r wrath and chagrin tomorrow, when their scouts tell
them no enemy is there," said Paul. "I can tell now how the white
leaders and the red leaders will rage, and how they will wonder who the
men were that held them."

"And I can read their minds ahead," said Henry. "The five of us will
become not a hundred, but two hundred, and every pair of our hands will
carry forty rifles."

"We've fooled 'em well," said Silent Tom, tersely.

"And now to sleep," said Henry, "because we must begin again in the
morning."

Soon the five slept the deep sleep that comes after success.

CHAPTER XV

THE GREAT CULMINATION

It could almost be said of them, so sensitive were they to sound or even
to a noiseless presence, that usually when sleeping they were yet awake,
that, like the wild animals living in the same forest, warnings came to
them on the wind itself, and that, though the senses were steeped in
slumber, the sentinel mind was yet there. But this morning it was not
so. They slept, not like forest runners, who breathe danger every hour,
both day and night, but like city dwellers, secure against any foe.

It was Silent Tom who awoke first, to find the day advanced, the sun
like a gigantic shield of red and gold in the western heavens, and the
wind of spring blowing through the green foliage. He shook himself,
somewhat like a big, honest dog, and not awakening the others, walked to
the edge of their island in the swamp, the firm land not being more than
thirty feet across.

But on this oasis the trees grew large and close and no one on the
mainland beyond the swamp could have seen human beings there. The swamp
was chiefly the result of a low region flooded by heavy spring rains,
and in the summer would probably be as dry and firm as the oasis itself.
But, for the present, it was what the pioneers called "drowned lands"
and was an effective barrier against any ordinary march.

Silent Tom looked toward the north, and saw a coil of smoke against the
brilliant blue of the sky. It was very far away, but he was quite sure
that it came from the Indian camp, and its location indicated that they
had not yet crossed the river. He felt intense satisfaction, but he did
not even chuckle in his throat, after the border fashion. He had not
been named Silent Tom for nothing. He was the oldest of the five,
several years older than Long Jim, who was next in point of age, and he
was often called Old Tom Ross, although in reality the "o