n,
but it brought no fears to the five. They were quite sure that no
pursuit could overtake them now. After a while, they let their gait sink
to a walk, and began to pick their way carefully through the dripping
forest. As they were wet, all save their ammunition, they did not
hesitate to wade many flooded brooks and they felt that when day came
their trail would still be hidden from even the keenest of the Indian
trailers.

Henry did not believe that Wyatt and his warriors could find them unless
by chance, and as they were now many miles from the cavern, and the day
was not far away, he began to think of a stopping place. Continued
exertion had kept them warm, despite the rain, but it would not be wise
to waste their strength in a rapid flight, continued a long time.

"All of you keep an eye for shelter," he said "Maybe we can find a
windrow that will at least shut off a part of the rain."

He alluded to the masses of trees sometimes thrown down by a hurricane,
often over a swath not more than two hundred yards wide. Where men did
not exist to clear them away they were numerous in Kentucky,
accumulating for uncounted years. But it was more than an hour before
they came upon one of these heaps of tree trunks thrown thickly
together.

Yet it was a good den or lair. Many of the fallen leaves had sifted in
and lay there. Perhaps bears had used these recesses in the winter, but
the five were not scrupulous. Their lives were passed in the primitive,
and they knew how to make the most of everything that nature offered, no
matter how little.

"I reckon we den up here," said Long Jim.

"We do," said Henry, "and we might go farther and find a much worse
place."

The trees evidently had been thrown down a long time, as great masses of
vines had grown over them, forming an almost complete roof. Very little
rain came through, and, as they had managed to keep their ammunition as
well as their blankets dry, the lair was better than anything for which
they had hoped. Trusting to the darkness and their concealment, all five
wrapped themselves in their blankets and went to sleep.

Now and then drops of rain forced their way through the vines and fell
on the sleepers, but they did not awake. Such trifles as these did not
disturb them. They were a part of the great wilderness, used to its
ways, and troubled little by the ordinary hardships of human beings. The
mental tension and the anxieties from which they had suffered were go