rtly that I reckon, an' fur other reasons too. Thar, they're goin'
away! I expect, Henry, that them warriors are a part o' the band that
wuz lookin' fur us. They don't keer to come into the valley, but they
might hev been tempted hard to come, ef they'd a' saw us. Mebbe it's a
good thing that we came here into Adam's an' Eve's home."

"It was certainly not the wrong thing. Those warriors are gone now, and
I predict that none will come in their place."

"That's a shore thing. Now, ez I've had my nap, Henry, you take yourn.
Rec'lect that it's always watch an' watch with us."

Henry knew that the shiftless one would not like it, if he did not take
his turn, and, making his leafy bed, he was soothed to quick sleep by
the singing of the birds.

Then the shiftless one propped his back against a bank of leaves between
him and the trunk of a tree, and, with the rifle across his knees,
watched. The great peace that he had felt continued. The fact that the
Indians had merely come to the crest of the hill and looked into the
valley, then going away, confirmed him in his beliefs. As long as Henry
and he stayed there, they would be safe. But safety beyond that day was
not what they were seeking. That night they must surely reach the other
three, although they would enjoy the present to the full.

Shif'less Sol's plastic and sensitive mind had been affected by his
meeting with Henry. Despite his great confidence in the skill and
strength of the young leader, he had been worried by his long absence
and his meeting with him had been an immense relief. This and their
coming into the happy valley had put him in an exalted state. The
poetical side of nature always met with an immediate response in him,
and like the Indian he personified the winds, and the moon and stars and
sun, and all the objects and forces that were factors in wild life.

Lying closely among his leaves he watched the buffaloes and the deer.
Some of the bigger animals as the day grew and the sun increased, lay
down in the grass near him, showing no sign of fear, although they must
have been aware of his presence. A flight of wild geese descended from
the sky, drank at the stream, swam a little, then rose again and were
gone, their forms blending into a single great arrow shooting northward
through the blue.

Shif'less Sol did not wonder that they had dropped down into the valley
for a moment or two, breaking their immeasurable flight into the far
north. They had