The Phantom of the River
e principle of the greatest
it across the open space under the screening undergrowth on the other side, he did not dare to call to Jethro Juggens to join him, through f
left him, only to find, as has been shown, that the colored yo
" repeated the disgusted pioneer. "I might
his partiality for the youth, whose skill in handling the rifle was so remark
he cabin making his evening meal, it is unnecessa
d know what it meant he'd yell back his answer loud enough to b
of the clearing, where, by cautiously parting the undergrowth and peering out, he
in time to witness
ce may be described as a "cat nap," inasmuch as it came to an end,
ust as all boys and girls do when their senses are coming back to them. Next, he reached out his hand and brought his rifle in front, d
there only a short
nishment, for, resting so lightly against the bank, it was
ing of the truth had entered the brain of the red man, but clearly that was impossible,
ain; he'll examine the ground, and will diskiver my footprints; he won't know whether the moccasins belong to a white man or one of the varmints, but he will get an idee of why the thing didn'
f Kenton, he had re-entered the boat ag
e clearing to Rattlesnake Gulch was all if not more than two miles. It was
ge of the Shawanoes, who, it may be said, were on every hand. A sight of the ranger stealing his way up stream, and the halt of the pioneers before reaching th
rangers, under the leadership of Boone and Kenton, were confident of beating them off, yet more or less casualties were certain to f
e of the extraordinary precautions on the par
e problem Simon Kenton had set out t
or hours without sensible fatigue. Kenton did not mind a simple obstruction of that nature, and,
eneath the limbs, its progress ceasing almost at t
whereabouts of his enemies. He knew, as may be said, that they were everywhere, and he was liable to collide with
sual, for he had reached a point where it was necessary to drive the canoe across a space fully one h
th himself as to the
clusion of Kenton; "the Shawanoes know where the women folks and the
at the very moment of imparting the powerful impulse to it,
d Boone earlier in the afternoon. The faint cawing of a crow, as if calling from the upper branc
s ain't thicker in Kaintuck than I ever kn
ame from the throat of one of the Shawanoe spies, settl
drawing it entirely forth, however, he decided to walk the short distanc
marked by all the thoroughness with which he
onfident of working his way through it and back to the water again without injuring the canoe.
ise awaited him.
ed eyes of the Shawanoe, that same individual (for it must be he) h
distant, making his way with great care and skill along the bank, as though he had no fear of any dispute over the ownership of the craft, as, indeed, he did not; fo
n resumed possession of the canoe,
varmint made one, but he'll never make another,