escape from the red throat. A single cry would
reach the warriors below, and then the whole yelling pack would be upon
him. The warrior's hands grasped his wrists and pulled at them
frantically. He was a powerful savage with muscles like knotted ropes,
but there was no man in all the wilderness who could break that grasp.
His breath came fitfully, his face became swollen and then Henry,
turning him over on his back, took his fingers away.

The warrior was not dead, but he would revive slowly and painfully and
for days there would be ten red and sore spots on his throat, where the
fingers had sunk in. An ordinary scout would have thrust his knife at
once into the heart of the warrior. It would have been the safest way,
but Henry could not do it. He saw the great chest of the savage
trembling as the breath sought a way to his lungs. He took his rifle,
powder horn, bullet pouch, tomahawk and knife, and, bending low in the
foliage, ran swiftly for the mouth of the cave.

He was quite confident that the fallen warrior was the last sentinel,
and as he approached the entrance he called again and again in a loud
whisper:

"Don't fire! Don't fire! It's me, Henry!"

At last came the whisper in reply:

"All right, Henry, we're waitin'."

He recognized the voice of Silent Tom, and the next instant he was
inside, his hand and that of Tom Ross meeting in a powerful grasp, while
Paul and Long Jim, aroused from sleep, expressed their delight in low
words and strong handshakes.

"How in thunder did you git in, Henry?" asked Long Jim.

"I was brought in a sedan chair by four strong Indians, Wyatt walking on
one side and Blackstaffe on the other as an escort. I told them that of
all places in the world this was the one to which I wished most to come,
and they put me down at the door, their modesty compelling them to
withdraw."

"It's mighty good to see you again, Henry, no matter how you got here,"
said Paul. "Where is Sol?"

"Safe outside, just as I'm safe inside. I think I'll let him know that
I've been successful."

Standing just within the entrance he emitted the long-drawn howl of the
wolf, piercing and carrying singularly far. They waited a moment or two
in breathless silence, and then on the edge of the shrieking wind came a
similar reply, fierce, long and snarling. Henry gave the howl again and
as before came the answer in like fashion. It was the wilderness signal,
made complete.

"It's Sol," Henry said. "I know