"and we'd better get behind trees,
too."

"An' good big ones," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef I've got an oak seven feet
through in front o' me they kin go on with thar fireworks."

They retreated hastily and lay down behind the great trunks, none too
soon either, as the cannon roared and the grapeshot whistled all about
them, cutting off twigs and leaves and ploughing the earth.

"That shorely is dang'rous business--fur us," said Shif'less Sol. "I'm
glad they didn't start with it. It's like a swarm o' iron bees flyin' at
you, an' ef you ain't holed up some o' 'em is bound to hit you."

"Back there!" exclaimed Henry to the shiftless one, who was peeping
behind his oak, "they're about to fire the second gun!"

The discharge of grapeshot again fell in the thicket, but it hurt no
one, and the five did not reply. Two more shots were fired, doing great
damage to the forest at that spot, but none of the five. Then came a
pause.

"The white men and the chiefs have gone into consultation again,"
announced Henry.

"Why haven't they sent out flankers to cross the river?" said Paul. "I
haven't seen a single warrior leave the main band."

"They've been confident that the cannon would do the work," replied
Henry, "and besides, the warriors don't like those high banks. Now you
mustn't forget, either, that they think we're a big force here."

"But they'll come to that," said the shiftless one. "They don't dare
charge down that narrow gorge, on through the river, an' up the hill
ag'inst us. Sooner or later, warriors will cross the stream out o' our
sight, both above an' below us, an' that's just what we've got to look
out fur."

"Right you are, Sol," said Henry, "but I don't think they will do it for
a while. They'd like to force the passage without waste of time and go
right ahead with their march."

Several more charges of grape were fired into the thickets, and leaves
and twigs again rained down, but the five, sheltered well, remained
untouched by the fragments of hissing metal. Then the guns relapsed into
silence.

"Likely the redcoat colonel has ordered 'em to stop shooting," said
Paul. "He won't want 'em to waste their ammunition here, but to save it
for the palisades of our settlements."

"Sounds most probable," said Henry. "They can't get any new supply of
gunpowder and cannon balls and grapeshot, in these woods."

"What'll they do now?" asked Tom Ross.

"I don't know," replied Henry.

"I wish I had one uv them sp