r heads ache. They're goin' on with the dancin' too. Hear
them whoops."

The long shrill cries uttered by the warriors still reached them, as
they stole away. Henry passed his hand across his forehead. All that
strange influence was gone now. He no longer saw the red mist, and his
heart ceased to beat like a hammer. The healthy normal forest was around
him, full of dangers, it was true, but of dangers that he could meet
with decision and judgment.

They returned rapidly, but occasionally they looked back at the red
glare showing above the trees, and for most of the way the faint echoes
of the whoops came to them. When they approached the bushes in which
they had left the others Henry uttered a low whistle which was promptly
answered in like fashion by Silent Tom.

"What did you see?" asked Paul, as they emerged from their hiding place.

"Nigh on to a thousand warriors," replied Shif'less Sol, "an' it was a
mighty fine comp'ny too. We saw two chiefs, Yellow Panther, the Miami,
an' Red Eagle, the Shawnee, that we've had dealin's with before, an' our
old friend Braxton Wyatt, an' the big renegade Blackstaffe, an' British
officers."

"British officers!" exclaimed Paul. "What are they doing there?"

"You know that our people in the East are at war with Britain," said
Henry, "and I suppose these officers and some men too have come from
Detroit to help the warriors wipe us out in Kentucky. They've brought
with them also two very formidable allies, the like of which were never
seen in these woods before."

"Two new and strange allies, Henry?" said Paul. "What do you mean?"

"Something that rolls along on wheels, and that speaks with a voice like
thunder."

"I don't understand yet."

"And when it speaks it hurls forth a missile that can smash through a
palisade like a stone through glass."

"It must be cannon. You surely don't mean cannon, Henry?"

"I do. The big guns have crossed the Ohio. The Indians or rather the
English with 'em, mean to use 'em against us. It's our business to
destroy 'em. Sol and I have agreed on that, and you are with us, are you
not?"

"O' course!" said Tom Ross.

"Uv course!" said Long Jim.

"Through everything," said Paul.

"What do you think we'd better do right now?" asked Ross.

"Go back to the cup and sleep," replied Henry. "It'll be safe. The
Indians will be so gorged from their orgie, and will feel so secure
from attack that they'll hardly have a scout in the forest tomorrow