d have done so without
inconvenience, but Alice was tired out. Her relatives were pretty well
burdened already, though either would have carried her had it been
necessary; but the party had gained so good a start that there seemed
little risk in making a long stop.

Omas reached down one hand and laid it on the bare head of Alice, saying
in a voice of strange gentleness--"Little girl tired--she can rest."

And then all knew he had ceased walking because of her. Had she not been
a member of the party, he would have kept the rest on their feet until
the sun appeared above the forest.

"Yes, I'm tired, Omas," said the little one wearily, holding the hand of
the Delaware in both her own; "I'm glad you stopped."

The gloom was so deep, for there was no moon until very late (and if
there had been, its rays could not have pierced the dense foliage), that
they could hardly see each other's figures. Omas hastily gathered some
leaves and dead twigs, which were heaped together against one of the
boulders. Then he produced his flint and steel--for he had learned the
trick long before of the whites--and by and by a shower of sparks was
flying from the swift, sharp blows of the metal against the hard stone.
A minute later one of the sparks "caught," and under his nursing a fire
was speedily under way.

While he was thus engaged, Mrs. Ripley spread the blankets on the ground
and Alice stretched her tired little body upon one of them.

"Mamma, I guess God will excuse me for not saying my prayers," she
murmured, as she closed her eyes and sank into slumber.

Linna was tired, too, but she kept her feet and looked at her father for
his permission, before presuming to lie down.

"Come, Linna, here is your place beside Alice," said the mother kindly.

Again she turned to her father, who was standing by the fire, looking
off in the gloom, as if he suspected something wrong.

He gave the permission in their native tongue and she cuddled down
beside her friend without further waiting.

"Mother," said Ben, "you had better lie down with them."

"Not yet," she replied, with a significant look at he Delaware, whose
back was toward them.

"What about him?" asked the surprised lad in a low voice.

"He is meditating something evil: he wants to leave us.

"What evil is there in that, if he thinks we have gone far enough to be
safe?"

"You have forgotten that he fought with the Iroquois today; he wants to
go back to Wyoming and join