n't see you," repeated Henry.

Long Jim waved his hand in a gesture of farewell, and, turning abruptly,
disappeared in the bushes as quickly as if great waters had closed over
him.

The three, who had been a minute before the four, did not look back.
There were still life and strength in them, and the power to run. The
Ohio could not be far away now, and they ought to strike it before
morning.

"I'd like to stop an' fight," breathed Shif'less Sol. "I don't
partickerly mind bein' chased sometimes, but I do mind bein' chased all
the way back to New Or-lee-yuns."

Henry, despite their desperate situation, could not withhold a smile,
which, however, was hidden from the shiftless one by the darkness.

"No choice seems to be left to us," he said. "It's run, Sol, run and
keep on running."

A groan of weariness from the shiftless one was his only reply. But he
kept by the side of Henry. Tom Ross was on the other side, and the three
flitted through the bushes with a long swinging stride that still
covered ground at a remarkable rate. Once they came to low, marshy soil,
a swamp almost, where back water from the Ohio or the creek evidently
stood in flood time, and they were forced to curve about, thus giving
their pursuers a chance to come diagonally and to make a great gain upon
them.

As they turned due south, skirting the side of the marsh, Tom Ross was
in the woods furthest away from the soft ground. A rifle shot from some
point deeper in the forest was fired at him, but the bullet only
whistled by his ear and passed on to be lost in the marsh. Henry saw a
dusky figure spring from the darkness and hurl itself upon Tom. He and
the shiftless one instantly whirled about to help their comrade, but Tom
and the warrior were now rolling over and over in the struggle of life
and death.

Neither combatant in such a close grip could use his rifle, but each had
drawn a knife, and the blades glittered as the men sought for a blow.
Henry and the shiftless one looked for an opening, but they could not
strike without as much danger to their comrade as to themselves, and
they stood by, lost for the moment in doubt, knowing that all the time
the pursuing band was coming nearer.

It was a furious struggle of bodily strength and passion, exerted to the
utmost, and while the time seemed very long to those who would help, but
could not find the chance, it was in reality not more than a minute.
Then both knives flashed. One figure sudde