and
the others listened with him. If they heard shots it would indicate that
the Indians in some manner had caught sight of Shif'less Sol and were
pursuing him. But no sound came out of the vast dark void, save the
shriek of the wind and the beat of the rain. Henry had no doubt that the
warrior whom he had choked nearly to death was now with his comrades,
raging for vengeance, and yet he had been spared when few in like case
would have shown him mercy.

The wilderness, black, cold and soaking, looked unutterably gloomy, but
he felt no worry about those whom he had left behind. The shiftless one
like himself was a true son of the wilderness and he would be as clever
as a fox in finding a warm, dry hole. They had forged the first link in
their intended chain, and Henry felt the glow of success.

"I think I'll go to sleep now," he said. "I'm pretty well soaked with
the rain, but I managed to keep my blanket dry. If the warriors attack,
Jim, wake me up in time to put on my clothes. I wouldn't like to go into
a battle without 'em."

He removed his wet buckskins and spread them out on the stone floor to
dry. Then he wrapped himself in his blanket, raked up some of the dry
leaves as a couch, and lay down, feeling a double glow, that of warmth
and that of success. What a glorious place it was! All things are
measured by contrast. After the black and cold wilderness, swarming
with dangers, this was the other extreme. The Caesar in his palace hall
and the Persian under his vaulted dome could not feel so much comfort,
nor yet so much luxury, as Henry in this snug and warm room in the stone
with his brave and faithful friends around him.

Truly it was a noble place! He heard the trickle of the little stream,
like a jet of water flowing over marble, and into a marble fountain.
Above him was a stone ceiling, carved by the ages, and beneath him was a
stone floor made by the same master hand. The leaves were very soft to
one so thoroughly hardened of body as he, and the blanket was warm. The
roaring of the wind outside was turned to music here, and it mingled
pleasantly with the trickle of the little stream.

While the forest runner was capable of tremendous and long exertions, he
also had acquired the power of complete relaxation when the time came.
Now all of Henry's nerves were quiet, a deep peace came over him
quickly, and he slept.

CHAPTER X

BESIEGED

Henry did not awake the next day after his usual fashion, th