he cut from dead boughs, hung his blanket in
+front of it on two sticks that the flame might not be seen, took
+off his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared his ankles. 
+Both were swollen, but the left much more badly than the other. 
+He doubted whether he would be able to walk on the following day,
+but he rubbed them a long time, both with the palms of his hands
+and with snow, until they felt better.  Then he replaced his
+clothing, leaned back against the faithful snowshoes which had
+saved his life, however much they had hurt his ankles, and gave
+himself up to the warmth of the fire.
+
+It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long
+and terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great
+relaxation, one which, if he yielded to it completely, would make
+his muscles so stiff and painful that he could not use them. 
+Hence he stretched his arms and legs many times, rubbed his
+ankles again, and then, remembering that he had venison, ate
+several strips.
+
+He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire
+he was bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great
+mass of glowing coals, although there was no blaze.  Then he took
+down the blanket, wrapped himself in it, and was soon asleep
+before the fire.  He slept long and deeply, and although, when he
+awoke, the day had fully come, the coals were not yet out
+entirely.  He arose, but such a violent pain from his left ankle
+shot through him that he abruptly sat down again.  As he bad
+feared, it had swollen badly during the night, and he could not
+walk.
+
+In this emergency Henry displayed no petulance, no  striving
+against unchangeable circumstance.  He drew up more wood, which
+he had stacked against the cliff, and put it on the coals.  He
+hung up the blanket once more in order that it might hide the
+fire, stretched out his lame leg, and calmly made a breakfast off
+the last of his venison.        He knew be was in a plight that
+might appall the bravest, but be kept himself in hand.  It was
+likely that the Iroquois thought him dead, crushed into a
+shapeless mass by his frightful slide of fifteen hundred feet,
+and he had little fear of them, but to be unable to walk and
+alone in an icy wilderness without food was sufficient in itself. 
+He calculated that it was at least a dozen miles to "The Alcove,"
+and the chances were a hundred to one against any of his comrades
+wandering his way.  He looked once more at his swollen left
+ankle, and he made a close calculation.  It would be three days,
+more likely four, before he could walk upon it.  Could he endure
+hunger that long?  He could.  He would!  Crouched in his nest
+with his back to the cliff, he had defense against any enemy in
+his rifle and pistol.  By faithful watching he might catch sight
+of some wandering animal, a target for his rifle and then food
+for his stomach.  His wilderness wisdom warned him that there was
+nothing to do but sit quiet and wait.
+
+He scarcely moved for hours.  As long as he was still his ankle
+troubled him but little.  The sun came out, silver bright, but it
+had no warmth.  The surface of the lake was shown only by the
+smoothness of its expanse; the icy covering was the same
+everywhere over hills and valleys.  Across the lake he saw the
+steep down which he had slid, looming white and lofty.  In the
+distance it looked perpendicular, and, whatever its terrors, it
+had, beyond a doubt, saved his life.  He glanced down at his
+swollen ankle, and, despite his helpless situation, he was
+thankful that he had escaped so well.
+
+About noon he moved enough to throw up the snowbanks higher all
+around himself in the fashion of an Eskimos house.  Then he let
+the fire die except some coals that gave forth no smoke,
+stretched the blanket over his head in the manner of a roof, and
+once more resumed his quiet and stillness.  He was now like a
+crippled animal in its lair, but he was warm, and his wound did
+not hurt him.  But hunger began to trouble him.  He was young and
+so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance.  Now it
+cried aloud its need!   He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and
+for a few moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger
+soon came back as strong as ever.  Then he tightened his belt and
+sat in grim silence, trying to forget that there was any such
+thing as food.
+
+The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the
+afternoon, but before night it failed.  He began to have roseate
+visions of Long Jim trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo
+steaks over the coals.  He could sniff the aroma, so powerful had
+his imagination become, and, in fancy, his month watered, while
+its roof was really dry.  They were daylight visions, and he knew
+it well, but they taunted him and made his pain fiercer.  He slid
+forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and thrust out his
+rifle in the hope that be would see some wild creature, no matter
+what; he felt that be could shoot it at any distance, and then he
+would feast!
+
+He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only
+motionless white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the
+coming twilight, the lofty cliff that had saved him.
+
+He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down.  Despite
+his hunger, he slept fairly well.  In the night a little snow
+fell at times, but his blanket roof protected him, and he
+remained dry and warm.  The new snow was, in a way, a
+satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail from the glance of
+any wandering Indian.       He awoke the next morning to a gray,
+somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest.  He did not
+feel the pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half
+hour, and then they came with redoubled force.  Moreover, he bad
+become weaker in the night, and, added to the loss of muscular
+strength, was a decrease in the power of the will.  Hunger was
+eating away his mental as well as his physical fiber.  He did not
+face the situation with quite the same confidence that he felt
+the day before.  The wilderness looked a little more threatening.
+
+His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his
+shoulders and back were stiff.  But he drew his belt tighter
+again, and then uncovered his left ankle.  The swelling had gone
+down a little, and he could move it with more freedom than on the
+day before, but he could not yet walk.  Once more he made his
+grim calculation.  In two days he could certainly walk and hunt
+game or make a try for "The Alcove," so far as his ankle was
+concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? 
+Gaining strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.
+
+Now he began to grow angry with himself.  The light inroad that
+famine made upon his will was telling.  It seemed incredible that
+he, so powerful, so skillful, so self reliant, so long used to
+the wilderness and to every manner of hardship, should be held
+there in a snowbank by a bruised ankle to die like a crippled
+rabbit.  His comrades could not be more than ten miles away.  He
+could walk.  He would walk!  He stood upright and stepped out
+into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could scarcely keep
+from crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank back
+into the shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for
+another full day.
+
+The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took
+down the blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire
+again, more for the sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because
+he was not suffering from cold.  There was a certain life and
+light about the coals and the bright flame, but the relief did
+not last long, and by and by he let it go out.  Then be devoted
+himself to watching the heavens and the surface of the snow. 
+Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a
+wandering deer might be passing.  He must not lose any such
+chance.  He was more than ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting
+at the mouth of his den, the rifle across his knee, his tanned
+face so thin that the cheek bones showed high and sharp, his eyes
+bright with fever and the fierce desire for prey, and the long,
+lean body drawn forward as if it were about to leap.
+
+He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a
+hole in the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came
+only to be abandoned.  He had neither hook nor bait.  In the
+afternoon he chewed the edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but
+it was too thoroughly tanned and dry.  It gave back no
+sustenance.  He abandoned the experiment and lay still for a long
+time.
+
+That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at
+himself.  It was a huge joke!  What would Timmendiquas or
+Thayendanegea think of him if they knew how he came to his end? 
+They would put him with old squaws or little children.  And how
+Braxton Wyatt and his lieutenant, the squat Tory, would laugh! 
+That was the bitterest thought of all.  But the frenzy passed,
+and he fell into a sleep which was only a succession of bad
+dreams.  He was running the gauntlet again among the Shawnees. 
+Again, kneeling to drink at the clear pool, he saw in the water
+the shadow of the triumphant warrior holding the tomahawk above
+him.  One after another the most critical periods of his life
+were lived over again, and then he sank into a deep torpor, from
+which he did not rouse himself until far into the next day.
+
+Henry was conscious that he was very weak, but he seemed to have
+regained much of his lost will.  He looked once more at the fatal
+left ankle.  It had improved greatly.  He could even stand upon
+it, but when he rose to his feet he felt a singular dizziness. 
+Again, what he had gained in one way he had lost in another.  The
+earth wavered.  The smooth surface of the lake seemed to rise
+swiftly, and then to sink as swiftly.  The far slope down which
+he had shot rose to the height of miles.  There was a pale tinge,
+too, over the world.  He sank down, not because of his ankle, but
+because he was afraid his dizzy head would make him fall.
+
+The power of will slipped away again for a minute or two.  He was
+ashamed of such extraordinary weakness.  He looked at one of his
+hands.  It was thin, like the band of a man wasted with fever,
+and the blue veins stood out on the back of it.  He could
+scarcely believe that the hand was his own.  But after the first
+spasm of weakness was over, the precious will returned.  He could
+walk.  Strength enough to permit him to hobble along had returned
+to the ankle at last, and mind must control the rest of his
+nervous system, however weakened it might be.  He must seek food.
+
+He withdrew into the farthest recess of his covert, wrapped the
+blanket tightly about his body, and lay still for a long time. 
+He was preparing both mind and body for the supreme effort.  He
+knew that everything hung now on the surviving remnants of his
+skill and courage. 
+
+Weakened by shock and several days of fasting, he had no great
+reserve now except the mental, and he used that to the utmost. 
+It was proof of his youthful greatness that it stood the last
+test.  As he lay there, the final ounce of will and courage came. 
+Strength which was of the mind rather than of the body flowed
+back into his veins; he felt able to dare and to do; the pale
+aspect of the world went away, and once more he was Henry Ware,
+alert, skillful, and always triumphant.
+
+Then he rose again, folded the blanket, and fastened it on his
+shoulders.  He looked at the snowshoes, but decided that his left
+ankle, despite its great improvement, would not stand the strain. 
+He must break his way through the snow, which was a full three
+feet in depth.  Fortunately the crust had softened somewhat in
+the last two or three days, and he did not have a covering of ice
+to meet.
+
+He pushed his way for the first time from the lair under the
+cliff, his rifle held in his ready hands, in order that he might
+miss no chance at game.  To an ordinary observer there would have
+been no such chance at all.  It was merely a grim white
+wilderness that might have been without anything living from the
+beginning.  But Henry, the forest runner, knew better.  Somewhere
+in the snow were lairs much like the one that he had left, and in
+these lairs were wild animals.  To any such wild animal, whether
+panther or bear, the hunter would now have been a fearsome
+object, with his hollow cheeks, his sunken fiery eyes, and his
+thin lips opening now and then, and disclosing the two rows of
+strong white teeth.
+
+Henry advanced about a rod, and then he stopped, breathing hard,
+because it was desperate work for one in his condition to break
+his way through snow so deep.  But his ankle stood the strain
+well, and his courage increased rather than diminished.  He was
+no longer a cripple confined to one spot.  While be stood
+resting, he noticed a clump of bushes about half a rod to his
+left, and a hopeful idea came to him.
+
+He broke his way slowly to the bushes, and then he searched
+carefully among them.  The snow was not nearly so thick there,
+and under the thickest clump, where the shelter was best, he saw
+a small round opening.  In an instant all his old vigorous life,
+all the abounding hope which was such a strong characteristic of
+his nature, came back to him.  Already he had triumphed over
+Indians, Tories, the mighty slope, snow, ice, crippling, and
+starvation.
+
+He laid the rifle on the snow and took the ramrod in his right
+hand.  He thrust his left hand into the hole, and when the rabbit
+leaped for life from his warm nest a smart blow of the ramrod
+stretched him dead at the feet of the hunter.  Henry picked up
+the rabbit.  It was large and yet fat.  Here was food for two
+meals.  In the race between the ankle and starvation, the ankle
+had won.
+
+He did not give way to any unseemly elation.  He even felt a
+momentary sorrow that a life must perish to save his own, because
+all these wild things were his kindred now.  He returned by the
+path that he had broken, kindled his fire anew, dexterously
+skinned and cleaned his rabbit, then cooked it and ate half,
+although he ate slowly and with intervals between each piece. 
+How delicious it tasted, and how his physical being longed to
+leap upon it and devour it, but the power of the mind was still
+supreme.  He knew what was good for himself, and he did it. 
+Everything was done in order and with sobriety.  Then he put the
+rest of the rabbit carefully in his food pouch, wrapped the
+blanket about his body, leaned back, and stretched his feet to
+the coals.
+
+What an extraordinary change had come over the world in an hour! 
+He had not noticed before the great beauty of the lake, the lofty
+cliffs on the farther shore, and the forest clothed in white and
+hanging with icicles. 
+
+The winter sunshine was molten silver, pouring down in a flood.
+
+It was not will now, but actuality, that made him feel the
+strength returning to his frame.  He knew that the blood in his
+veins had begun to sparkle, and that his vitality was rising
+fast.  He could have gone to sleep peacefully, but instead he
+went forth and hunted again.  He knew that where the rabbit had
+been, others were likely to be near, and before he returned he
+had secured two more.  Both of these he cleaned and cooked at
+once.  When this was done night had come, but he ate again, and
+then, securing all his treasures about him, fell into the best
+sleep that he had enjoyed since his flight.
+
+He felt very strong the next morning, and he might have started
+then, but he was prudent.  There was still a chance of meeting
+the Iroquois, and the ankle might not stand so severe a test.  He
+would rest in his nest for another day, and then he would be
+equal to anything.  Few could lie a whole day in one place with
+but little to do and with nothing passing before the eyes, but it
+was a part of Henry's wilderness training, and he showed all the
+patience of the forester.  He knew, too, as the hours went by,
+that his strength was rising all the while.  To-morrow almost the
+last soreness would be gone from his ankle and then he could
+glide swiftly over the snow, back to his comrades.  He was
+content.  He had, in fact, a sense of great triumph because he
+had overcome so much, and here was new food in this example for
+future efforts of the mind, for future victories of the will over
+the body.  The wintry sun came to the zenith, then passed slowly
+down the curve, but all the time the boy scarcely stirred.  Once
+there was a flight of small birds across the heavens, and he
+watched them vaguely, but apparently he took no interest.  Toward
+night he stood up in his recess and flexed and tuned his muscles
+for a long time, driving out any stiffness that might come
+through long lack of motion.  Then he ate and lay down, but he
+did not yet sleep.
+
+The night was clear, and he looked away toward the point where he
+knew "The Alcove" lay.  A good moon was now shining, and stars by
+the score were springing out.  Suddenly at a point on that far
+shore a spark of red light appeared and twinkled.  Most persons
+would have taken it for some low star, but Henry knew better.  It
+was fire put there by human hand for a purpose, doubtless a
+signal, and as he looked a second spark appeared by the first,
+then a third, then a fourth.  He uttered a great sigh of
+pleasure.  It was his four friends signaling to him somewhere in
+the vast unknown that they were alive and well, and beckoning him
+to come.  The lights burned for fifteen or twenty minutes, and
+then all went out together.  Henry turned over on his side and
+fell sound asleep.  In the morning he put on his snowshoes and
+started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE SAFE RETURN
+
+
+The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry
+found good footing for his shoes.  For a while he leaned most on
+the right ankle, but, as his left developed no signs of soreness,
+he used them equally, and sped forward, his spirits rising at
+every step.  The air was cold, and there was but little breeze,
+but his own motion made a wind that whipped his face.  The
+hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and his eyes no longer
+had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild animal in
+search of prey.  A fine red color was suffused through the brown
+of his face.  He had chosen his course with due precaution.  The
+broad surface, smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put
+the temptation away.  He did not wish to run any chance whatever
+of another Iroquois pursuit, and he kept in the forest that ran
+down close to the water's edge.  It was tougher traveling there,
+but he persisted.
+
+But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious
+freedom.  With his crippled ankle he had been really like a
+prisoner in his cell, with a ball and chain to his foot.  Now he
+flew along, while the cold wind whipped his blood, and felt what
+a delight it was merely to live.  He went on thus for hours,
+skirting down toward the cliffs that contained "The Alcove."  He
+rested a while in the afternoon and ate the last of his rabbit,
+but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood at the hidden
+path that led up to their home.
+
+Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes. 
+To one who had never come before, the whole place would have
+seemed absolutely desolate, and even to one not a stranger no
+sign of life would have been visible had he not possessed
+uncommonly keen eyes.  But Henry had such eyes.  He saw the
+faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the surface of the
+cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there.  He
+resolved to surprise them.
+
+Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he
+dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind.  As be gradually
+approached "The Alcove" he beard the murmur of voices, and
+presently, as he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of
+glorious mellow light falling on the snow.
+
+But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight
+through him.  Low and indistinct as they were, they had a
+familiar sound.  He knew all those tones.  They were the voices
+of his faithful comrades, the four who had gone with him through
+so many perils and hardships, the little band who with himself
+were ready to die at any time, one for another.
+
+He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still.  Lying
+almost flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he
+looked into "The Alcove." A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one
+corner, and disposed about it were the four.  Paul lay on his
+elbow on a deerskin, and was gazing into the coals.  Tom Ross was
+working on a pair of moccasins, Long Jim was making some kind of
+kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was talking.  Henry could
+hear the words distinctly, and they were about himself.
+
+"Henry will turn up all right," he was saying.  "Hasn't he always
+done it afore?  Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely
+not goin' to break his rule now.  I tell you, boys, thar ain't
+enough Injuns an' Tories between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the
+Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to ketch Henry.  I bet I could
+guess what he's doin' right at this moment."
+
+"What is he doing, Sol?" asked Paul.
+
+"When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him," said the
+shiftless one.  "He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin'
+around an Injun village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an'
+listenin' an' gatherin' talk about their plans."
+
+"He ain't doin' any sech thing," broke in Long Jim.
+
+"I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet
+yours, an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things
+that you're talkin' about."
+
+"What is he doing, Jim?" asked Paul.
+
+"Henry's away off to the south, not to the north," replied the
+long one, "an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned.  One
+house has been left standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while
+the big snow's on the groun'.  A whole deer is hangin' from the
+wall, an' he's been settin' thar fur days, eatin' so much an'
+hevin' such a good time that the fat's hangin' down over his
+cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust right out uv
+his huntin' shirt."
+
+Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his
+face to the fire.  Then he glanced at the silent worker with the
+moccasins.
+
+"Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight," he
+said.  "Can you have any vision, too, Tom?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tom Ross, "I kin.  I shet my eyes, but I don't see
+like either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong.  I see
+Henry, an' I see him plain.  He's had a pow'ful tough time.  He
+ain't threatenin' to bust with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his
+cheeks ain't so full that they are fallin' down over his jaws. 
+It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk a mite, he don't
+fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags his left
+leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself.  He ain't spyin'
+on no Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed
+deer hangin' by the side uv him.  It's t'other way 'roan'.  He's
+layin' almost flat on his face not twenty feet from us, lookin'
+right in at us, an' I wuz the first to see him."
+
+All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry
+likewise sprang to his feet.  Three leaps, and he was in the
+mellow glow.
+
+
+"And so you saw me, Tom," he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped
+one hand after another.  "I might have known that, while I could
+stalk some of you, I could not stalk all of you."
+
+"I caught the glimpse uv you," said Silent Tom, while Sol an' Jim
+wuz talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when
+Paul called on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz
+true, an' worth tellin'."
+
+"You're right," said Henry.  "I've not been having any easy time,
+and for a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. 
+Sit down, and I will tell you all about it."
+
+They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the
+tenderest food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.
+
+"I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it,
+Henry," said Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.
+
+"Any one of you would have done it," said Henry, modestly.
+
+"I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons," said
+Shif'less Sol.  "One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the
+other, 'cause that scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 
+'Twould hurt my pride tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by
+Braxton Wyatt."
+
+"You speak for us all there, Sol," said Paul.
+
+"What have all of you been doing?" asked Henry.
+
+"Not much of anything," replied Shif'less Sol.  We've been
+scoutin' several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd
+come in some time or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun'
+the place here, fixin' it up warmer an' storin' away food."
+
+"We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid," said
+Henry, "unless this snow breaks up.  Have any of you heard if any
+movement is yet on foot against the Iroquois?"
+
+"Tom ran across some scouts from the militia," replied Paul, "and
+they said nothing could be done until warm weather came.  Then a
+real army would march."
+
+"I hope so," said Henry earnestly.
+
+But for the present the five could achieve little.  The snow
+lasted a long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. 
+It poured for two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased
+the snow continued to melt under the warmer air.  The water
+rushed in great torrents down the cliffs, and would have entered
+"The Alcove" had not the five made provision to turn it away.  As
+it was, they sat snug and dry, listening to the gush of the
+water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one another. 
+Yet the time dragged.
+
+"Man wuz never made to be a caged animile," said Shif'less Sol. 
+"The longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become.  My
+temper don't improve, neither, an' I ain't happy."
+
+"Guess it's the same with all uv us," said Tom Ross.
+
+But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was
+still cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in
+every direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories
+also, were becoming active.  There were more burnings, more
+slaughters, and more scalpings.  The whole border was still
+appalled at the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the
+savages were continually spreading over a wider area.  Braxton
+Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the aid of his Tory
+lieutenant, Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name equal to
+that of Walter Butler.  As for "Indian" Butler and his men, no
+men were hated more thoroughly than they.
+
+The five continued to do the best they could, which was much,
+carrying many a warning, and saving some who would otherwise have
+been victims.  While they devoted themselves to their strenuous
+task, great events in which they were to take a part were
+preparing.  The rear guard of the Revolution was about to become
+for the time the main guard.  A great eye had been turned upon
+the ravaged and bleeding border, and a great mind, which could
+bear misfortune-even disaster-without complaint, was preparing to
+send help to those farther away.  So mighty a cry of distress had
+risen, that the power of the Iroquois must be destroyed.  As the
+warm weather came, the soldiers began to march.
+
+Rumors that a formidable foe was about to advance reached the
+Iroquois and their allies, the Tories, the English, and the
+Canadians.  There was a great stirring among the leaders,
+Thayendanegea, Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+Claus, and the rest.  Haldimand, the king's representative in
+Canada, sent forth an urgent call to all the Iroquois to meet the
+enemy.  The Tories were' extremely active.  Promises were made to
+the tribes that they should have other victories even greater
+than those of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and again the terrible
+Queen Esther went among them, swinging her great war tomahawk
+over her head and chanting her song of death.  She, more than any
+other, inflamed the Iroquois, and they were eager for the coming
+contest.
+
+Timmendiquas had gone back to the Ohio country in the winter,
+but, faithful to his promise to give Thayendanegea help to the
+last, he returned in the spring with a hundred chosen warriors of
+the Wyandot nation, a reenforcement the value of which could not
+be estimated too highly.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt the stir as they roamed through the
+forest, and they thrilled at the     thought that the crisis was
+approaching. Then they set  out for Lake Otsego, where the army
+was gathering for the great campaign.  They were equipped
+thoroughly, and they were now so well known in the region that
+they knew they would be welcome.
+
+They traveled several days, and were preparing to encamp for the
+last night within about fifteen miles of the lake when Henry,
+scouting as usual to see if an enemy were near, heard a footstep
+in the forest.  He wheeled instantly to cover behind the body of
+a great beech tree, and the stranger sought to do likewise, only
+he had no convenient tree that was so large.  It was about the
+twelfth hour, but Henry could see a portion of a body protruding
+beyond a slim oak, and he believed that he recognized it.  As he
+held the advantage he would, at any rate, hail the stranger.
+
+"Ho, Cornelius Heemskerk, Dutchman, fat man, great scout and
+woodsman, what are you doing in my wilderness?  Stand forth at
+once and give an account of yourself, or I will shoot off the
+part of your body that sticks beyond that oak tree!"
+
+The answer was instantaneous.  A round, plump body revolved from
+the partial shelter of the tree and stood upright in the open,
+rifle in hand and cap thrown back from a broad ruddy brow.
+
+"Ho, Mynheer Henry Ware," replied Cornelius Heemskerk in a loud,
+clear tone, "I am in your woods on perhaps the same errand that
+you are.  Come from behind that beech and let us see which has
+the stronger grip."
+
+Henry stood forth, and the two clasped hands in a grip so
+powerful that both winced.  Then they released hands
+simultaneously, and Heemskerk asked:
+
+"And the other four mynheers?  Am I wrong to say that they are
+near, somewhere ?"
+
+"You are not wrong," replied Henry.  "They are alive, well and
+hungry, not a mile from here.  There is one man whom they would
+be very glad to see, and his name is Cornelius Heemskerk, who is
+roaming in our woods without a permit."
+
+The round, ruddy face of the Dutchman glowed.  It was obvious
+that he felt as much delight in seeing Henry as Henry felt in
+seeing him.
+
+"My heart swells," he said.  "I feared that you might have been
+killed or scalped, or, at the best, have gone back to that far
+land of Kentucky."
+
+"We have wintered well," said Henry, "in a place of which I shall
+not tell you now, and we are here to see the campaign through."
+
+"I come, too, for the same purpose," said Heemskerk. "We shall be
+together.  It is goot."    "Meanwhile," said Henry, "our camp
+fire is lighted.  Jim Hart, whom you have known of old, is
+cooking strips of meat over the coals, and, although it is a mile
+away, the odor of them is very pleasant in my nostrils.  I wish
+to go back there, and it will be all the more delightful to me,
+and to those who wait, if I can bring with me such a welcome
+guest."
+
+"Lead on, mynheer," said Cornelius Heemskerk sententiously.
+
+He received an equally emphatic welcome from the others, and then
+they ate and talked.  Heemskerk was sanguine.
+
+"Something will be done this time," he said.  "Word has come from
+the great commander that the Iroquois must be crushed.  The
+thousands who have fallen must be avenged, and this great fire
+along our border must be stopped.  If it cannot be done, then we
+perish.  We have old tales in my own country of the cruel deeds
+that the Spaniards did long, long ago, but they were not worse
+than have been done here."
+
+The five made no response, but the mind of every one of them
+traveled back to Wyoming and all that they had seen there, and
+the scars and traces of many more tragedies.
+
+They reached the camp on Lake Otsego the next day, and Henry saw
+that all they had heard was true.  The most formidable force that
+they had ever seen was gathering.  There were many companies in
+the Continental buff and blue, epauletted officers, bayonets and
+cannon.  The camp was full of life, energy, and hope, and the
+five at once felt the influence of it.  They found here old
+friends whom they had known in the march on Oghwaga, William
+Gray, young Taylor, and others, and they were made very welcome. 
+They were presented to General James Clinton, then in charge,
+received roving commissions as scouts and hunters, and with
+Heemskerk and the two celebrated borderers, Timothy Murphy and
+David Elerson, they roamed the forest in a great circle about the
+lake, bringing much valuable information about the movements of
+the enemy, who in their turn were gathering in force, while the
+royal authorities were dispatching both Indians and white men
+from Canada to help them.
+
+These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much
+impatience.  It takes a long time for an army to gather and then
+to equip itself for the march, and they were so used to swift
+motion that it was now a part of their nature.  At last the army
+was ready, and it left the lake.  Then it proceeded in boats down
+the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an artificial dam
+built with immense labor, to its confluence with the larger
+river.  Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander,
+General James Sullivan, take charge of the united force.  Then
+the army, late in August, began its march upon the Iroquois.
+
+The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard. 
+They knew that no important movement of so large a force could
+escape the notice of the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made
+it their duty to see that the Americans marched into no trap.
+
+It was now the waning summer.  The leaves were lightly touched
+with brown, and the grass had begun to wither.  Berries were
+ripening on the vines, and the quantity of game had increased,
+the wild animals returning to the land from which civilized man
+had disappeared.  The desolation seemed even more complete than
+in the autumn before.  In the winter and spring the Iroquois and
+Tories had destroyed the few remnants of houses that were left. 
+Braxton Wyatt and his band had been particularly active in this
+work, and many tales had come of his cruelty and that of his
+swart Tory lieutenant, Coleman.  Henry was sure, too, that
+Wyatt's band, which numbered perhaps fifty Indians and Tories,
+was now in front of them.
+
+He, his comrades, Heemskerk, Elerson, Murphy, and four others,
+twelve brave forest runners all told, went into camp one night
+about ten miles ahead of the army.  They lighted no fire, and,
+even had it been cold, they would not have done so, as the region
+was far too dangerous for any light.  Yet the little band felt no
+fear.  They were only twelve, it is true, but such a twelve!  No
+chance would either Indians or Tories have to surprise them.
+
+They merely lay down in the thick brushwood, three intending to
+keep watch while the others slept.  Henry, Shif'less Sol, and
+Heemskerk were the sentinels.  It was very late, nearly midnight;
+the sky was clear, and presently they saw smoke rings ascending
+from high hills to their right, to be answered soon by other
+rings of smoke to their left.  The three watched them with but
+little comment, and read every signal in turn.  They said: "The
+enemy is still advancing," "He is too strong for us...... We must
+retreat and await our brethren."
+
+"It means that there will be no battle to-morrow, at least,"
+whispered Heemskerk.  " Brant is probably ahead of us in command,
+and he will avoid us until he receives the fresh forces from
+Canada."
+
+"I take it that you're right," Henry whispered back. 
+"Timmendiquas also is with him, and the two great chiefs are too
+cunning to fight until they can bring their last man into
+action."
+
+"An' then," said the shiftless one, "we'll see what happens."
+
+"Yes," said Henry very gravely, "we'll see what happens.  The
+Iroquois are a powerful confederacy.  They've ruled in these
+woods for hundreds of years.  They're led by great chiefs, and
+they're helped by our white enemies.  You can't tell what would
+happen even to an army like ours in an ambush."
+
+Shif'less Sol nodded, and they said no more until an hour later,
+when they heard footsteps.  They awakened the others, and the
+twelve, crawling to the edge of the brushwood, lay almost flat
+upon their faces, with their hands upon the triggers of their
+rifles.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band of nearly threescore, Indians and
+Tories in about equal numbers, were passing.  Wyatt walked at the
+head.  Despite his youth, he had acquired an air of command, and
+he seemed a fit leader for such a crew.  He wore a faded royal
+uniform, and, while a small sword hung at his side, he also
+carried a rifle on his shoulder.  Close behind him was the swart
+and squat Tory, Coleman, and then came Indians and Tories
+together.
+
+The watchful eyes of Henry saw three fresh scalps hanging from as
+many belts, and the finger that lay upon the trigger of his rifle
+fairly ached to press it.  What an opportunity this would be if
+the twelve were only forty, or even thirty!  With the advantage
+of surprise they might hope to annihilate this band which had won
+such hate for itself on the border.  But twelve were not enough
+and twelve such lives could not be spared at a time when the army
+needed them most.
+
+Henry pressed his teeth firmly together in order to keep down his
+disappointment by a mere physical act if possible.  He happened
+to look at Shif'less Sol, and saw that his teeth were pressed
+together in the same manner.  It is probable that like feelings
+swayed every one of the twelve, but they were so still in the
+brushwood that no Iroquois heard grass or leaf rustle.  Thus the
+twelve watched the sixty pass, and after they were gone, Henry,
+Shif'less Sol, and Tim Murphy followed for several miles.  They
+saw Wyatt proceed toward the Chemung River, and as they
+approached the stream they beheld signs of fortifications.  It
+was now nearly daylight, and, as Indians were everywhere, they
+turned back.  But they were convinced that the enemy meant to
+fight on the Chemung.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A GLOOMY COUNCIL
+
+
+The next night after Henry Ware and his comrades lay in the
+brushwood and saw Braxton Wyatt and his band pass, a number of
+men, famous or infamous in their day, were gathered around a low
+camp fire on the crest of a small hill.  The most distinguished
+of them all in looks was a young Indian chief of great height and
+magnificent build, with a noble and impressive countenance.  He
+wore nothing of civilized attire, the nearest approach to it
+being the rich dark-blue blanket that was flung gracefully over
+his right shoulder.  It was none other than the great Wyandot
+chief, Timmendiquas, saying little, and listening without
+expression to the words of the others.
+
+Near Timmendiquas sat Thayendanegea, dressed as usual in his
+mixture of savage and civilized costume, and about him were other
+famous Indian chiefs, The Corn Planter, Red jacket, Hiokatoo,
+Sangerachte, Little Beard, a young Seneca renowned for ferocity,
+and others.
+
+On the other side of the fire sat the white men: the young Sir
+John Johnson, who, a prisoner to the Colonials, had broken his
+oath of neutrality, the condition of his release, and then,
+fleeing to Canada, had returned to wage bloody war on the
+settlements; his brother-in-law, Colonel Guy Johnson; the swart
+and squat John Butler of Wyoming infamy; his son, Walter Butler,
+of the pallid face, thin lips, and cruel heart; the Canadian
+Captain MacDonald; Braxton Wyatt; his lieutenant, the dark Tory,
+Coleman; and some others who had helped to ravage their former
+land.
+
+Sir John Johnson, a tall man with blue eyes set close together,
+wore the handsome uniform of his Royal Greens; he had committed
+many dark deeds or permitted them to be done by men under his
+command, and he had secured the opportunity only through his
+broken oath, but he had lost greatly.  The vast estates of his
+father, Sir William Johnson, were being torn from him, and
+perhaps he saw, even then, that in return for what he had done he
+would lose all and become an exile from the country in which he
+was born.
+
+It was not a cheerful council.  There was no exultation as after
+Wyoming and Cherry Valley and the Minisink and other places.  Sir
+John bit his lip uneasily, and his brother-in-law, resting his
+hand on his knee, stared gloomily at the fire.  The two Butlers
+were silent, and the dark face of Thayendanegea was overcast.
+
+A little distance before these men was a breastwork about half a
+mile long, connecting with a bend of the river in such a manner
+that an enemy could attack only in front and on one flank, that
+flank itself being approached only by the ascent of a steep ridge
+which ran parallel to the river.  The ground about the camp was
+covered with pine and scrub oaks.  Many others had been cut down
+and added to the breastwork.  A deep brook ran at the foot of the
+hill on which the leaders sat.  About the slopes of this hill and
+another, a little distance away, sat hundreds of Indian warriors,
+all in their war paint, and other hundreds of their white allies,
+conspicuous among them Johnson's Royal Greens and Butler's
+Rangers.  These men made but little noise now.  They were resting
+and waiting.
+
+Thayendanegea was the first to break the silence in the group at
+the fire.  He turned his dark face to Sir John Johnson and said
+in his excellent English: "The king promised us that if we would
+take up arms for him against the Yankees, he would send a great
+army, many thousands, to help us.  We believed him, and we took
+up the hatchet for him.  We fought in the dark and the storm with
+Herkimer at the Oriskany, and many of our warriors fell.  But we
+did not sulk in our lodges.  We have ravaged and driven in the
+whole American border along a line of hundreds of miles.  Now the
+Congress sends an army to attack us, to avenge what we have done,
+and the great forces of the king are not here.  I have been
+across the sea; I have seen the mighty city of London and its
+people as numerous as the blades of grass.  Why has not the king
+kept his promise and sent men enough to save the Iroquois ?"
+
+Sir John Johnson and Thayendanegea were good friends, but the
+soul of the great Mohawk chief was deeply stirred.  His
+penetrating mind saw the uplifted hand about to strike-and the
+target was his own people.  His tone became bitterly sarcastic as
+he spoke, and when he ceased he looked directly at the baronet in
+a manner that showed a reply must be given.  Sir John moved
+uneasily, but he spoke at last.
+
+"Much that you say is true, Thayendanegea," he admitted, "but the
+king has many things to do.  The war is spread over a vast area,
+and he must keep his largest armies in the East.  But the Royal
+Greens, the Rangers, and all others whom we can raise, even in
+Canada, are here to help you.  In the coming battle your fortunes
+are our fortunes."
+
+Thayendanegea nodded, but he was not yet appeased.  His glance
+fell upon the two Butlers, father and son, and he frowned.
+
+"There are many in England itself," he said, "who wish us harm,
+and who perhaps have kept us from receiving some of the help that
+we ought to have.  They speak of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, of
+the torture and of the slaughter of women and children, and they
+say that war must not be carried on in such a way.  But there are
+some among us who are more savage than the savages themselves, as
+they call us.  It was you, John Butler, who led at Wyoming, and
+it was you, Walter Butler, who allowed the women and children to
+be killed at Cherry Valley, and more would have been slain there
+had I not, come up in time."
+
+The dark face of "Indian" Butler grew darker, and the pallid face
+of his son grew more pallid.  Both were angry, and at the same
+time a little afraid.
+
+"We won at Wyoming in fair battle," said the elder Butler.
+
+"But afterwards?" said Thayendanegea.
+
+The man was silent.
+
+"It is these two places that have so aroused the Bostonians
+against us," continued Thayendanegea.  "It is because of them
+that the commander of the Bostonians has sent a great army, and
+the Long House is threatened with destruction."
+
+"My son and I have fought for our common cause," said "Indian"
+Butler, the blood flushing through his swarthy face.
+
+Sir John Johnson interfered.
+
+"We have admitted, Joseph, the danger to the Iroquois," he said,
+calling the chieftain familiarly by his first Christian name,
+"but I and my brother-in-law and Colonel Butler and Captain
+Butler have already lost though we may regain.  And with this
+strong position and the aid of ambush it is likely that we can
+defeat the rebels."
+
+The eyes of Thayendanegea brightened as he looked at the long
+embankment, the trees, and the dark forms of the warriors
+scattered numerously here and there.
+
+"You may be right, Sir John," he said; "yes, I think you are
+right, and by all the gods, red and white, we shall see.  I wish
+to fight here, because this is the best place in which to meet
+the Bostonians.  What say you, Timmendiquas, sworn brother of
+mine, great warrior and great chief of the Wyandots, the bravest
+of all the western nations?"
+
+The eye of Timmendiquas expressed little, but his voice was
+sonorous, and his words were such as Thayendanegea wished to
+hear.
+
+"If we fight-and we must fight-this is the place in which to meet
+the, white army," he said.  "The Wyandots are here to help the
+Iroquois, as the Iroquois would go to help them.  The Manitou of
+the Wyandots, the Aieroski of the Iroquois, alone knows the end."
+
+He spoke with the utmost gravity, and after his brief reply he
+said no more.  All regarded him with respect and admiration. 
+Even Braxton Wyatt felt that it was a noble deed to remain and
+face destruction for the sake of tribes not his own.
+
+Sir John Johnson turned to Braxton Wyatt, who had sat all the
+while in silence.
+
+"You have examined the evening's advance, Wyatt," he said.  "What
+further information can you give us?"
+
+"We shall certainly be attacked to-morrow," replied Wyatt, "and
+the American army is advancing cautiously.  It has out strong
+flanking parties, and it is preceded by the scouts, those
+Kentuckians whom I know and have met often, Murphy, Elerson,
+Heemskerk, and the others."
+
+"If we could only lead them into an ambush," said Sir John.  "Any
+kind of troops, even the best of regulars, will give way before
+an unseen foe pouring a deadly fire upon them from the deep
+woods.  Then they magnify the enemy tenfold."
+
+"It is so," said the fierce old Seneca chief, Hiokatoo.  "When we
+killed Braddock and all his men, they thought that ten warriors
+stood in the moccasins of only one."
+
+Sir John frowned.  He did not like this allusion to the time when
+the Iroquois fought against the English, and inflicted on them a
+great defeat.  But he feared to rebuke the old chief.  Hiokatoo
+and the Senecas were too important.
+
+"There ought to be a chance yet for an ambuscade," he said.  "The
+foliage is still thick and heavy, and Sullivan, their general, is
+not used to forest warfare.  What say you to this, Wyatt?"
+
+Wyatt shook his head.  He knew the caliber of the five from
+Kentucky, and he had little hope of such good fortune.
+
+"They have learned from many lessons," he replied, and their
+scouts are the best.  Moreover, they will attempt anything."
+
+They relapsed into silence again, and the sharp eyes of the
+renegade roved about the dark circle of trees and warriors that
+inclosed them.  Presently he saw something that caused him to
+rise and walk a little distance from the fire.  Although his eye
+suspected and his mind confirmed, Braxton Wyatt could not believe
+that it was true.  It was incredible.  No one, be he ever so
+daring, would dare such a thing.  But the figure down there among
+the trees, passing about among the warriors, many of whom did not
+know one another, certainly looked familiar, despite the Indian
+paint and garb.  Only that of Timmendiquas could rival it in
+height and nobility.  These were facts that could not be hidden
+by any disguise.
+
+"What is it, Wyatt?" asked Sir John.  "What do you see?  Why do
+you look so startled?"
+
+Wyatt sought to reply calmly.
+
+"There is a warrior among those trees over there whom I have not
+seen here before," he replied.  "he is as tall and as powerful as
+Timmendiquas, and there is only one such.  There is a spy among
+us, and it is Henry Ware."
+
+He snatched a pistol from his belt, ran forward, and fired at the
+flitting figure, which was gone in an instant among the trees and
+the warriors.
+
+"What do you say?" exclaimed Thayendanegea, as he ran forward, "a
+spy, and you know him to be such!"
+
+"Yes, he is the worst of them all," replied Wyatt.  "I know him. 
+I could not mistake him. But he has dared too much.  He cannot
+get away."
+
+The great camp was now in an uproar.  The tall figure was seen
+here and there, always to vanish quickly.  Twenty shots were
+fired at it.  None hit.  Many more would have been fired, but the
+camp was too much crowded to take such a risk.  Every moment the
+tumult and confusion increased, but Thayendanegea quickly posted
+warriors on the embankment and the flanks, to prevent the escape
+of the fugitive in any of those directions.
+
+But the tall figure did not appear at either embankment or flank. 
+It was next seen near the river, when a young warrior, striving
+to strike with a tomahawk, was dashed to the earth with great
+force.  The next instant the figure leaped far out into the
+stream.  The moonlight glimmered an instant on the bare head,
+while bullets the next moment pattered on the water where it had
+been.  Then, with a few powerful strokes, the stranger reclaimed
+the land, sprang upon the shore, and darted into the woods with
+more vain bullets flying about him.  But he sent back a shout of
+irony and triumph that made the chiefs and Tories standing on the
+bank bite their lips in anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+BATTLE OF THE CHEMUNG
+
+
+Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of a
+trumpet awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning.  Henry
+was standing beside him, showing no fatigue from the night's
+excitement, danger, and escape, but his face was flushed and his
+eyes sparkled.
+
+"Up, Paul! Up!" he cried.  "We know the enemy's position, and we
+will be in battle before another sun sets."
+
+Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was on
+his feet, rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the great
+attack.  He, like all the others, had slept on such a night fully
+dressed.  Shif'less Sol, Long Jim, Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and the
+rest were by the side of him, and all about them rose the sounds
+of an army going into battle, commands sharp and short, the
+rolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of bayonets, the
+clink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of men
+talking in half-finished sentences.
+
+It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene.  It was the
+first time that they bad ever beheld a large and regular army
+going into action, and they were a part of it, a part by no means
+unimportant.  It was Henry, with his consummate skill and daring,
+who had uncovered the position of the enemy, and now, without
+snatching a moment's sleep, he was ready to lead where the fray
+might be thickest.
+
+The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, and
+the army began to move through the thick forest.  A light wind,
+crisp with the air of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled. 
+The sun, swinging upward in the east, poured down a flood of
+brilliant rays that lighted up everything, the buff and blue
+uniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the bayonets, and the forest,
+still heavy with foliage.
+
+"Now! now!" thought every one of the five, "we begin the
+vengeance for Wyoming!"
+
+The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among the
+thickets for the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch so
+terribly.  As Braxton Wyatt had truly said, these scouts were the
+best in the world.  Nothing could escape the trained eyes of
+Henry Ware and his comrades, and those of Murphy, Ellerson, and
+the others, while off on either flank of the army heavy
+detachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement. 
+They saw no Indian sign in the woods.  There was yet a deep
+silence in front of them, and the sun, rising higher, poured its
+golden light down upon the army in such an intense, vivid flood
+that rifle barrels and bayonets gave back a metallic gleam.  All
+around them the deep woods swayed and rustled before the light
+breeze, and now and then they caught glimpses of the river, its
+surface now gold, then silver, under the shining sun.
+
+Henry's heart swelled as he advanced.  He was not revengeful, but
+he had seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that he
+could not keep down the desire to see punishment.  It is only
+those in sheltered homes who can forgive the tomahawk and the
+stake.  Now he was the very first of the scouts, although his
+comrades and a dozen others were close behind him.
+
+The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from them
+by the forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms and
+the sound of commands.
+
+Henry knew the ground thoroughly.  He knew where the embankment
+ran, and he knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked by
+timber.  They were not far ahead, and the scouts now proceeded
+very slowly, examining every tree and clump of bushes to see
+whether a lurking enemy was hidden there.  The silence endured
+longer than he had thought.  Nothing could be seen in front save
+the waving forest.
+
+Henry stopped suddenly.  He caught a glimpse of a brown
+shoulder's edge showing from behind a tree, and at his signal all
+the scouts sank to the ground.
+
+The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle,
+whistled over their heads.  The sharp crack, sounding triply loud
+at such a time, came back from the forest in many echoes, and a
+light puff of smoke arose.  Quick as a flash, before the brown
+shoulder and body exposed to take aim could be withdrawn, Tom
+Ross fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his death yell.  The
+Iroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a war whoop,
+fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and before
+it died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it in
+tremendous volume from hundreds of throats.  It was a shout that
+had often appalled the bravest, but the little band of scouts
+were not afraid.  When its last echo died they sent forth a
+fierce, defiant note of their own, and, crawling forward, began
+to send in their bullets.
+
+The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers,
+who replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long line
+through the undergrowth.  Flashes of flames appeared, puffs of
+smoke arose and, uniting, hung over the trees.  Bullets hissed. 
+Twigs and bark fell, and now and then a man, as they fought from
+tree to tree.  Henry caught one glimpse of a face that was white,
+that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought a shot at the renegade
+leader, but he could not get it.  But the scouts pushed on, and
+the Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back.  Then on the flanks
+they began to hear the rattle of rifle fire.  The wings of the
+army were in action, but the main body still advanced without
+firing a shot.
+
+The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments and
+rifle pits, and they could also see the last of the Iroquois and
+Tory skirmishers leaping over the earthworks and taking refuge
+with their army.  Then they turned back and saw the long line of
+their own army steadily advancing, while the sounds of heavy
+firing still continued on both flanks.  Henry looked proudly at
+the unbroken array, the front of steel, and the cannon.  He felt
+prouder still when the general turned to him and said:
+
+"You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where
+the enemy lies, and that will save us many men.  Now bigger
+voices than those of the rifles shall talk."
+
+The army stopped.  The Indian position could be plainly seen. 
+The crest of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and
+here and there among the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms
+of the Royalists.
+
+Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in
+their hair waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they
+stood the battle would be thickest.
+
+The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six
+three-pounders and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing
+five-and-a-half-inch shells, new and terrifying missiles to the
+Indians.  The guns were wheeled into position, and the first
+howitzer was fired.  It sent its great shell in a curving line at
+and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash, followed by
+a shout of mingled pain and awe.  Then the second howitzer, aimed
+well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
+like cry came back.
+
+
+Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in
+delight.
+
+"That's the medicine!" he cried.  "I wonder how you like that,
+you Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest
+o' your scalp-taking crew!  Ah, thar goes another!  This ain't
+any Wyomin'!"
+
+The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls
+squarely into the rifle pits and the Indian camp.  The Iroquois
+replied with a shower of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop,
+but the bullets fell short, and the whoop hurt no one.
+
+The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and
+precision, while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they
+were more closely engaged, were ordered to hold their fire.  The
+spectacle was to Henry and his comrades panoramic in its effect. 
+They watched the flashes of fire from the mouths of the cannon,
+the flight of the great shells, and the bank of smoke which soon
+began to lower like a cloud over the field.  They could picture
+to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork, the dead
+falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by shell
+and shot.  They even fancied that they could hear the voices of
+the great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging
+their men, and striving to keep them in line against a fire not
+as deadly as rifle bullets at close quarters, but more
+terrifying.
+
+Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indian
+camp, creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chance
+to shoot down the men at the guns.  But sharp eyes were watching
+them.
+
+"Come, boys," exclaimed Henry.  "Here's work for us now."
+
+He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against the
+skirmishers, who were soon driven in again.  The artillery fire
+had never ceased for a moment, the shells and balls passing over
+their heads.  Their work done, the sharpshooters fell back again,
+the gunners worked faster for a while, and then at a command they
+ceased suddenly.  Henry, Paul, and all the others knew
+instinctively what was going to happen.  They felt it in every
+bone of them.  The silence so sudden was full of meaning.
+
+"Now!" Henry found himself exclaiming.  Even at that moment the
+order was given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smoke
+floating away for the moment and the sun flashing off the
+bayonets.  The five sprang up and rushed on ahead.  A sheet of
+flame burst from the embankment, and the rifle pits sprang into
+fire.  The five beard the bullets whizzing past them, and the
+sudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never ceased to
+rush straight for the embankment.
+
+It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire. 
+There was one continuous flash from the earthwork, and a
+continuous flash replied.  The rifles were at work now, thousands
+of them, and they kept up an incessant crash, while above them
+rose the unbroken thunder of the cannon.  The volume of smoke
+deepened, and it was shot through with the sharp, pungent odor of
+burned gunpowder.
+
+Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded,
+and fired again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance had
+never ceased.  It had not been checked even for a moment, and the
+bayonets of one of the regiments glittered in the sun a straight
+line of steel.
+
+Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork was
+lowest.  He saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and he
+intended to strike if he could.  He saw the Mohawk gesticulating
+and shouting to his men to stand fast and drive back the charge. 
+He believed even then, and he knew later, that Thayendanegea and
+Timmendiquas were showing courage superior to that of the
+Johnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian allies. 
+The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and the
+Iroquois did not cease to send a stream of bullets from the
+earthwork.
+
+Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer and
+closer.  He saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and he
+snapped his empty pistol at it.  But it was hidden the next
+instant behind others, and then they were at the embankment.  He
+saw the glowing faces of his comrades at his side, the singular
+figure of Heemskerk revolving swiftly, and behind them the line
+of bayonets closing in with the grimness of fate.
+
+Henry leaped upon the earthwork.  An Indian fired at him point
+blank, and he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle.  Then his
+comrades were by his side, and they leaped down into the Indian
+camp.  After them came the riflemen, and then the line of
+bayonets.  Even then the great Mohawk and the great Wyandot
+shouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal Greens and
+the Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,
+McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.
+
+Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful
+things that had come before his eyes,  saw red.  He was conscious
+of a terrible melee, of striking again and again with his clubbed
+rifle, of fierce brown faces before him, and of Timmendiquas and
+Thayedanegea rushing here and there, shouting to their warriors,
+encouraging them, and exclaiming that the battle was not lost. 
+Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal Greens and the
+Rangers in full flight.  But the Wyandots and the best of the
+Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
+overwhelming.  When the line of bayonets approached their breasts
+they fell back.  Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a
+wonderful forest fighter, the Indian could never stand the
+bayonet.  Reluctantly Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the
+Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who were most strenuous in the
+conflict, gave ground.  Yet the battlefield, with its numerous
+trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.  They
+retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of
+bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
+
+Henry heard a panting breath by his side.  He looked around and
+saw the face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
+
+"The victory is won already!" said he.  "Now to drive it home!"
+
+"Come on," cried Henry in return, "and we'll lead!"
+
+A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. 
+Long Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they
+scarcely noticed, and they and the whole group of scouts were
+just behind Henry.  But they now took breath, reloaded their
+rifles, and, throwing themselves down in Indian fashion, opened a
+deadly fire upon their antagonists.  Their bullets searched all
+the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled them to
+retreat anew.
+
+The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor.  In truth, with so
+much that the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. 
+Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and
+the white leaders of their allies were already out of sight.  On
+all sides the allied red and white force was dissolving.  
+Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a greater loss
+in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee with
+great speed when the battle began to go against them-but the
+people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
+their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of
+the Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
+
+The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp,
+but the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole
+Indian army was driven in at every point.  The retreat was
+becoming a rout.  A great, confused conflict was going on.  The
+rapid crackle of rifles mingled with the shouts and war whoops of
+the combatants.  Smoke floated everywhere.  The victorious army,
+animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that had been
+practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder.  The Iroquois
+were driven back along the Chemung.  It seemed that they might be
+hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a
+ford.  Uttering their cry of despair, "Oonali!  Oonali!" a wail
+for a battle lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them
+throwing away their rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed
+for the other shore.  But the Scouts and a body of riflemen were
+after them.
+
+Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far
+shore, and opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream.  He
+alone among the white men had the courage, or the desperation, to
+throw himself and his  men in the path of the pursuit.  The
+riflemen in the water felt the bullets pattering around them, and
+some were struck, but they did not stop.  They kept on for the
+bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering fire over
+their heads.
+
+Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of
+Braxton Wyatt again.  Nothing could have turned him back now. 
+Shouting to the riflemen, he led the charge through the water,
+and the bank's defenders were driven back.  Yet Wyatt, with his
+usual dexterity and prudence, escaped among the thickets.
+
+The battle now became only a series of detached combats.  Little
+groups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept
+away.  Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather
+together enough men for an ambush, for anything that would sting
+the victors, but they were pushed too hard and fast.  A rally was
+always destroyed in the beginning, and the chiefs themselves at
+last ran for their lives.  The pursuit was continued for a long
+time, not only by the vanguard, but the army itself moved forward
+over the battlefield and deep into the forest on the trail of the
+flying Iroquois.
+
+The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a close
+watch, nevertheless, against an ambush.  Now and then they
+exchanged shots with a band, but the Indians always fled quickly,
+and at last they stopped because they could no longer find any
+resistance.  They had been in action or pursuit for many hours,
+and they were black with smoke, dust, and sweat, but they were
+not yet conscious of any weariness.  Heemskerk drew a great red
+silk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his glowing face,
+which was as red as the handkerchief.
+
+"It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many a
+year," he said.  "The Iroquois have always  thought they were
+invincible, and now the spell's been broke.  If we only follow it
+up."
+
+"That's sure to be done," said Henry.  "I heard General Sullivan
+himself say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquois
+power."
+
+They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their steps
+over the path of battle.  It was easy enough to follow it.  They
+beheld a dead warrior at every step, and at intervals were
+rifles, tomahawks, scalping knives, blankets, and an occasional
+shot pouch or powder horn.  Presently they reached the main army,
+which was going into camp for the night.  Many camp fires were
+built, and the soldiers, happy in their victory, were getting
+ready for supper.  But there was no disorder.  They had been told
+already that they were to march again in the morning.
+
+Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the field
+of battle, where many of the dead still lay.  Twilight was now
+coming, and it was a somber sight.  The earthwork, the thickets,
+and the trees were torn by cannon balls.  Some tents raised by
+the Tories lay in ruins, and the earth was stained with many dark
+splotches.  But the army had passed on, and it was silent and
+desolate where so many men had fought.  The twilight drew swiftly
+on to night, and out of the forest came grewsome sounds.  The
+wolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done so much
+to turn into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and they
+were telling it to one another.  By and by, as the night
+deepened, the five saw fiery eyes in the thickets, and the long
+howls came again.
+
+"It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House," said
+Paul, upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.
+
+The others nodded.  At that moment they did not feel the flush of
+victory in its full force.  It was not in their nature to rejoice
+over a fallen foe.  Yet they knew the full value of the victory,
+and none of them could wish any part of it undone.  They returned
+slowly to the camp, and once more they heard behind them the howl
+of the wolves as they invaded the battlefield.
+
+They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the camp
+fires twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of many
+men talking.  Heemskerk welcomed them there.
+
+"Come, lads," he said.  "You must eat-you won't find out until
+you begin, how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because we
+march early to-morrow, and we march fast."
+
+The Dutchman's words were true.  They had not tasted food since
+morning; they had never thought of it, but now, with the
+relaxation from battle, they found themselves voraciously hungry.
+
+"It's mighty good," said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire and
+ate bread and meat and drank coffee, "but I'll say this for you,
+you old ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better than
+the venison an' bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many a
+time."
+
+"An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more," said Long
+Jim complacently.
+
+"But it will be months before you have any chance at buffalo
+again, Jim," said Henry.  "We are going on a long campaign
+through the Iroquois country."
+
+"An' it's shore to be a dangerous one," said Shif'less Sol.  "Men
+like warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with one
+fight.  They'll be hangin' on our flanks like wasps."
+
+"That's true," said Henry, "but in my opinion the Iroquois are
+overthrown forever.  One defeat means more to them than a half
+dozen to us."
+
+
+They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before the
+fires.  They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work
+of watching and scouting that night could be intrusted to others. 
+Yet Henry could not sleep for a long time.  The noises of the
+night interested him.  He watched the men going about, and the
+sentinels pacing back and forth around the camp.  The sounds died
+gradually as the men lay down and sank to sleep.  The fires which
+had formed a great core of light also sank, and the shadows crept
+toward the camp.  The figures of the pacing sentinels, rifle on
+shoulder, gradually grew dusky.  Henry's nerves, attuned so long
+to great effort, slowly relaxed.  Deep peace came over him, and
+his eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the lowest
+murmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from the
+battlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirge
+of the Iroquois.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN
+
+
+The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose,
+refreshed, ready for new labors.  The fires were already lighted,
+and breakfast was cooking.  Savory odors permeated the forest. 
+But as soon as all had eaten, the army marched, going northward
+and westward, intending to cut through the very center of the
+Iroquois country.  Orders had come from the great commander that
+the power of the Six Nations, which had been so long such a
+terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be annihilated. 
+They must be made strangers in their own country.  Women and
+children were not to be molested, but their towns must perish.
+
+As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the
+Chemung, the power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to
+war on the border did not save them.  It could not.  British and
+Tories alike had promised them certain victory, and for a while
+it had seemed that the promises would come true.  But the tide
+had turned, and the Iroquois were fugitives in their own country.
+
+The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts
+in front and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank.  There
+was no chance for a surprise.  Henry and his comrades were aware
+that Indian bands still lurked in the forest, and they had
+several narrow escapes from the bullets of ambushed foes, but the
+progress of the army was irresistible.  Nothing could check it
+for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory chiefs might plan.
+
+They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring
+of sentinels posted against surprise, although there was little
+danger of the latter, as the enemy could not, for the present at
+least, bring a sufficient force into the field.  But after the
+moon had risen, the five, with Heemskerk, went ahead through the
+forest.  The Iroquois town of Kanawaholla lay just ahead, and the
+army would reach it on the morrow. It was the intention of the
+scouts to see if it was still occupied.
+
+It was near midnight when the little party drew near to
+Kanawaholla and watched it from the shelter of the forest.  Like
+most other Iroquois towns, it contained wooden houses, and
+cultivated fields were about it.  No smoke rose from any of the
+chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts saw loaded figures
+departing through a great field of ripe and waving corn.  It was
+the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could carry. 
+Two or three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives,
+but the scouts made no attempt to pursue.  They could not
+restrain a little feeling of sympathy and pity, although a just
+retribution was coming.
+
+"If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the
+war, as we asked them," said Heemskerk, "how much might have been
+spared to both sides!  Look!  Those people are stopping for a
+moment."
+
+The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of
+the corn field.  Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were
+taking a last look at their town, and the feeling of pity and
+sympathy deepened, despite Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the
+rest.  But that feeling never extended to the white allies of the
+Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea characterized in word and in writing
+as "more savage than the savages themselves."
+
+The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town.  Not a soul
+was in Kanawaholla.  Some of the lighter things had been taken
+away, but that was all.  Most of the houses were in disorder,
+showing the signs of hasty flight, but the town lay wholly at the
+mercy of the advancing army.  Henry and his comrades withdrew
+with the news, and the next day, when the troops advanced,
+Kanawaholla was put to the torch.  In an hour it was smoking
+ruins, and then the crops and fruit trees were destroyed.
+
+Leaving ruin behind, the army continued its march, treading the
+Iroquois power under foot and laying waste the country.  One
+after another the Indian towns were destroyed, Catherinetown,
+Kendaia, Kanadesaga, Shenanwaga, Skoiyase, Kanandaigua, Honeyoye,
+Kanaghsawa, Gathtsewarohare, and others, forming a long roll,
+bearing the sounding Iroquois names.  Villages around Cayuga and
+other lakes were burned by detachments.  The smoke of perishing
+towns arose everywhere in the Iroquois country, while the
+Iroquois themselves fled before the advancing army.  They sent
+appeal after appeal for help from those to whom they had given so
+much help, but none came.
+
+It was now deep autumn, and the nights grew cold.  The forests
+blazed with brilliant colors.  The winds blew, leaves rustled and
+fell.  The winter would soon be at hand, and the Iroquois, so
+proud of what they had achieved, would have to find what shelter
+they could in the forests or at the British posts on the Canadian
+frontier.  Thayendanegea was destined to come again with bands of
+red men and white and inflict great loss, but the power of the
+Six Nations was overthrown forever, after four centuries of
+victory and glory.  Henry, Paul, and the rest were all the time
+in the thick of it.  The army, as the autumn advanced, marched
+into the Genesee Valley, destroying everything.  Henry and Paul,
+as they lay on their blankets one night, counted fires in three
+different directions, and every one of the three marked a
+perishing Indian village.  It was not a work in which they took
+any delight; on the contrary, it often saddened them, but they
+felt that it had to be done, and they could not shirk the task.
+
+In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of
+scouts and riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in
+advance of the army.  It was a democratic little band, everyone
+saying what he pleased, but yielding in the end to the authority
+of the leader.  They were now far up the Genesee toward the Great
+Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of advancing ahead of the army
+on the great Seneca village known variously as the Seneca Castle
+and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full match in cruelty
+for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo.  Several causes led to this
+decision.  It was reported that Thayendanegea, Timmendiquas, all
+the Butlers and Johnsons, and Braxton Wyatt were there.  While
+not likely to be true about all, it was probably true about some
+of them, and a bold stroke might effect much.
+
+It is probable that Henry had Braxton Wyatt most in mind.  The
+renegade was in his element among the Indians and Tories, and he
+had developed great abilities as a partisan, being skillfully
+seconded by the squat Tory, Coleman.  His reputation now was
+equal at least to that of Walter Butler, and he had skirmished
+more than once with the vanguard of the army.  Growing in Henry's
+heart was a strong desire to match forces with him, and it was
+quite probable that a swift advance might find him at the Seneca
+Castle.
+
+The riflemen took up their march on a brisk morning in late
+autumn.  The night had been clear and cold, with a touch of
+winter in it, and the brilliant colors of the foliage had now
+turned to a solid brown.  Whenever the wind blew, the leaves fell
+in showers.  The sky was a fleecy blue, but over hills, valley,
+and forest hung a fine misty veil that is the mark of Indian
+summer.  The land was nowhere inhabited.  They saw the cabin of
+neither white man nor Indian.  A desolation and a silence,
+brought by the great struggle, hung over everything.  Many
+discerning eyes among the riflemen noted the beauty and fertility
+of the country, with its noble forests and rich meadows.  At
+times they caught glimpses of the river, a clear stream sparkling
+under the sun.
+
+"Makes me think o' some o' the country 'way down thar in
+Kentucky," said Shif'less Sol, "an' it seems to me I like one
+about ez well ez t'other.  Say, Henry, do you think we'll ever go
+back home?  'Pears to me that we're always goin' farther an'
+farther away."
+
+Henry laughed.
+
+"It's because circumstances have taken us by the hand and led us
+away, Sol," he replied.
+
+"Then," said the shiftless one with a resigned air, "I hope them
+same circumstances will take me by both hands, an' lead me
+gently, but strongly, back to a place whar thar is peace an' rest
+fur a lazy an' tired man like me."
+
+"I think you'll have to endure a lot, until next spring at
+least," said Henry.
+
+The shiftless one heaved a deep sigh, but his next words were
+wholly irrelevant.
+
+"S'pose we'll light on that thar Seneca Castle by tomorrow
+night?" he asked.
+
+"It seems to me that for a lazy and tired man you're extremely
+anxious for a fight," Henry replied.
+
+"I try to be resigned," said Shif'less Sol.  But his eyes were
+sparkling with the light of battle.
+
+They went into camp that night in a dense forest, with the Seneca
+Castle about ten miles ahead.  Henry was quite sure that the
+Senecas to whom it belonged had not yet abandoned it, and with
+the aid of the other tribes might make a stand there.  It was
+more than likely, too, that the Senecas had sharpshooters and
+sentinels well to the south of their town, and it behooved the
+riflemen to be extremely careful lest they run into a hornet's
+nest.  Hence they lighted no fires, despite a cold night wind
+that searched them through until they wrapped themselves in their
+blankets.
+
+The night settled down thick and dark, and the band lay close in
+the thickets.  Shif'less Sol was within a yard of Henry.  He had
+observed his young leader's face closely that day, and he had a
+mind of uncommon penetration.
+
+"Henry," he whispered, "you're hopin' that you'll find Braxton
+Wyatt an' his band at Little Beard's town?"
+
+"That among other things," replied Henry in a similar whisper.
+
+"That first, and the others afterwards," persisted the shiftless
+one.
+
+"It may be so," admitted Henry.
+
+"I feel the same way you do," said Shif'less Sol.  "You see,
+we've knowed Braxton Wyatt a long time, an' it seems strange that
+one who started out a boy with you an' Paul could turn so black. 
+An' think uv all the cruel things that he's done an' helped to
+do.  I ain't hidin' my feelin's.  I'm jest itchin' to git at
+him."
+
+"Yes," said Henry, "I'd like for our band to have it out with
+his."
+
+Henry and Shif'less Sol, and in fact all of the five, slept that
+night, because Henry wished to be strong and vigorous for the
+following night, in view of an enterprise that he had in mind. 
+The rosy Dutchman, Heemskerk, was in command of the guard, and he
+revolved continually about the camp with amazing ease, and with a
+footstep so light that it made no sound whatever.  Now and then
+he came back in the thicket and looked down at the faces of the
+sleeping five from Kentucky.  "Goot boys," he murmured to
+himself.  "Brave boys, to stay here and help.  May they go
+through all our battles and take no harm.  The goot and great God
+often watches over the brave."
+
+Mynheer Cornelius Heemskerk, native of Holland, but devoted to
+the new nation of which he had made himself a part, was a devout
+man, despite a life of danger and hardship.  The people of the
+woods do not lose faith, and he looked up at the dark skies as if
+he found encouragement there.  Then he resumed his circle about
+the camp.  He heard various noises-the hoot of an owl, the long
+whine of a wolf, and twice the footsteps of deer going down to
+the river to drink.  But the sounds were all natural, made by the
+animals to which they belonged, and Heemskerk knew it.  Once or
+twice he went farther into the forest, but he found nothing to
+indicate the presence of a foe, and while he watched thus, and
+beat up the woods, the night passed, eventless, away.
+
+They went the next day much nearer to the Seneca Castle, and saw
+sure indications that it was still inhabited, as the Iroquois
+evidently were not aware of the swift advance of the riflemen. 
+Henry had learned that this was one of the largest and strongest
+of all the Iroquois towns, containing between a hundred and two
+hundred wooden houses, and with a population likely to be swollen
+greatly by fugitives from the Iroquois towns already destroyed. 
+The need of caution-great caution-was borne in upon him, and he
+paid good heed.
+
+The riflemen sought another covert in the deep forest, now about
+three miles from Little Beard's Town, and lay there, while Henry,
+according to his plan, went forth at night with Shif'less Sol and
+Tom Ross.  He was resolved to find out more about this important
+town, and his enterprise was in full accord with his duties,
+chief among which was to save the vanguard of the army from
+ambush.
+
+When the complete darkness of night had come, the three left the
+covert, and, after traveling a short distance through the forest,
+turned in toward the river.  As the town lay on or near the
+river, Henry thought they might see some signs of Indian life on
+the stream, and from this they could proceed to discoveries.
+
+But when they first saw the river it was desolate.  Not a canoe
+was moving on its surface, and the three, keeping well in the
+undergrowth, followed the bank toward the town.  But the forest
+soon ceased, and they came upon a great field, where the Senecas
+had raised corn, and where stalks, stripped of their ears and
+browned by the autumn cold, were still standing.  But all the
+work of planting, tending, and reaping this great field, like all
+the other work in all the Iroquois fields, had been done by the
+Iroquois women, not by the warriors.
+
+Beyond the field they saw fruit trees, and beyond these, faint
+lines of smoke, indicating the position of the great Seneca
+Castle.  The dry cornstalks rustled mournfully as the wind blew
+across the field.
+
+"The stalks will make a little shelter," said Henry, "and we must
+cross the field.  We want to keep near the river."
+
+"Lead on," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They took a diagonal course, walking swiftly among the stalks and
+bearing back toward the river.  They crossed the field without
+being observed, and came into a thick fringe of trees and
+undergrowth along the river.  They moved cautiously in this
+shelter for a rod or two, and then the three, without word from
+any one of them, stopped simultaneously.  They heard in the water
+the unmistakable ripple made by a paddle, and then the sound of
+several more.  They crept to the edge of the bank and crouched
+down among the bushes.  Then they saw a singular procession.
+
+A half-dozen Iroquois canoes were moving slowly up the stream. 
+They were in single file, and the first canoe was the largest. 
+But the aspect of the little fleet was wholly different from that
+of an ordinary group of Iroquois war canoes.  It was dark,
+somber, and funereal, and in every canoe, between the feet of the
+paddlers, lay a figure, stiff and impassive, the body of a chief
+slain in battle.  It had all the appearance of a funeral
+procession, but the eyes of the three, as they roved over it,
+fastened on a figure in the first canoe, and, used as they were
+to the strange and curious, every one of them gave a start.
+
+The figure was that of a woman, a wild and terrible creature, who
+half sat, half crouched in the canoe, looking steadily downward. 
+Her long black hair fell in disordered masses from her uncovered
+head.  She wore a brilliant red dress with savage adornments, but
+it was stained and torn.  The woman's whole attitude expressed
+grief, anger, and despair.
+
+"Queen Esther!" whispered Henry.  The other two nodded.
+
+So horrifying had been the impression made upon him by this woman
+at Wyoming that he could not feel any pity for her now.  The
+picture of the great war tomahawk cleaving the heads of bound
+prisoners was still too vivid.  She had several sons, one or two
+of whom were slain in battle with the colonists, and the body
+that lay in the boat may have been one of them.  Henry always
+believed that it was-but he still felt no pity.
+
+As the file came nearer they heard her chanting a low song, and
+now she raised her face and tore at her black hair.
+
+"They're goin' to land," whispered Shif'less Sol.
+
+The head of the file was turned toward the shore, and, as it
+approached, a group of warriors, led by Little Beard, the Seneca
+chief, appeared among the trees, coming forward to meet them. 
+The three in their covert crouched closer, interested so
+intensely that they were prepared to brave the danger in order to
+remain.  But the absorption of the Iroquois in what they were
+about to do favored the three scouts.
+
+As the canoes touched the bank, Catharine Montour rose from her
+crouching position and uttered a long, piercing wail, so full of
+grief, rage, and despair that the three in the bushes shuddered. 
+It was fiercer than the cry of a wolf, and it came back from the
+dark forest in terrifying echoes.
+
+"It's not a woman, but a fiend," whispered Henry; and, as before,
+his comrades nodded in assent.
+
+The woman stood erect, a tall and stalwart figure, but the beauty
+that had once caused her to be received in colonial capitals was
+long since gone.  Her white half of blood had been submerged
+years ago in her Indian half, and there was nothing now about her
+to remind one of civilization or of the French Governor General
+of Canada who was said to have been her father.
+
+The Iroquois stood respectfully before her.  It was evident that
+she had lost none of her power among the Six Nations, a power
+proceeding partly from her force and partly from superstition. 
+As the bodies were brought ashore, one by one, and laid upon the
+ground, she uttered the long wailing cry again and again, and the
+others repeated it in a sort of chorus.
+
+When the bodies-and Henry was sure that they must all be those of
+chiefs-were laid out, she tore her hair, sank down upon the
+ground, and began a chant, which Tom Ross was afterwards able to
+interpret roughly to the others.  She sang:
+
+  The white men have come with the cannon and bayonet,
+  Numerous as forest leaves the army has come.
+  Our warriors are driven like deer by the hunter,
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Our towns are burned and our fields uprooted,
+  Our people flee through the forest for their lives,
+  The king who promised to help us comes not.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  The great chiefs are slain and their bodies lie here.
+  No longer will they lead the warriors in battle;
+  No more will they drive the foe from the thicket.
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+  Scalps we have taken from all who hated us;
+  None, but feared us in the days of our glory. 
+  But the cannon and bayonet have taken our country;
+  Fallen is the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee!
+
+She chanted many verses, but these were all that Tom Ross could
+ever remember or translate.  But every verse ended with the
+melancholy refrain: "Fallen is the League of the
+Ho-de-no-sau-nee!" which the others also repeated in chorus. 
+Then the warriors lifted up the bodies, and they moved in
+procession toward the town.  The three watched them, but they did
+not rise until the funeral train had reached the fruit trees. 
+Then they stood up, looked at one another, and breathed sighs of
+relief.
+
+"I don't care ef I never see that woman ag'in," said Shif'less
+Sol.  "She gives me the creeps.  She must be a witch huntin' for
+blood.  She is shore to stir up the Iroquois in this town."
+
+"That's true," said Henry, "but I mean to go nearer."
+
+"Wa'al," said Tom Ross, "I reckon that if you mean it we mean it,
+too."
+
+"There are certainly Tories in the town," said Henry, and if we
+are seen we can probably pass for them.  I'm bound to find out
+what's here."
+
+"Still huntin' fur Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I mean to know if he's here," said Henry.
+
+"Lead on," said the shiftless one.
+
+They followed in the path of the procession, which was now out of
+sight, and entered the orchard.  From that point they saw the
+houses and great numbers of Indians, including squaws and
+children, gathered in the open spaces, where the funeral train
+was passing.  Queen Esther still stalked at its head, but her
+chant was now taken up by many scores of voices, and the volume
+of sound penetrated far in the night.  Henry yet relied upon the
+absorption of the Iroquois in this ceremonial to give him a
+chance for a good look through the town, and he and his comrades
+advanced with boldness.
+
+They passed by many of the houses, all empty, as  their occupants
+had gone to join in the funeral lament, but they soon saw white
+men-a few of the Royal Greens, and some of the Rangers, and other
+Tories, who were dressed much like Henry and his comrades.  One
+of them spoke to Shif'less Sol, who nodded carelessly and passed
+by.  The Tory seemed satisfied and went his way.
+
+"Takes us fur some o' the crowd that's come runnin' in here ahead
+o' the army," said the shiftless one.
+
+Henry was noting with a careful eye the condition of the town. 
+He saw that no preparations for defense had been made, and there
+was no evidence that any would be made.  All was confusion and
+despair.  Already some of the squaws were fleeing, carrying heavy
+burdens.  The three coupled caution with boldness.  If they met a
+Tory they merely exchanged a word or two, and passed swiftly on. 
+Henry, although he had seen enough to know that the army could
+advance without hesitation, still pursued the quest.  Shif'less
+Sol was right.  At the bottom of Henry's heart was a desire to
+know whether Braxton Wyatt was in Little Beard's Town, a desire
+soon satisfied, as they reached the great Council House, turned a
+corner of it, and met the renegade face to face.
+
+Wyatt was with his lieutenant, the squat Tory, Coleman, and he
+uttered a cry when he saw the tall figure of the great youth. 
+There was no light but that of the moon, but he knew his foe in
+an instant.
+
+"Henry Ware!" he cried, and snatched his pistol from his belt.
+
+They were so close together that Henry did not have time to use a
+weapon.  Instinctively he struck out with his fist, catching
+Wyatt on the jaw, and sending him down as if he had been shot. 
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross ran bodily over Coleman, hurling him
+down, and leaping across his prostrate figure.  Then they ran
+their utmost, knowing that their lives depended on speed and
+skill.
+
+They quickly put the Council House between them and their
+pursuers, and darted away among the houses.  Braxton Wyatt was
+stunned, but he speedily regained his wits and his feet.
+
+"It was the fellow Ware, spying among us again! be cried to his
+lieutenant, who, half dazed, was also struggling up.  "Come, men! 
+After them!  After them!"
+
+A dozen men came at his call, and, led by the renegade, they
+began a search among the houses.  But it was hard to find the
+fugitives.  The light was not good, many flitting figures were
+about, and the frantic search developed confusion.  Other Tories
+were often mistaken for the three scouts, and were overhauled,
+much to their disgust and that of the overhaulers.  Iroquois,
+drawn from the funeral ceremony, began to join in the hunt, but
+Wyatt could give them little information.  He had merely seen an
+enemy, and then the enemy had gone.  It was quite certain that
+this enemy, or, rather, three of them, was still in the town.
+
+Henry and his comrades were crafty.  Trained by ambush and
+escape, flight and pursuit, they practiced many wiles to deceive
+their pursuers.  When Wyatt and Coleman were hurled down they ran
+around the Council House, a large and solid structure, and,
+finding a door on the opposite side and no one there or in sight
+from that point, they entered it, closing the door behind them.
+
+They stood in almost complete darkness, although at length they
+made out the log wall of the great, single room which constituted
+the Council House.  After that, with more accustomed eyes, they
+saw on the wall arms, pipes, wampum, and hideous trophies, some
+with long hair and some with short.  The hair was usually blonde,
+and most of the scalps had been stretched tight over little
+hoops.  Henry clenched his fist in the darkness.
+
+"Mebbe we're walkin' into a trap here," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"I don't think so," said Henry.  "At any rate they'd find us if
+we were rushing about the village.  Here we at least have a
+chance."
+
+At the far end of the Council House hung mats, woven of rushes,
+and the three sat down behind them in the very heart of the
+Iroquois sanctuary.  Should anyone casually enter the Council
+House they would still be hidden.  They sat in Turkish fashion on
+the floor, close together and with their rifles lying across
+their knees.  A thin light filtered through a window and threw
+pallid streaks on the floor, which they could see when they
+peeped around the edge of the mats.  But outside they heard very
+clearly the clamor of the hunt as it swung to and fro in the
+village.  Shif'less Sol chuckled.  It was very low, but it was a
+chuckle, nevertheless, and the others heard.
+
+"It's sorter takin' an advantage uv 'em," said the shiftless one,
+"layin' here in thar own church, so to speak, while they're
+ragin' an' tearin' up the earth everywhar else lookin' fur us. 
+Gives me a mighty snug feelin', though, like the one you have
+when you're safe in a big log house, an' the wind an' the hail
+an' the snow are beatin' outside."
+
+"You're shorely right, Sol," said Tom Ross.
+
+"Seems to me," continued the irrepressible Sol, "that you did git
+in a good lick at Braxton Wyatt, after all.  Ain't he unhappy
+now, bitin' his fingers an' pawin' the earth an' findin' nothin'? 
+I feel real sorry, I do, fur Braxton.  It's hard fur a nice young
+feller to have to suffer sech disappointments."
+
+Shif'less Sol chuckled again, and Henry was forced to smile in
+the darkness.  Shif'less Sol was not wholly wrong.  It would be a
+bitter blow to Braxton Wyatt.  Moreover, it was pleasant where
+they sat.  A hard floor was soft to them, and as they leaned
+against the wall they could relax and rest.
+
+"What will our fellows out thar in the woods think?" asked Tom
+Ross.
+
+"They won't have to think," replied Henry.  "They'll sit quiet as
+we're doing and wait."
+
+The noise of the hunt went on for a long time outside. War whoops
+came from different points of the village.  There were shrill
+cries of women and children, and the sound of many running feet. 
+After a while it began to sink, and soon after that they heard no
+more noises than those of people preparing for flight.  Henry
+felt sure that the town would be abandoned on the morrow, but his
+desire to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt was as strong
+as ever.  It was certain that the army could not overtake Wyatt's
+band, but he might match his own against it.  He was thinking of
+making the attempt to steal from the place when, to their great
+amazement, they heard the door of the Council House open and
+shut, and then footsteps inside.
+
+Henry looked under the edge of the hanging mat and saw two dusky
+figures near the window.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE FINAL FIGHT
+
+
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were also looking under the mats, and
+the three would have recognized those figures anywhere.  The
+taller was Timmendiquas, the other Thayendanegea.  The thin light
+from the window fell upon their faces, and Henry saw that both
+were sad.  Haughty and proud they were still, but each bore the
+look that comes only from continued defeat and great
+disappointment.  It is truth to say that the concealed three
+watched them with a curiosity so intense that all thought of
+their own risk was forgotten.  To Henry, as well as his comrades,
+these two were the greatest of all Indian chiefs.
+
+The White Lightning of the Wyandots and the Joseph Brant of the
+Mohawks stood for a space side by side, gazing out of the window,
+taking a last look at the great Seneca Castle.  It was
+Thayendanegea who spoke first, using Wyandot, which Henry
+understood.
+
+"Farewell, my brother, great chief of the Wyandots," he said. 
+"You have come far with your warriors, and you have been by our
+side in battle.  The Six Nations owe you much.  You have helped
+us in victory, and you have not deserted us in defeat.  You are
+the greatest of warriors, the boldest in battle, and the most
+skillful."
+
+Timmendiquas made a deprecatory gesture, but Thayendanegea went
+on:
+
+"I speak but the truth, great chief of the Wyandots.  We owe you
+much, and some day we may repay.  Here the Bostonians crowd us
+hard, and the Mohawks may yet fight by your side to save your own
+hunting grounds."
+
+"It is true," said Timmendiquas.  "There, too, we' must fight the
+Americans."
+
+"Victory was long with us here," said Thayendanegea, "but the
+rebels have at last brought an army against us, and the king who
+persuaded us to make war upon the Americans adds nothing to the
+help that he has given us already.  Our white allies were the
+first to run at the Chemung, and now the Iroquois country, so
+large and so beautiful, is at the mercy of the invader.  We
+perish.  In all the valleys our towns lie in ashes.  The American
+army will come to-morrow, and this, the great Seneca Castle, the
+last of our strongholds, will also sink under the flames.  I know
+not how our people will live through the Winter that is yet to
+come.  Aieroski has turned his face from us."
+
+But Timmendiquas spoke words of courage and hope.
+
+"The Six Nations will regain their country," he said.  "The great
+League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which has been victorious for so
+many generations, cannot be destroyed.  All the tribes from here
+to the Mississippi will help, and will press down upon the
+settlements.  I will return to stir them anew, and the British
+posts will give us arms and ammunition."
+
+The light of defiance shone once more in the eyes of
+Thayendanegea.
+
+"You raise my spirits again," he said.  "We flee now, but we
+shall come back again.  The Ho-de-no-saunee can never submit.  We
+will ravage all their settlements, and burn and destroy.  We will
+make a wilderness where they have been.  The king and his men
+will yet give us more help."
+
+Part of his words came true, and the name of the raiding
+Thayendanegea was long a terror, but the Iroquois, who had
+refused the requested neutrality, had lost their Country forever,
+save such portions as the victor in the end chose to offer to
+them.
+
+"And now, as you and your Wyandots depart within the half hour, I
+give you a last farewell," said Thayendanegea.
+
+The hands of the two great chiefs met in a clasp like that of the
+white man, and then Timmendiquas abruptly left the Council House,
+shutting the door behind him.  Thayendanegea lingered a while at
+the window, and the look of sadness returned to his face.  Henry
+could read many of the thoughts that were passing through the
+Mohawk's proud mind.
+
+Thayendanegea was thinking of his great journey to London, of the
+power and magnificence that he had seen, of the pride and glory
+of the Iroquois, of the strong and numerous Tory faction led by
+Sir John Johnson, the half brother of the children of Molly
+Brant, Thayendanegea's own sister, of the Butlers and all the
+others who had said that the rebels would be easy to conquer.  He
+knew better now, he had long known better, ever since that
+dreadful battle in the dark defile of the Oriskany, when the
+Palatine Germans, with old Herkimer at their head, beat the
+Tories, the English, and the Iroquois, and made the taking of
+Burgoyne possible.  The Indian chieftain was a statesman, and it
+may be that from this moment he saw that the cause of both the
+Iroquois and their white allies was doomed.    Presently
+Thayendanegea left the window, walking  slowly toward the door. 
+He paused there a moment or two, and then went out, closing it
+behind him, as Timmendiquas had done.  The three did not speak
+until several minutes after he had gone.
+
+"I don't believe," said Henry, "that either of them thinks,
+despite their brave words, that the Iroquois can ever win back
+again."
+
+"Serves 'em right," said Tom Ross.  "I remember what I saw at
+Wyoming."
+
+"Whether they kin do it or not," said the practical Sol, "it's
+time for us to git out o' here, an' go back to our men."
+
+"True words, Sol," said Henry, "and we'll go."
+
+Examining first at the window and then through the door, opened
+slightly, they saw that the Iroquois village bad become quiet. 
+The preparations for departure had probably ceased until morning. 
+Forth stole the three, passing swiftly among the houses, going,
+with silent foot toward the orchard.  An old squaw, carrying a
+bundle from a house, saw them, looked sharply into their faces,
+and knew them to be white.  She threw down her bundle with a
+fierce, shrill scream, and ran, repeating the scream as she ran.
+
+Indians rushed out, and with them Braxton Wyatt and his band. 
+Wyatt caught a glimpse of a tall figure, with two others, one on
+each side, running toward the orchard, and he knew it.  Hate and
+the hope to capture or kill swelled afresh.  He put a whistle to
+his lip and blew shrilly.  It was a signal to his band, and they
+came from every point, leading the pursuit.
+
+Henry heard the whistle, and he was quite sure that it was Wyatt
+who had made the sound.  A single glance backward confirmed him. 
+He knew Wyatt's figure as well as Wyatt knew his, and the dark
+mass with him was certainly composed of his own men.  The other
+Indians and Tories, in all likelihood, would turn back soon, and
+that fact would give him the chance he wished.
+
+They were clear of the town now, running lightly through the
+orchard, and Shif'less Sol suggested that they enter the woods at
+once.
+
+"We can soon dodge 'em thar in the dark," he said.
+
+"We don't want to dodge 'em," said Henry.
+
+The shiftless one was surprised, but when he glanced at Henry's
+face he understood.
+
+"You want to lead 'em on an' to a fight?" he said.
+
+Henry nodded.
+
+"Glad you thought uv it," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+They crossed the very corn field through which they had come,
+Braxton Wyatt and his band in full cry after them.  Several shots
+were fired, but the three kept too far ahead for any sort of
+marksmanship, and they were not touched.  When they finally
+entered the woods they curved a little, and then, keeping just
+far enough ahead to be within sight, but not close enough for the
+bullets, Henry led them straight toward the camp of the riflemen. 
+As he approached, he fired his own rifle, and uttered the long
+shout of the forest runner.  He shouted a second time, and now
+Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross joined in the chorus, their great cry
+penetrating far through the woods.
+
+Whether Braxton Wyatt or any of his mixed band of Indians and
+Tories suspected the meaning of those great shouts Henry never
+knew, but the pursuit came on with undiminished speed.  There was
+a good silver moon now, shedding much light, and he saw Wyatt
+still in the van, with his Tory lieutenant close behind, and
+after them red men and white, spreading out like a fan to inclose
+the fugitives in a trap.  The blood leaped in his veins.  It was
+a tide of fierce joy.  He had achieved both of the purposes for
+which he had come.  He had thoroughly scouted the Seneca Castle,
+and he was about to come to close quarters with Braxton Wyatt and
+the band which he had made such a terror through the valleys.
+
+Shif'less Sol saw the face of his young comrade, and he was
+startled.  He had never before beheld it so stern, so resolute,
+and so pitiless.  He seemed to remember as one single, fearful
+picture all the ruthless and terrible scenes of the last year. 
+Henry uttered again that cry which was at once a defiance and a
+signal, and from the forest ahead of him it was answered, signal
+for signal.  The riflemen were coming, Paul, Long Jim, and
+Heemskerk at their head.  They uttered a mighty cheer as they saw
+the flying three, and their ranks opened to receive them.  From
+the Indians and Tories came the long whoop of challenge, and
+every one in either band knew that the issue was now about to be
+settled by battle, and by battle alone.  They used all the
+tactics of the forest.  Both sides instantly dropped down among
+the trees and undergrowth, three or four hundred yards apart, and
+for a few moments there was no sound save heavy breathing, heard
+only by those who lay close by.  Not a single human being would
+have been visible to an ordinary eye there in the moonlight,
+which tipped boughs and bushes with ghostly silver.  Yet no area
+so small ever held a greater store of resolution and deadly
+animosity.  On one side were the riflemen, nearly every one of
+whom had slaughtered kin to mourn, often wives and little
+children, and on the other the Tories and Iroquois, about to lose
+their country, and swayed by the utmost passions of hate and
+revenge.
+
+"Spread out," whispered Henry.  "Don't give them a chance to
+flank us.  You, Sol, take ten men and go to the right, and you,
+Heemskerk, take ten and go to the left."
+
+"It is well," whispered Heemskerk.  "You have a great head,
+Mynheer Henry."
+
+Each promptly obeyed, but the larger number of the riflemen
+remained in the center, where Henry knelt, with Paul and Long Jim
+on one side of him, and Silent Tom on the other.  When he thought
+that the two flanking parties had reached the right position, he
+uttered a low whistle, and back came two low whistles, signals
+that all was ready.  Then the line began its slow advance,
+creeping forward from tree to tree and from bush to bush.  Henry
+raised himself up a little, but he could not yet see anything
+where the hostile force lay hidden.  They went a little farther,
+and then all lay down again to look.
+
+Tom Ross had not spoken a word, but none was more eager than he. 
+He was almost flat upon the ground, and he had been pulling
+himself along by a sort of muscular action of his whole body. 
+Now he was so still that he did not seem to breathe.  Yet his
+eyes, uncommonly eager now, were searching the thickets ahead. 
+They rested at last on a spot of brown showing through some
+bushes, and, raising his rifle, he fired with sure aim.  The
+Iroquois uttered his death cry, sprang up convulsively, and then
+fell back prone.  Shots were fired in return, and a dozen
+riflemen replied to them.  The battle was joined.
+
+They heard Braxton Wyatt's whistle, the challenging war cry of
+the Iroquois, and then they fought in silence, save for the crack
+of the rifles.  The riflemen continued to advance in slow,
+creeping fashion, always pressing the enemy.  Every time they
+caught sight of a hostile face or body they sent a bullet at it,
+and Wyatt's men did the same.  The two lines came closer, and all
+along each there were many sharp little jets of fire and smoke. 
+Some of the riflemen were wounded, and two were slain, dying
+quietly and without interrupting their comrades, who continued to
+press the combat, Henry always leading in the center, and
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk on the flanks.
+
+This battle so strange, in which faces were seen only for a
+moment, and which was now without the sound of voices, continued
+without a moment's cessation in the dark forest.  The fury of the
+combatants increased as the time went on, and neither side was
+yet victorious.  Closer and closer came the lines.  Meanwhile
+dark clouds were piling in a bank in the southwest.  Slow thunder
+rumbled far away, and the sky was cut at intervals by lightning. 
+But the combatants did not notice the heralds of storm.  Their
+attention was only for each other.
+
+It seemed to Henry that emotions and impulses in him had
+culminated.  Before him were the worst of all their foes, and his
+pitiless resolve was not relaxed a particle.  The thunder and the
+lightning, although he did not notice them, seemed to act upon
+him as an incitement, and with low words he continually urged
+those about him to push the battle.
+
+Drops of rain fell, showing in the moonshine like beads of silver
+on boughs and twigs, but by and by the smoke from the rifle fire,
+pressed down by the heavy atmosphere, gathered among the trees,
+and the moon was partly hidden.  But file combat did not relax
+because of the obscurity.  Wandering Indians, hearing the firing,
+came to Wyatt's relief, but, despite their aid, he was compelled
+to give ground.  His were the most desperate and hardened men,
+red and white, in all the allied forces, but they were faced by
+sharpshooters better than themselves.  Many of them were already
+killed, others were wounded, and, although Wyatt and Coleman
+raged and strove to hold them, they began to give back, and so
+hard pressed were they that the Iroquois could not perform the
+sacred duty of carrying off their dead.  No one sought to carry
+away the Tories, who lay with the rain, that had now begun to
+fall, beating upon them.
+
+So much had the riflemen advanced that they came to the point
+where bodies of their enemies lay.  Again that fierce joy surged
+up in Henry's heart.  His friends and he were winning.  But he
+wished to do more than win.  This band, if left alone, would
+merely flee from the Seneca Castle before the advance of the
+army, and would still exist to ravage and slay elsewhere.
+
+"Keep on, Tom!  Keep on!" he cried to Ross and the others. 
+"Never let them rest!"
+
+"We won't!  We ain't dreamin' o' doin' sech a thing," replied the
+redoubtable one as he loaded and fired.  "Thar, I got another!"
+
+The Iroquois, yielding slowly at first, began now to give way
+faster.  Some sought to dart away to right or left, and bury
+themselves in the forest, but they were caught by the flanking
+parties of Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk, and driven back on the
+center.  They could not retreat except straight on the town, and
+the riflemen followed them step for step.  The moan of the
+distant thunder went on, and the soft rain fell, but the deadly
+crackle of the rifles formed a sharper, insistent note that
+claimed the whole attention of both combatants.
+
+It was now the turn of the riflemen to receive help.  Twenty or
+more scouts and others abroad in the forest were called by the
+rifle fire, and went at once into the battle.  Then Wyatt was
+helped a second time by a band of Senecas and Mohawks, but,
+despite all the aid, they could not withstand the riflemen. 
+Wyatt, black with fury and despair, shouted to them and sometimes
+cursed or even struck at them, but the retreat could not be
+stopped.  Men fell fast.  Every one of the riflemen was a
+sharpshooter, and few bullets missed.
+
+Wyatt was driven out of the forest and into the very corn field
+through which Henry had passed.  Here the retreat became faster,
+and, with shouts of triumph, the riflemen followed after.  Wyatt
+lost some men in the flight through the field, but when he came
+to the orchard, having the advantage of cover, he made another
+desperate stand.
+
+But Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk took the band on the flanks,
+pouring in a destructive fire, and Wyatt, Coleman, and a fourth
+of his band, all that survived, broke into a run for the town.
+
+The riflemen uttered shout after shout of triumph, and it was
+impossible to restrain their pursuit.  Henry would have stopped
+here, knowing the danger of following into the town, especially
+when the army was near at band with an irresistible force, but he
+could not stay them.  He decided then that if they would charge
+it must be done with the utmost fire and spirit.
+
+"On, men!  On!" he cried.  "Give them no chance to take cover."
+
+Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk wheeled in with the flanking parties,
+and the riflemen, a solid mass now, increased the speed of
+pursuit.  Wyatt and his men had no chance to turn and fire, or
+even to reload.  Bullets beat upon them as they fled, and here
+perished nearly all of that savage band.  Wyatt, Coleman, and
+only a half dozen made good the town, where a portion of the
+Iroquois who had not yet fled received them.  But the exultant
+riflemen did not stop even there.  They were hot on the heels of
+Wyatt and the fugitives, and attacked at once the Iroquois who
+came to their relief.  So fierce was their rush that these new
+forces were driven back at once.  Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, and a
+dozen more, seeing no other escape, fled to a large log house
+used as a granary, threw themselves into it, barred the doors
+heavily, and began to fire from the upper windows, small openings
+usually closed with boards.  Other Indians from the covert of
+house, tepee, or tree, fired upon the assailants, and a fresh
+battle began in the town.
+
+The riflemen, directed by their leaders, met the new situation
+promptly.  Fired upon from all sides, at least twenty rushed into
+a house some forty yards from that of Braxton Wyatt.  Others
+seized another house, while the rest remained outside, sheltered
+by little outhouses, trees, or inequalities of the earth, and
+maintained rapid sharpshooting in reply to the Iroquois in the
+town or to Braxton Wyatt's men in the house.  Now the combat
+became fiercer than ever.  The warriors uttered yells, and
+Wyatt's men in the house sent forth defiant shouts.  From another
+part of the town came shrill cries of old squaws, urging on their
+fighting men.
+
+It was now about four o'clock in the morning.  The thunder and
+lightning had ceased, but the soft rain was still falling.  The
+Indians had lighted fires some distance away.  Several carried
+torches.  Helped by these, and, used so long to the night, the
+combatants saw distinctly.  The five lay behind a low embankment,
+and they paid their whole attention to the big house that
+sheltered Wyatt and his men.  On the sides and behind they were
+protected by Heemskerk and others, who faced a coming swarm.
+
+"Keep low, Paul," said Henry, restraining his eager comrade. 
+"Those fellows in the house can shoot, and we don't want to lose
+you.  There, didn't I tell you!"
+
+A bullet fired from the window passed through the top of Paul's
+cap, but clipped only his hair.  Before the flash from the window
+passed, Long Jim fired in return, and something fell back inside. 
+Bullets came from other windows.  Shif'less Sol fired, and a
+Seneca fell forward banging half out of the window, his naked
+body a glistening brown in the firelight.  But he hung only a few
+seconds.  Then he fell to the ground and lay still.  The five
+crouched low again, waiting a new opportunity.  Behind them, and
+on either side, they heard the crash of the new battle and
+challenging cries.
+
+Braxton Wyatt, Coleman, four more Tories, and six Indians were
+still alive in the strong log house.  Two or three were wounded,
+but they scarcely noticed it in the passion of conflict.  The
+house was a veritable fortress, and the renegade's hopes rose
+high as he heard the rifle fire from different parts of the town. 
+His own band had been annihilated by the riflemen, led by Henry
+Ware, but he had a sanguine hope now that his enemies had rushed
+into a trap.  The Iroquois would turn back and destroy them.
+
+Wyatt and his comrades presented a repellent sight as they
+crouched in the room and fired from the two little windows.  His
+clothes and those of the white men had been torn by bushes and
+briars in their flight, and their faces had been raked, too,
+until they bled, but they had paid no attention to such wounds,
+and the blood was mingled with sweat and powder smoke.  The
+Indians, naked to the waist, daubed with vermilion, and streaked,
+too, with blood, crouched upon the floor, with the muz'zles of
+their rifles at the windows, seeking something human to kill. 
+One and all, red and white, they were now raging savages, There
+was not one among them who did not have some foul murder of woman
+or child to his credit.
+
+Wyatt himself was mad for revenge.  Every evil passion in him was
+up and leaping.  His eyes, more like those of a wild animal than
+a human being, blazed out of a face, a mottled red and black.  By
+the side of him the dark Tory, Coleman, was driven by impulses
+fully as fierce.
+
+"To think of it!" exclaimed Wyatt.  "He led us directly into a
+trap, that Ware!  And here our band is destroyed!  All the good
+men that we gathered together, except these few, are killed!"
+
+"But we may pay them back," said Coleman.  "We were in their
+trap, but now they are in ours!  Listen to that firing and the
+war whoop!  There are enough Iroquois yet in the town to kill
+every one of those rebels!"
+
+"I hope so!  I believe so!" exclaimed Wyatt.  "Look out, Coleman! 
+Ah, he's pinked you!  That's the one they call Shif'less Sol, and
+he's the best sharpshooter of them all except Ware!"
+
+Coleman had leaned forward a little in his anxiety to secure a
+good aim at something.  He had disclosed only a little of his
+face, but in an instant a bullet had seared his forehead like the
+flaming stroke of a sword, passing on and burying itself in the
+wall.  Fresh blood dripped down over his face.  He tore a strip
+from the inside of his coat, bound it about his head, and went on
+with the defense.
+
+A Mohawk, frightfully painted, fired from the other window.  Like
+a flash came the return shot, and the Indian fell back in the
+room, stone dead, with a bullet through his bead.
+
+"That was Ware himself," said Wyatt.  "I told you he was the best
+shot of them all.  I give him that credit.  But they're all good. 
+Look out!  There goes another of our men!  It was Ross who did
+that!  I tell you, be careful!  Be careful!"
+
+It was an Onondaga who fell this time, and he lay with his head
+on the window sill until another Indian pulled him inside.  A
+minute later a Tory, who peeped guardedly for a shot, received a
+bullet through his head, and sank down on the floor.  A sort of
+terror spread among the others.  What could they do in the face
+of such terrible sharpshooting?  It was uncanny, almost
+superhuman, and they looked stupidly at one another.  Smoke from
+their own firing had gathered in the room, and it formed a
+ghastly veil about their faces.  They heard the crash of the
+rifles outside from every point, but no help came to them.
+
+"We're bound to do something!" exclaimed Wyatt.  "Here you,
+Jones, stick up the edge of your cap, and when they fire at it
+I'll put a bullet in the man who pulls the trigger."
+
+Jones thrust up his cap, but they knew too much out there to be
+taken in by an old trick.  The cap remained unhurt, but when
+Jones in his eagerness thrust it higher until he exposed his arm,
+his wrist was smashed in an instant by a bullet, and he fell back
+with a howl of pain.  Wyatt swore and bit his lips savagely.  He
+and all of them began to fear that they were in another and
+tighter trap, one from which there was no escape unless the
+Iroquois outside drove off the riflemen, and of that they could
+as yet see no sign.  The sharpshooters held their place behind
+the embankment and the little outhouse, and so little as a
+finger, even, at the windows became a sure mark for their
+terrible bullets.  A Seneca, seeking a new trial for a shot,
+received a bullet through the shoulder, and a Tory who followed
+him in the effort was slain outright.
+
+The light hitherto had been from the fires, but now the dawn was
+coming.  Pale gray beams fell over the town, and then deepened
+into red and yellow.  The beams reached the room where the
+beleaguered remains of Wyatt's band fought, but, mingling with
+the smoke, they gave a new and more ghastly tint to the desperate
+faces.
+
+"We've got to fight!" exclaimed Wyatt.  "We can't sit here and be
+taken like beasts in a trap!  Suppose we unbar the doors below
+and make a rush for it?"
+
+Coleman shook his head.  "Every one of us would be killed within
+twenty yards," he said.
+
+"Then the Iroquois must come back," cried Wyatt.  "Where is Joe
+Brant?  Where is Timmendiquas, and where is that coward, Sir John
+Johnson?  Will they come?"
+
+"They won't come," said Coleman.
+
+They lay still awhile, listening to the firing in the town, which
+swayed hither and thither.  The smoke in the room thinned
+somewhat, and the daylight broadened and deepened.  As a
+desperate resort they resumed fire from the windows, but three
+more of their number were slain, and, bitter with chagrin, they
+crouched once more on the floor out of range.  Wyatt looked at
+the figures of the living and the dead.  Savage despair tore at
+his heart again, and his hatred of those who bad done this
+increased.  It was being served out to him and his band as they
+had served it out to many a defenseless family in the beautiful
+valleys of the border.  Despite the sharpshooters, he took
+another look at the window, but kept so far back that there was
+no chance for a shot.
+
+"Two of them are slipping away," he exclaimed.  "They are Ross
+and the one they call Long Jim!  I wish I dared a shot!  Now
+they're gone!"
+
+They lay again in silence for a time.  There was still firing in
+the town, and now and then they heard shouts.  Wyatt looked at
+his lieutenant, and his lieutenant looked at him.
+
+"Yours is the ugliest face I ever saw," said Wyatt.
+
+"I can say the same of yours-as I can't see mine," said Coleman.
+
+The two gazed once more at the hideous, streaked, and grimed
+faces of each other, and then laughed wildly.  A wounded Seneca
+sitting with his back against the wall began to chant a low,
+wailing death song.
+
+"Shut up!  Stop that infernal noise!" exclaimed Wyatt savagely.
+
+The Seneca stared at him with fixed, glassy eyes and continued
+his chant.  Wyatt turned away, but that song was upon his nerves. 
+He knew that everything was lost.  The main force of the Iroquois
+would not come back to his help, and Henry Ware would triumph. 
+He sat down on the floor, and muttered fierce words under his
+breath.
+
+"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Coleman.  "What is that?"
+
+A low crackling sound came to their ears, and both recognized it
+instantly.  It was the sound of flames eating rapidly into wood,
+and of that wood was built the house they now held.  Even as they
+listened they could hear the flames leap and roar into new and
+larger life.
+
+"This is, what those two, Ross and Hart, were up to!" exclaimed
+Wyatt.  "We're not only trapped, but we're to be burned alive in
+our trap!"
+
+"Not I," said Coleman, "I'm goin' to make a rush for it."
+
+"It's the only thing to be done," said Wyatt.  "Come, all of you
+that are left!"
+
+The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded
+Seneca, who sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant
+his death chant.  Wyatt glanced at him, but said nothing.  Then
+he and the others rushed down the stairs.
+
+The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were
+roaring.  They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air.  A
+shower of bullets met them.  The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking
+cry, threw up his arms, and fell back in the doorway.  Braxton
+Wyatt seized one of the smaller men, and, holding him a moment or
+two before him to receive the fire of his foe, dashed for the
+corner of the blazing building.  The man whom he held was slain,
+and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he made the corner. 
+In an instant he put the burning building between him and his
+pursuers, and ran as he had never run before in all his life,
+deadly fear putting wings on his heels.  As he ran he heard the
+dull boom of a cannon, and he knew that tile American army was
+entering the Seneca Castle.  Ahead of him he saw the last of the
+Indians fleeing for the woods, and behind him the burning house
+crashed and fell in amid leaping flames and sparks in myriads. 
+He alone had escaped from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+DOWN THE OHIO
+
+
+"We didn't get Wyatt," said Henry, "but we did pretty well,
+nevertheless."
+
+"That's so," said Shif'less Sol.  "Thar's nothin' left o' his
+band but hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped
+to do it.  I guess we've saved the lives of a good many innocent
+people with this morning's work."
+
+"Never a doubt of it," said Henry, "and here's the army now
+finishing up the task."
+
+The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in
+two hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed.  The five
+took no part in this, but rested after their battles and labors. 
+One or two had been grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too
+trifling to be noticed.  As they rested, they watched the fire,
+which was an immense one, fed by so much material.  The blaze
+could be seen for many miles, and the ashes drifted over all the
+forest beyond the fields.
+
+All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to
+the British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their
+allies had already preceded them.  The coals of Little Beard's
+Town smoldered for two or three days, and then the army turned
+back, retracing its steps down the Genesee.
+
+Henry and his comrades felt that their work in the East was
+finished.  Kentucky was calling to them.  They had no doubt that
+Braxton Wyatt, now that his band was destroyed, would return
+there, and he would surely be plotting more danger.  It was their
+part to meet and defeat him.  They wished, too, to see again the
+valley, the river, and the village in which their people had made
+their home, and they ,wished yet more to look upon the faces of
+these people.
+
+They left the army, went southward with Heemskerk and some others
+of the riflemen, but at the Susquehanna parted with the gallant
+Dutchman and his comrades.
+
+"It is good to me to have known you, my brave friends," said
+Heemskerk, "and I say good-by with sorrow to you, Mynheer Henry;
+to you, Mynheer Paul; to you, Mynheer Sol; to you, Mynheer Tom;
+and to you, Mynheer Jim."
+
+He wrung their hands one by one, and then revolved swiftly away
+to hide his emotion.
+
+The five, rifles on their shoulders, started through the forest. 
+When they looked back they saw Cornelius Heemskerk waving his
+hand to them.  They waved in return, and then disappeared in the
+forest.  It was a long journey to Pittsburgh, but they found it a
+pleasant one.  It was yet deep autumn on the Pennsylvania hills,
+and the forest was glowing with scarlet and gold.  The air was
+the very wine of life, and when they needed game it was there to
+be shot.  As the cold weather hung off, they did not hurry, and
+they enjoyed the peace of the forest.  They realized now that
+after their vast labors, hardships, and dangers, they needed a
+great rest, and they took it.  It was singular, and perhaps not
+so singular, how their minds turned from battle, pursuit, and
+escape, to gentle things.  A little brook or fountain pleased
+them.  They admired the magnificent colors of the foliage, and
+lingered over the views from the low mountains.  Doe and fawn
+fled from them, but without cause.  At night they built splendid
+fires, and sat before them, while everyone in his turn told tales
+according to his nature or experience.
+
+They bought at Pittsburgh a strong boat partly covered, and at
+the point where the Allegheny and the Monongahela unite they set
+sail down the Ohio.  It was winter now, but in their stout
+caravel they did not care.  They had ample supplies of all kinds,
+including ammunition, and their hearts were light when they swung
+into the middle of the Ohio and moved with its current.
+
+"Now for a great voyage," said Paul, looking at the clear stream
+with sparkling eyes.
+
+"I wonder what it will bring to us," said Shif'less Sol.
+
+"We shall see," said Henry.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Scouts of the Valley, by Altsheler
+
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