ncinnati).

But Henry felt no apprehension. The night was dark. No one could follow
a trail at such a time. All the five were accomplished borderers. They
could slip through any ring that might be made, whether by accident or
purpose, around them. So he remained perfectly still, his muscles
relaxed, his mind the abode of peace. Cry of owl and wolf came much
nearer, but he was not disturbed. Once he rose, crept a hundred yards
through the thicket, and saw a band of fifty Miamis in the most vivid of
war paint pass by, but he was yet calm and sure, and when the last Miami
had disappeared in the darkness, he returned to his comrades, who had
neither moved nor wakened.

Dawn came in one great blazing shaft of sunlight, and the four awoke.
Henry told all that he had seen and heard.

"I'm thinkin' that the tribes are all about us," said Shif'less Sol.

"Shorely," said Tom Ross.

"An' we don't want to fight so many," said Long Jim.

"An' that bein' the case," said Shif'less Sol, "I'm hopin' that the rest
o' you will agree to our layin' quiet here in the thicket all day.
Besides, sech a long rest would be a kindness to me, a pow'ful lazy
man."

"It's the wisest thing to do," said Henry. "Even by daylight nothing but
chance would cause so faint a trail as ours to be found."

It was settled. They lay there all day, and nobody grew restless except
Paul. He found it hard to pass so much time in inaction, and now and
then he suggested to the others that they move on, taking all risks, but
they merely rallied him on his impatience.

"Paul," said Long Jim, "thar is one thing that you kin learn from Sol
Hyde, an' that is how to be lazy. Uv course, Sol is lazy all the time,
but it's a good thing to be lazy once in a while, ef you pick the right
day."

"You don't often tell the truth, Saplin'," said Shif'less Sol, "but
you're tellin' it now. Paul, thar bein' nuthin' to do, I'm goin' to lay
down ag'in an' go to sleep."

He stretched himself upon a bed of leaves that he had scraped up for
himself. His manner expressed the greatest sense of luxury, but suddenly
he sat up, his face showing anger.

"What's the matter, Sol?" asked Paul in surprise.

The shiftless one put his hand in his improvised bed and held up an oak
leaf. The leaf had been doubled under him.

"Look at that," he said, "an' then you won't have the face to ask me why
I wuz oncomf'table. Remember the tale you told us, Paul, about some old
Greeks who got so fas