The Keepers of the Trail

ress, where they felt sure their comrades were lying in comfortable and hidden security. But back now in the deep forest the atm

'less Sol regretfully. "We're already back

e south, but there's the column of smoke as big as

hev to cross. Looks deep too. S

er place or a tree that has

nition clear of the surface. As they emerged on the other shore, a warrior standing in the bushes about forty yards away uttered a shout

eyond. Thick bushes had hid the coals from the sight of Henry and the shiftless one and now, taking no time to reply to the bullet of

s one. "They didn't do sech things ez these thar in Adam or Eve's

he stone hollow, because that would merely draw 'em down

see it off on the left an' I notice that it's growin' wider an' deep

o do a lot before they c

e right hard to ketch. I'm prou

s Sol could distance them, if they used their utmost speed, he was in continuous apprehension lest they stir up some other band or at least stray warriors, as the forest was full of them. The creek was a bar holding them to an almost straight line. It was wide an

to Sol, "and I think we've stirred up

rm in the face of the other. They had not run out of the trap. Instead the trap was about to be sprung upon them. With the unfordable stream on one side of them, an Ind

of exultation and ferocity. Henry understood it as truly as if it had been spoken in words. It said that the fugitives were surely theirs, that th

long in the happy valley, were gone. Instead his veins were flushed with anger. The warriors would exult over the torture and death of his com

he whole motion, the brief curve about, and then the half circle back, seemed one, and ye

we kin shoot," said Shif'less Sol. "Yes, they're not so c

llets flew wild. Then a pattering upon leaves and

enry, "but it was anger too.

nging to look at the creek, but if they attempted to ford it the warriors would almost certainly shoot th

ood runner. So am I, and we need

ckon

nes and brush to entrap them, and seeing that the two fugitives would be well ahead before the junction of the two bands could be formed, the band behind them sent fo

l to shut down on us," he

it tha

ol! A little faster

crisis was at hand put forth their utmost powers. Under a burst of magnificent speed the ground spun behind them. Trees and

" breathed Henry as

un so fast fur a time. It's fine to be a race horse, but y

think our rock fortress can now be more than ten miles aw

ng, and had grown much swifter. He inferred that rapids were ahead, but this was surely the place to cross,

be sure that you land

ng far out, and Henry sprang with him. There were two splashes, as they sank almost to the waists in the water, but they were able to keep their powder a

llets. Two or three pattered on the stream, but they did not hear the whizz of

ol?" sa

hit. A

ouch

ight on your fe

straight can

ppy. I reckon we kin slow down a little now, can't we?

the fresh breath that we need so badly. But you know, Sol,

, an' with a thousand miles o' space

st. They went at a rather easy gait for an hour or more, but when they rested fifteen minutes they heard at the end of that time sounds of pursuit. The warriors were showing their usual tenacity on

but Henry and the shiftless one now had little fear for themselves. Their chief apprehension was lest they

ek, flowing like its parallel sister into the Ohio. All these creeks overflowed widely in the hea

slow up a bit, gits stale. Your mind grows mighty tired o' it even if your feet do plant themselves one after another jest like a machine. Now, my mind is sayin' e

o, but we must cross to the other side

What's a

ry explained. "Come on now, Sol. Watch your footing

the minute my foot has left 'em. I'm glad thar are lots o' bushes here, 'ca

ey found a tiny island of firm ground set thick with saplings and bushes, among which they crawled and lay down, unti

an oasis?" sai

surrounded for a l

est eyed warrior ever born couldn't see into it. Henr

g by, but that does not put a roof ov

ect, Henry, that all

w we'll be hungry soon, but we'll jus

he hungrier I'll git. I'm lookin' ahead, Henry, an' I see the time when we'll hev

d you can see them now among the b

ome to the edge of the swamp and stopped. They seemed at a loss, as the mud had long since sunk back and covered up the trail, and perhaps, also, they hesitated because of th

v been in the second band that come up. Do you t

well hidden now, but a shot would bring them down u

Lookin' over all that mud they don't dream that the fellers they're lookin' fur

ng here. They'll be searching the forests on the ot

It's comin' on me strong, Henry, that hungry feel

s is a time when yo

gs pow'ful bad an' go after 'em pow'ful hard are mos

of my rifle right now, and it's a strong temptation to put a bullet into

t an' take the chances?

life and you like yours-but to others as well. Besides, I can't draw trigger on Braxton Wyatt from cover. Cruel as he

o' women an' children too. But it's too late anyhow. He's gone, an' t

ng and gasping there startled them. A large black figure rose up from a dense thicket of al

t! I kin see his steaks fryin' over the coals now. Thar's

d Henry, laughing. "Why, your shot would b

ar, an' I want to put the respons

There he goes and you

across the mud flats and entered the forest,

"and in two or three hours they'll be cookin' him. An' he was our bear, too. We saw him first. I c

we'd better keep quiet. The Indians are probably f

s one became restless. He was a man of great strength, and despite his lazy manner, of wonderful bodily activity. It took much food to satisfy the demands of that powerful frame, and he was growing hungrier and hungrier. Moreover a lig

est as I expected. They're cookin' h

but we can't help it. W

but anyway I ain't goin' to be resigned. I'm protestin

ation of the shiftless one increased. And with these tw

Sometimes I put that hunger down but in a minute it bounces back up ag'in stronger than ever. It's my master, gittin' control over ev'ry inch o' me, an' I've got to listen to wha

uch as you please. We'

um' distracted on the question o' food, though it makes me smarter an' more keerful than ever on the ways to git it. I jest wanted

d, Sol? You'd be killed

ut Henry, it ain't no use talkin'. I'm goin'. My mind is clean made up. Besides, I won't be scal

d of the shiftless one was made up, and occasi

I don't know your plan of action, and I won't ask it,

is minute turned darker, which is a sign. Darkness is wh

s the danger, and he thought the risk was out of proportion to the purpose. But there was nothing more for him to say a

ieve the cries had any bearing upon the adventure of Shif'less Sol. Then he heard a faint chorus of yells in the western forest, whence his comra

aint figure of a man, scarcely a tracery, appear in the north, and then come skipping like a swift shadow across the flat. His hea

Sol was on the oasis, crouched among the bushes, laughin

enry!" he exulted.

f a bear that had been cooked

Did sech an odor ever afore tickle your nose? Did your

handed it to Henry, who began to eat eagerly.

u manage it

tless on

dressed him an' cut him into four quarters. 'Pears that most o' 'em hed gone deeper into the woods to look fur somethin'. I come close up in the bushes, an' began a terrible snarlin' an' yelpin' like a hull pack o' wolves. The three that wuz left, the cooks, took torches from the fire, an' run in after me. But I hed flew like lightnin' 'roun' to the other side, jumped in

think you could go through with it, but

I wuz bound to h

ugh for two days more. It relieves us of a great anxiety, beca

oin' up thar in the holler? A-layin' 'roun' on the stone floor,

r their anxi

an' his quiet ways, an' Long Jim, with whom I like so pow'ful well to argy an' who likes so pow'ful well to argy with me, ez good a feller ez ever br

urn in sleeping. Their clothing had dried on them, but their blankets had e

umn of smoke was gone, but that the smaller

e of it?" he ask

cannon hez started off into the south, but that part o' t

has the big force gone a

. It's too m

ng that he was mistaken he

n all the Indians in this part of the forest have been drawn off. They've long since lost us, and they wouldn

n' so we'll leave our isl

back to their true home. The wonderful breeze, fresh with a thousand odors of spring in the wilderness, was blowing. It did not c

whisper, with instinctive caution. "I like 'em, even

would be able to approach the hollow, unseen and unheard. Henry still did not like the presence of the s

ood one," he said to Shif'less Sol, "but I

o on an'

being extremely dense, but when they were within less than

d it?" sa

I hear

n the dropping of an acorn

shot. Neither you nor I co

iced where i

ce where Paul and Tom

resence has been discovered

e way I lo

ust make

it that we ain't took an' scalped and burned by the sava

, but that the smaller had remained to take their comrades, whose presence, by some chance, they had discovered. They lay closely hidden for a whil

even without our help. So I think, Henry, we'd better go an' see whether the main camp has broke up an' th

nry. "We'll have to leave our comrade

under cover, could be seen from afar. Game started up in their path and Henry took it as new proof that the main body of the Indians had gone. Deer, scared away by the hunters, were so plentiful that they would

of greatly lengthening their journey. At one point they heard a slight sound in the forest, and being uncertain whether it was made by an enemy they remained crouc

I've tried to believe that the shots were fired by Indians at game, but I can't force my belief

"that so long as we hear 'em the boys are holdin' out. Th

gain. It must have been made by a wildcat or a w

d it that it had been abandoned. They approached very carefully through the dense woods, and they heard no sound whatever. It was true

anything, do y

a s

they'r

days. Now the last man was gone, but they had left ample trace of their presence. In the wide open space lay the charred coals of many f

ss one. "I've a good appetite myself, but it w

ering of many feet came f

y've been here to glean, and t

e back the mom

ere is the road they've cut through the forest. A blind boy could follo

he boys while them warriors, with the English an' the c

n the most precio

is, H

w and continue his efforts to destroy the cannon, or return and help their comrades who might be besieged for a week, or even longer? But it was likely that Paul, Long Jim and Silent Tom, with all their resou

, the deep eyes very thoughtful. Presently both looked at the column of smoke not more than a mile away that marked the presence of the smaller camp, the one that had remained and which was undo

have been with us in a thou

en thousa

eft us to look ou

r, He

ver would do

' floods, an' earthquakes all t

d rescue our comrades, Sol, and then we'll try

e that way, Henry. No,

ack toward the left, and

jest what the warriors

utmost exercise of skill and cautio